




Sea otters are what are known as keystone species. We see this when a small predator (a sea otter) preys on a plant-eating animal (sea urchin) that would otherwise eliminate a dominant plant species (kelp). Other examples of keystone species include grizzly bears, carnivorous starfish and kangaroo rats.

The study, released by the University of California, Santa Cruz, examined 40 years of data collected from otters and kelp forests from Vancouver Island to the western shore of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

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