The YouTube Sea OttersVancouver Aquarium sea otters, Nyac and Milo, were the stars on YouTube in 2007. A video showing the otters holding paws, a natural behaviour called "rafting", appeared on the Internet in March 2007. It has now been viewed over 11 million times by people all over the world. Aquarium visitor Cynthia Holmes, who was then a PhD student at the University of British Columbia, shot the video in 2002. The tremendous response to Ms. Holmes's video on YouTube is a testament to the allure of sea otters. And that's good since they are a threatened species and need our help. Oil spills are one of the greatest threats to sea otters. Nyac, the blond, female otter in the video was a rare survivor of the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Sadly on September 23, 2008, Nyac died of chronic lymphocytic leukemia at the ripe old age of 20. She was one of the last surviving sea otters of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. According to the Aquarium’s Staff Veterinarian, Dr. Martin Haulena, even in her death Nyac is a very important animal because “Lymphocytic leukemia has not been previously reported in sea otters and because there is some association with contact with petroleum in other species … she’ll continue to provide vital information on the long-term effects of oil exposure.” We hope that people watching this video will be inspired to take action - by choosing to drive a fuel-efficient car, for example - to help protect sea otters for our grandchildren.
If you would like to get to know the otters at the aquarium better, you can book a Sea Otter Animal Encounter, where visitors go behind the scenes to learn about and feed the otters. More information about sea otters can be found in our sea otter AquaFact file. |