what are sea otters predators

As top predators, sea otters are critical to maintaining the balance of nearshore ecosystems, such as kelp forests, embayments and estuaries. The complexity of trophic cascades can vary extensively from place to place, but this basic pattern is the foundation for understanding how sea otters fit into a healthy coastal environment. This type of relationship between a predator (sea otter), herbivore (urchin), and plant (kelp) is known as a trophic cascade. Young predators may kill an otter and not eat it. sharks and humans are the river otters predators An otter's predators are sharks, humans and bald eagles. Sea urchins greedily graze on kelp when otters are not around, but in the presence of the predators, urchins hide in crevices and eat just the plant scraps. Now uncontrolled by sea otters, their natural predator — the urchin population — boomed both in body size and density. Great white sharks and orcas will eat sea otters, especially if larger prey like seals and sea lions are not available. Sea otters are a keystone species, meaning their role in their environment has a greater effect than other species. Then in 1914 a remnant population of about 50 southern sea otters was found along the rugged Big Sur shoreline. Sea otters must also be able to defend themselves from the cold waters in which they swim. The government passed a law restricting otter hunting. The sea otter has several natural predators from which it needs to protect itself. However, the animals prove a low threat, unlike humans. read more As others have written, killer whales and sharks are the biggest threat to sea otters of all sizes if they are in the ocean. Those sea otters that live farther south, mostly hunt for a great white shark, and representatives of those sea otters that inhabit the more northern areas of the Pacific, hunt for killer whales. Bald eagles, bears and coyotes will also eat sea otters. On land, young sea otters may face attack from bears and coyotes. Eagles may also grab young otters if given the opportunity. Sea otters eat sea urchins in abundance where they both occur but also prey on crabs and other crustaceans and mollusks. The younger sea otters can also be attacked on the water surface by bald eagles. The southern sea otter was widely believed to be extinct due to the expansive fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, which reduced the global population from between 150,000 and 300,000 to roughly 2,000. Sea otters are the main predator of sea urchins and keep the urchin population in check. Loss of sea otters therefore can have a huge impact on our coastal ecosystems. Sea otters, the "keystone predator" of Aleutian kelp forests, experienced dramatic population declines in the 1990's. 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