Our President, Dr. Lance Morgan, joined by First Officer of the Beach and Sea Otter Ambassador Guinness, were excited to attend our friends @seaottersavvy.bsky.social event at Doran Beach last weekend. We’re looking forward to more fun at Sea Otter Awareness Week September 21-27, 2025!

⏰ 1 week to go! Join us at Doran Beach, Bodega Bay for Sea Otters Were Here: Coastal Ecology Pop-Up! 🦦🌊 📅 Sat, Sept 6 | 10 AM–2 PM 🧵👇

Join our raft! Sea Otter Savvy is recruiting volunteers for our community science and outreach teams in all of our regions: Monterey Bay Area, San Luis Obispo county, and Northern California (outreach only). Make new friends and participate in community science and stewardship! 🧵👇 #volunteer

📣 Announcement! Our newest certified Community Active Wildlife Steward is A Kayak Shack in Morro Bay! CAWS businesses are certified when they meet our criteria for wildlife stewardship in their business practices. #StewardshipSaturday

Jack of all trades or master of one? When sea otters first recolonize an area, they will all eat similar prey — whatever is abundant and calorie rich. But what does a savvy sea otter do when more otter neighbors settle in and favorite prey is harder to find? Diversify!🧵👇 📸Joan Tisdale #tastytuesday

It’s time for our #SummerSeaOtterSafetySeries! Level 1: Sea otters are naturally wary of people and avoid interactions; if a sea otter approaches you, that is abnormal behavior. It is your responsibility to avoid and discourage these interactions: steps 🧵👇 #KeepWildlifeWild #SeaOtterSavvy

The Sea Otter Savvy team had the pleasure of meeting Senator John Laird at Saturday’s Day on the Beach event in Santa Cruz! We shared our concerns about the weakening of long-standing laws that protect our coasts and the amazing wildlife that depends on them. #wildlifeWednesday 🧵👇

Home with your pups and needing a fun sea otter science activity? Sea Otter Savvy can help with that! Make your own 'Blubber' (crisco) glove and even 'Fur' (wool) glove and test out which one is better for staying warm in cold water: www.seaottersavvy.org/blubber-glov... Answer below 👇🦦🔬

Way to be sea otter savvy!!

For your #MondayMotivation Take the Sea Otter Savvy Pledge: www.seaottersavvy.org/pledge and join us in supporting sea otter conservation and community stewardship! Make you pledge and spread the Savvy! #SeaOtterSavvy

#Seaotters resting in kelp may wrap themselves in fronds to stay safe and secure while they sleep. Just like kelp offers protection, we can all help sea otters feel safe in their home. By watching from a distance and minimizing disturbance, we support a more peaceful ocean for everyone.

#July4th marks a time of celebration but also of sadness as we remember the loss of one of the CA coast's most photogenic sea otters. Mr. Enchilada. He was a regular where Moss Landing Rd meets the south harbor. At night, 7/4/2016 he was struck and killed by a car while crossing the road. 🧵👇

In memoriam: Jim Estes explains how sea otters run the world. Over a decades-long career as a federal scientist, #JimEstes’ groundbreaking work on #seaotters has shown just how much these charismatic animals can teach us about how the world’s ecosystems work. 🧵👇

Sea otters and river otters may both be mustelids (weasels) with big appetites, but these cousins live very different lives. Sea otters are marine mammals & their diet is specific to marine invertebrates, while river otters move between aquatic & terrestrial habitats and have a more varied diet.🧵👇

🦦+🪱 = One Strange Snack! Did you know 🦦 have a taste for one of the ocean’s weirdest creatures — the fat innkeeper worm (Urechis caupo)? These squishy, pink worms live buried in mudflats, digging U-shaped burrows for underwater shelters for all kinds of marine life. 🧵👇 #SeaOtterSavvy 📸 N. Laroche

Another Monday, and the world feels heavy. In times like these, it’s more important than ever to care for yourself. Take a cue from the 🦦—rest isn't retreat, it's resilience. Be gentle with yourself. Recharge. Reset. And remember to #RespectTheNap -yours and others’ #SeaOtterSavvy #MondayMood

