Sea otter mother and newborn pup in Monterey Bay, California, USA
© Suzi Eszterhas/Minden Picture
A warm hug. Cuddling up for warmth
Sea otter mums shower their pups with attention, cradling them and grooming them for hours. But it's more than a gesture of affection, a mum will rub her pup to fluff its coat, which causes the fur to retain air bubbles. The air insulates the pup from chilly waters and sometimes causes the youngster to float like a cork. Sea otters can survive on land, but they spend most of their time in the water, sleeping above the surface and anchoring themselves with kelp, or by holding onto each other. When they get hungry, they use rocks as tools to hunt food and pry open shells which makes them pretty special, as they're one of the few mammals that can use tools.
Related Images
Manatees in the Ichetucknee River in Florida, USA
A Brandt's cormorant in a school of Pacific mackerel beneath an oil rig off the coast of California, USA
Sperm whale mother and albino baby swimming off the coast of Portugal
Aerial view of surfers in Cornwall for International Surfing Day
Bubbles in the ice of Abraham Lake in Alberta, Canada
A fin whale in the waters off the Azores
Walruses near Kvitøya in the Svalbard archipelago, Norway
Cefalù on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily, Italy
Bing Today Images
Roman-inspired aqueduct, Arkadia Park, Poland
Sep 20, 2023
Raft of sea otters in Sitka Sound, Alaska, USA
Sep 20, 2022
Tokyo cityscape at sunset, Japan
Sep 20, 2019
The Blackpool Tower Ballroom, Lancashire
Sep 20, 2018
The Dark Hedges in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Sep 20, 2017
Ladakh, India
Sep 20, 2016
