HABITAT: Sea otters inhabit coastal waters, usually less than half a mile from shore. Their typical haunts include precipitous rocky shores, barrier reefs, tidewater stones, and dense kelp forests.

and U.S. Endangered Species Act protection — have helped sea otters rebound. But local populations are still fluctuating, with many declining. Today the species occupies just a tiny fraction of its ...

By the end of the 19th century, traders had extirpated otters from nearly their entire Pacific Rim range — including southeast Alaska. “Given a little bit of protection, they recover from whatever we ...