Sea otter mother with pup on her belly, Morro Rock (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

6 February 2026

With more snow on the way today in Pittsburgh we need something to take our minds off our troubles. Sea otters are the perfect solution.

Sea otters live among kelp because they eat the organisms that eat kelp. They dive to gather sea urchins, sea stars, sea cucumbers, crustaceans, a variety of mollusks, snails and bivalves. Then they float on their backs with their food set on their bellies as they open and eat their prey.

embedded YouTube Short from @Expeditions

In addition to using their bellies as the dining table, sea otter mothers carry their babies on their bellies. They take their babies everywhere.

So cute!

p.s. If you want to see sea otters in the wild, here’s where you’ll have to go.

Range of the sea otter (map from Wikimedia Commons)