Sea otter, Prince William Sound, Alaska

© Gerald Corsi/Getty Image

Otter-ly amazing. Sea Otter Awareness Week

We're celebrating Sea Otter Awareness Week with this laid-back little guy in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Sea otters are native to the northern and eastern coasts of the North Pacific Ocean. They're expert foragers, diving to the seabed to find food and using rocks to crack open shellfish, one of the few animals that use tools. There used to be as many as 300,000 sea otters in the wild, but they were heavily hunted for their dense fur for almost two centuries. By 1911, it is thought that only around 2,000 sea otters were left. Thankfully, an international hunting ban and conservation efforts have helped them rebound in their historic habitat to an estimated 125,000. Despite this success, some populations continue to struggle, and sea otters are still an endangered species. So, unlike our homepage star, we can't relax on sea otter conservation just yet.