A Helpful Sea Otter Gathers Cones to Bring to Her Human Who Is Cleaning the Pool

A dextrous little sea otter named May, who lives at the Toba Aquarium in Toba, Mie, Japan, helpfully gathered colorful cones from the water and placed them on the side of the pool next to her human keeper as he was cleaning the area.

Mei can help you too

This is part of an enrichment exercise that May and the other sea otters engage in on a regular basis. They also seem to have quite a bit of fun as well. Sea otters are considered endangered, so repopulation programs like this help the species survive.

the sea otter is the international ambassador species for otters, being the first to have been nearly hunted to extinction and saved in the nick of time. Unlike other marine mammals, they have no blubber to protect them from hypothermia. Instead, they have the thickest, densest fur of all mammals: 500,000 hairs per square centimetre! It was this feature that made its fur so desirable and nearly caused this otters’ demise. 

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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