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fully carried out our many otter chores, spelling each other as
needed. Much of this activity was accompanied by his charming
scream.
At the time we had a wonderful, gentle Sheltie at home, and
she would grow quite agitated and concerned whenever the otter
screamed. Maternal by nature, she tried to respond to his cries,
knowing he needed help but having no idea just what she was
supposed to do for this strange, demanding creature.
Those long nights impressed upon me the very real survival
function of an otter pup's loud scream. Earsplitting though it is
in the confines of a small room, in the otter's watery world it's
imperative that it be heard. A mother spends much of her time
foraging underwater for food—both to sustain herself while she's
nursing and, later, to share with her hungry pup—and often comes
up some distance from where she left her pup floating on the sur-
face. At water level of a frequently choppy sea, she can seldom see
where her tiny pup is floating. Instead she relies on its piercing
cry to guide her back. Along the shores of the central California
coast you can often hear the cries of pups as they await the return
of their diving mother.
Sad to say, our first sea otter pup died, certainly not from lack
of trying but because of our own ignorance. Three years later Tom
Williams, Pat Quinn, Julie Hymer, and a dedicated sta¤ of otter
volunteers successfully raised four orphaned pups to adulthood
for our sea otter exhibit, learning much along the way. Today, the
rescue and care of stranded sea otters, while never a sure thing, is
marked by considerably more successes than failures. We do learn
from our mistakes.
quite large, but they were hollow and so not very heavy for their size.
Marine biologist Dr. Gene Haderlie of the Naval Postgraduate School
in Monterey was on our board of directors, and he arranged for us to
use the research vessel the Acania to take the rocks out for placement
on the Pinnacles in Carmel Bay.
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