{"id":28,"date":"2011-03-21T20:01:59","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T00:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marksethlender.com\/?p=28"},"modified":"2011-04-10T15:53:01","modified_gmt":"2011-04-10T19:53:01","slug":"in-the-field-sea-otter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marksethlender.com\/test_1\/2011\/03\/in-the-field-sea-otter\/","title":{"rendered":"In the field: Sea Otter"},"content":{"rendered":"

[pg_flash-gallery album=”Sea Otters” image=”1″ xtras=”” ifwidth=”574″ ifheight=”380″]
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In the Field: Sea Otter<\/h3>\n

\n\u00a9 2011 Mark Seth Lender
\nAll Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

Sea Otter, floating, flat on his back, (feet straight out at a slightly knock-kneed angle), paws folded on his chest, like Charlie Chaplin at his Silent best. Rafting together with all the others he lazes into the hazy morning shift, in sixes and eights, fours and fives and a dozen. Then, buoyant as butter, all drift apart. Sea Otter, that fur bundle, soft and wet and lumpy as a bag of spuds.<\/p>\n

As the warmth of the morning paints the bay, otters rub their eyes awake and begin their ablutions. Old Boys dignified of demeanor, widely mustachioed under the nose like the off-white foam of an oversized cappuccino; Subadults, a sophomore class not yet mature enough to sport mustaches of their own; Semi-delinquent Juveniles, rambunctious, rough -wrestling the peace and quiet into turbulent foam. No one seems to mind, it is not Discipline but Clean that is Sea Otter\u2019s credo.<\/p>\n

Paws scrub and brush with great dexterity. Even behind the ears and in them, legs and backs and bellies, and under the chin. Arms and elbows; noses and the webbing between the toes. Formidable teeth are flossed bright by fingers brushing like toothbrushes. From the back of the neck to those broad hind feet chewed in the mouth like mukluk leather, not a centimeter is neglected.<\/p>\n

In water hovering near 40 degrees (even with the thickest coat known to Nature) after a few hours an otter starts to freeze. The need to maintain Body heat fuels an otter\u2019s hunger, and throughout the day drives him to dive in forests of green kelp and golden water, there to wrest his dinner from the bottom of the sea.<\/p>\n

Sea Otter bobs to the surface with his breakfast. \u00a0With the most ancient of tools \u00a0– the anvilstone balanced on his belly and the hammer of his arms – he will part any shellfish from its flesh. Each otter is a specialist, some preferring crabs, others eating only sea urchins. Many take only sea clams broad as a hat brim, quickly cracked open, chewed and swallowed, then down again for more.<\/p>\n

Kelp, the source of all this richness owes its life to Sea Otter. Without him urchins multiply unrestrained, consuming everything, ruling again where they have not ruled in four hundred million years. Even the kelp disappears, forcing evolution back from where it came. If the otter dies out, the Past becomes the Present; a time and place in which humanity played no part, transformed into a Future you don\u2019t want to know.<\/p>\n

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Mark reading “Sea Otter” on Living On Earth on NPR:<\/p>\n

Audio MP3<\/a>