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Watch Video of Capers at the Shedd Aquarium
Capers, an orphaned male sea otter pup who was rescued and rehabilitated in Alaska, made his media debut at his temporary home–Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium– Thursday, July 13. He will be brought to his permanent home at the Minnesota Zoo later this fall, but will not be on exhibit until 2008.
Capers was just two weeks old when he was spotted alone in Kachemak Bay on May 29. His mother was found deceased nearby of unknown causes. He was immediately taken to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward where he was cared for by rehabilitation staff. He was transferred to the Shedd Aquarium on June 30 and will spend the summer there being cared for by aquarium staff. At this time, Capers is inquisitive, healthy, playful, and eating well. Minnesota Zoo staff members will work with the pup at the Shedd Aquarium closer to his transfer date to Minnesota, where he will eventually live in the Zoo’s new exhibit, Russia’s Grizzly Coast, set to open in 2008.
Sea otters, found in the Pacific Ocean, eat 20-25% of their weight daily. Unlike other marine mammals, they lack blubber to keep them warm and instead rely on their supercharged metabolism and dense fur to survive in the near-freezing waters. The have the thickest fur in the animal kingdom: one million hairs per square inch! (Humans, by comparison, carry about 100,000 hair follicles on their head). They can quickly die from hypothermia if their fur becomes matted or soiled with oil or other pollutants, which is why they meticulously groom for several hours daily. Sea otters are the only mammals besides primates to use tools. Floating on their backs, they will vigorously hammer a mussel or clam against a rock on their chests to pry the meal open. Fur traders nearly drove sea otters to extinction in the 19 th century. The species is listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. |