They’re big, like an overweight Peruvian dog,” is how photographer Santiago Romaní describes giant otters (Pteronura ...

Massive sea urchin populations are destroying Hawaii's coral reefs faster than they can naturally rebuild themselves.

All animals and plants are important to their environment, but are some more important than others? Every ecosystem consists ...

World Otter Day highlights how these playful animals serve as crucial indicators of healthy aquatic ecosystems.

In the sweltering sea temperatures, kelp forests declined, kelp-eating sea urchin numbers exploded, and sea otters shifted their diet toward sea urchins. Later, the sea otters pivoted again—this ...

Both areas were mostly ‘urchin barrens’ – sites where sea urchins had overgrazed in the absence of sea otters – when the studies began. But while kelp grew back off both coasts ...

While working on remote Alaskan islands, he found where sea otters were absent, sea urchin populations mushroomed, overtaking kelp forests. He concluded the small mammal was integral to ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Sea otters have been missing from the Oregon coast for more than a century, and local non-profit Elakha Alliance is trying to bring them back. The marine mammals, which help ...

After missing from the Oregon coast for more than a century, sea otters are getting a step closer ... kelp forests and controlling invasive sea urchin populations. “They’re the guardians ...

sea otters can eat up to 25% of their body weight in food every day. This enables them to control sea urchin populations, which in turn allows kelp forests to thrive along the ocean floor.

Sea otters play a vital role in maintaining the ... protects the kelp forest from being overgrazed. The kelp keeps the urchin happy and fed. The urchin keep the otter healthy and fed, and the ...