Sea otters and gulls have a relationship that is mostly commensal (one benefits & the other derives neither benefit nor harm). Gulls will follow foraging #seaotters to clean up scrap —and sea otter biologists can use begging gulls as a good marker for a 🦦 when collecting foraging data.#seaottersavvy

Our Mondays are always made better with sea otter art! Remy, a 3rd grader at Central Elementary in Helena, MT interviewed our Director about 🦦 and shared her art. 🧵👇

#StewardshipSaturday On the water with Monterey Bay Kayaks’ Paw Patrol, we saw abundant wildlife, lush eelgrass, savvy kayakers, and lots of napping otters. 🦦Paw Patrol will be on the water keeping wildlife safe weekends this summer in Elkhorn Slough along with @NOAA sanctuaries’ Team OCEAN. 🙏

In 2023 we featured a #ScienceFriday that highlighted Dr. Roffler’s research on how some 🐺 in AK are switching to marine species (🦦) and had incredible footage shared from photographer Landon Bazeley of a wolf carrying off a sea otter carcass in Katmai.🧵👇 📸: @L_baze Image: G. Roffler et al. 2025

Spotted at Moss Landing Jetty, this male #seaotter has a suspected #whiteshark bite. Biologists are monitoring his condition. An injury of this kind is concerning due to the physical trauma, but also since 🦦 rely on their fur for warmth. With lacerations, he will be at higher risk to hyperthermia.🧵👇

This #WorldOceanDay —and every day—give space, pick up trash, share your voice. Respect wildlife. Our oceans are vital to life on Earth, producing over half of the oxygen we breathe and helping regulate the climate. Act to protect fragile environments and the species that hold them together.

#StewardshipSaturday! Our central coast sea otter savvy kayak shops are decking out their fleets with our new and improved kayak stickers for summer! Spot one on your kayak? Take a pic and tag us! Thanks to all the businesses that go the extra mile to protect wildlife!

The recreational salmon fishing season opens on Saturday June 7th which means a LOT more 🚤⛴️🛶coming & going from CA's harbors on their quest 🎣🐟. You can help prevent boat strikes to sea otters and other marine wildlife by sharing the info with your favorite salmon fishers. No wake, for otters’ sake!

Today celebrate #WorldOtterDay and support sea otter research: www.seaottersavvy.org/get-involved... Did you know there are 13 species of otters around the world, and all species of otters experience human threats and habitat loss. 👇🧵🦦

Happy #WorldOtterDay! 🦦 & Thank you to our Capstone student Gabe for this video. Once hunted to near extinction for their fur, sea otters are now a protected species essential to marine biodiversity. But a proposed change to the ESA could weaken habitat protections crucial to their recovery👇

Day after Memorial Day looks like...💤 It's hard to bounce back after a long weekend so be kind to yourself and others - especially all your wild neighbors - and remember to #respectthenap ! You can learn more about our disturbance research and recommended viewing guidelines at www.seaottersavvy.org

At the end of our classroom program, your students will be #SeaOtterSavvy Learn more: www.seaottersavvy.org/sea-otter-sa...

It’s #StewardshipSaturday and we are recognizing some tour boats we’ve spotted doing a GREAT job giving resting sea otters space! Remember, bigger boats need to give MORE SPACE. Shout out to Morro Bay’s Chablis Cruises and the Lost Isle—we see you being sea otter savvy! #respectthenap

With sadness and respect, we honor the legacy of Dr. Jim Estes, who passed away this week. A pioneer of marine ecology, Jim’s groundbreaking work transformed our understanding of ecosystems and the essential role of keystone predators like sea otters. He is an icon in sea otter research. 🧵👇

Lizard crossing on the Sea Otter Savvy headquarters stairs! I really don’t want this guy to get smushed!

