Marine Mammals of the Pacific 8/05

They use tools! A sea otter will use a stone to dislodge shell fish such as abalone from the ocean floor. Then it carries another rock to the surface to crack open the shell.

For two hours I watched an otter in Morro Bay doing just that. She would place a large rock on her chest and smash a clam or mussel onto it repeatedly. Sometimes she would use a big clam shell in place of the rock. Other times she would reverse the technique by holding a small rock between her paws and smashing the shellfish. I swear there must have been an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet down there because she came up with every sort of sea creature imaginable. In the top two photos she's eating a clam and a crab. The bottom left looks like some sort of sea cucumber. I have no idea what the bottom right one is. When she was done with her smashing-rock she would simply roll slightly to one side, let it slip off her belly and continue to eat. She also dumped her trash with this method as the shells were removed. Adorable I tell ya ...

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