Jason E. Andersen

Bonus fun fact: Did you know that sea otters hold paws while they sleep? Because they snooze out to sea, they clasp paws so they don’t drift away from each other and get separated. It’s like a little adorable furry raft! (No, really. Groups of floating otters are called ‘rafts’.)

Speaking of furry, sea otters also have the thickest fur in the animal kingdom. It’s this thick, luxurious fur that has landed them on the endangered species list (if you didn’t know, sea otters are an endangered species). Because of extensive hunting and trapping through the early 1900’s, the worldwide population was once below 2,000 individuals. Now, because of conservation efforts, that number has rebounded to more than 100,000 individuals, although their range is only a fraction of what it historically was. While they are still on the endangered species list, sea otters are considered to be a major success story in the conservation world!