Motions by Alex Mendez cool waters of the slough pushing against me pushing against the currents from kayaks and boaters a gentle rock as long as they let me float on and stay napping with my young Poem was by one of our CSUMB Service Learning students. #RespectTheNap #mindfulmonday

Speak up for wildlife this #EndangeredSpeciesDay. The #EndangeredSpeciesAct (ESA) protects our most vulnerable animals and plants from extinction. An essential part of the law is the use of the term "harm" as any act which (intentionally or unintentionally) kills or injures wildlife. 🧵👇

There’s a lot heading our way lately. When the weight of the world becomes overwhelming, I’m fortunate in that I live and work where I can step outside and bask in the real world of sea otters —sleeping, grooming, foraging, caring for pups—surviving. Hold space for nature. #selfcare

How many sea otters are in this raft? Sea otter counting can be tricky! May 1st marks the start of the so. sea otter range wide census. Sea otter biologists up and down the CA coast are on foot with binoculars & telescopes trying to account for every wild sea otter in the state. #everyottercounts

It’s #StewardshipSaturday and the perfect day to celebrate volunteers from CA State Parks’ SeaLife Stewards and @elephantsealfriend.bsky.social who attended their sea otter savvy training m with our director, Gena. Volunteers like these are the essential to community-based wildlife stewardship.

Southern sea otter range wide census 2025: day 1 in my section of 25 years!

Urchin again? A sea otter can eat 100s of urchins every day as part of their daily caloric requirement. They may procure several on a foraging dive, stashing extras in the pockets formed by skin folds under their forelegs. #TastyTuesday 📷 by Nicole LaRoche, zoomed and cropped.

Influencers: your self-aggrandizing pics of you posing with wild animals are not an act of conservation.

#StewardshipSaturday: It was a picture perfect day on Elkhorn Slough with the super savvy Aptos Community Youth Program! These young stewards learned about sea otters while shore spotting, then took that savvy to the water to demo #seaottersavvy guidelines. A+++, young stewards!

How do you do your #CaliforniaRoll? This young female is munching on a crab wrapped in seaweed while executing belly-cleansing side rolls. Be sure to stay to the end to see how we give space. No one does sushi like a sea otter! #seaotter #seaottersavvy

What will you do for your planet today? These Girl Scouts learned and practiced sea otter stewardship this #EarthDay. How about you? #happyearthday #stewardship

We were thrilled to support our friends @seaottersavvy.bsky.social their event at Golden State Cider! Heather and the Sea Otter Savvy team are doing vital work to help protect these fuzzy marine mammals and we're always happy to help (especially when it means enjoying some tasty local cider!)

Today was our first Sea Otter Savvy field experience of the year! Kids from CHISPA Housing experienced the sea otters of Elkhorn Slough from both shore- and kayak-based modules. We believe youth are the wildlife stewards not just of the future, but now! #StewardshipSaturday

Is it a real #tastytuesday or an #AprilFoolsDay prank? Sea otters might grab anything they find interesting on the sea floor and this one is no exception. Photog Laurie Miller captured this Morro Bay sea otter tackling a giant ribbon worm, something never before seen as sea otter prey in CA. 🧵👇🏻

Drumroll🥁! The 'Energetic cost of human disturbance on the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis)' is published in the Journal of Wildlife Management. Congratulations to our very own Heather Barrett & co-authors! Read it here: wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 📸Nicole Laroche.

This CA ☀️ has us daydreaming about the weekend... #Seaotters are at particular risk of disturbance & need uninterrupted rest to survive. Remember stay >60 ft or 5 kayak lengths away. Be aware of 🦦behavior-if they’re looking at you, you’re too close! #SeaOtterSavvy #TuesdayThoughts 📸@hbarrett_otter

Today we are excited to join many amazing science partners to spark wonder and curiosity for science at the #NorthBayScienceDiscoveryDay at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Thank you to the amazing event volunteers (in lab coats) who helped us introduce this community to the extraordinary sea otter!

Take a quiet moment with us and #RespectTheNap. Brought to you by Sea Otter Savvy. Thank you for your continued support of our sea otter research and outreach programs. #seaottersavvy #wildlifewednesday #seaotters

It’s #WorldWildlifeDay! Celebrate by taking an active roll in wildlife conservation. Here are some ideas: 1. Volunteer for a wildlife conservation group (like Sea Otter Savvy!) 🧵👇🏻