The thickest coat of fur in the world
The sea otter is a sleek bundle of brains, beauty and bad luck. It’s also the world’s only purse-loving creature who will never shop at Louis Vuitton.
The otter is the only mammal other than humans, monkeys and apes known to use tools. After scooping a mussel, clam, scallop or crab from the sea bed, the otter floats on its back, turning its belly into a picnic table. It then extracts a rock stored in its purse — an armpit pouch of loose skin — and hammers the shellfish morsel until it breaks open.
If you think an armpit purse sounds yucky, try telling that to the hunters who had exterminated the sea otter in B.C. waters by 1929. They were after its beautiful pelt, a legacy of the otter’s having the thickest fur of any living animal — at least 100,000 hairs per square centimetre.
Sea otters from Alaska were released in B.C. waters between 1969 and 1972.
The province’s otter population has recovered to almost 5,000, although they remain a species at risk.
Another testament to the otter’s ingenuity: It has turned the marine snooze into a thing of beauty. When it feels a nap coming on, the otter anchors itself to a kelp forest, wrapping long strands of the seaweed around its body.
Get a closer look at the sea otters of the Vancouver Aquarium at theprovince.com
The wolverine has been described as the fiercest creature on Earth. It may also have the worst temper.
Wolverines are “ferocious bastards” that pack 20 to 30 pounds of bad attitude, says Gwen Barlee, policy director of the Wilderness Committee.
Wolverines can drive a grizzly bear off a kill and single-handedly take down a moose or caribou. But they prefer scavenging to hunting and usually rely on other predators, such as wolves, to do the killing.
The wolverine’s strong teeth, formidable neck and shoulder muscles and semi-retractable claws enable it to crunch through large bones and gorge on frozen flesh. The wolverine, which belongs to the weasel family, is sometimes called a “skunk-bear” for its striped coat and habit of marking food and landmarks with urine and musk.
Its taste for carrion makes the wolverine a contender for the worst breath of any mammal in B.C.
For all its odiferous malice, the wolverine has been described as gorgeous, with glossy fur that can shed frost.
Males roam through territories of more than 1,500 square kilometres. The wilds of B.C. and Yukon are among the wolverine’s remaining strongholds.
“They are endangered, as a huge area is needed to support a breeding population,” says Joan Sharp, senior lecturer with Simon Fraser University’s department of biological sciences.