In the SWIM of things

Despite not having any blubber, a newborn sea otter pup is so buoyant that it can’t dive for food. Mama lavishes her youngling with a great deal of attention, licking and fluffing its fur until so much air is retained that the pup floats like a cork. But baby doesn’t need to worry about finding food; mom will typically nurse her pup for the first six months of its life. While she goes on her foraging forays, she’ll wrap her precious pup in kelp to keep it from drifting away. After all, her offspring is especially dear to her because she normally only has one at a time, although twins are not unheard of. That’s all well and good for a baby, but there comes a time in every otter’s life when the urge for independence starts to outweigh the desire for security. Formerly accustomed to clinging to mama, pups will have learned to swim by the time they’re a month old, and around this time they’ll begin eating solid food. After a couple more weeks they’ll take their first dive, and by 8 to 10 months of age they’re ready to bid farewell to their mother, their constant companion and sole caretaker, since sea otter dads don’t stick around to raise the kids. They’re highly social creatures, so once juveniles head out on their own they’ll keep company with others in their age group, though foraging is still a solo activity for otters of all ages. When they sleep they link paws to form rafts that keep individuals from floating away, a nod to the days when they were safely bound by mama. Males form a raft with other males and females stick with other females. The largest known sea otter raft consisted of about 2,000 individuals. This safety measure surely reinforces the notion that mama knows best.