The sea otter lives only along the Asiatic and North American coasts of the Pacific Ocean. It is five to eleven feet long, including its tail, and weighs up to a hundred pounds. It has beautiful, dark brown fur and spends hours grooming its fur with its paws.
The sea otter spends most of its time in salt water. It makes its home in thick beds of kelp (seaweed) where it is quite safe from seals and killer whales, two of its enemies. Before going to sleep, it wraps itself in strands of kelp so it won’t drift away. However, sometimes it is seen napping in the open water, floating on its back with its eyes covered with its forepaws.
A female has only one pup at a time, which is born in the kelp beds and is totally helpless. In fact, it can’t swim until its mother teaches it. She holds it up with her forepaws, much as a person would hold a child while teaching it to swim. The mother cleans the pup’s fur continuously.
The Creator has provided the sea otter with ears and a nose that seal closed when it dives. He placed the eyes near the top of its head so it can see, even while almost totally underwater. It is an excellent swimmer and can swim long distances underwater.
It always seems hungry and eats at all hours. One of its favorite foods is abalone, a shellfish that clings tightly to rocks near the bottom of the ocean. The otter can’t pry these loose but takes a rock from the bottom and smashes the abalone’s shell to get at the meat. It also brings clams and other shellfish to the surface along with a good-sized stone. Swimming on its back, it places the stone on its chest and then smashes the clam down on the stone to break its shell and get to the meat.
Sea otters love to play and often chase one another through the water. They have been seen lying on their backs in the water, tossing sticks in the air and catching them in their paws before they hit the water. They will do this over and over.
It is amazing that creatures such as this go on year after year and century after century, doing the same things and being provided for in the same way. This should not surprise us when we think that God made every one of His creatures in just the way that would best suit it for its life’s pattern and purposes. He also said at the time of creation, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind ... and it was so.... And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:24-2524And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24‑25)). So we should not expect any of these creatures to change from one form to another, because God made every creature to continue “after his kind.”
ML-07/08/2012