Live Sea Otter Cam

At the Vancouver Aquarium

There are two sea otters in this exhibit, Milo and Tanu. You’ll see them come in and out of camera range.

	Milo is a male sea otter, born in Portugal's Lisbon Aquarium, August 14, 1999. He’s one of the sea otters featured in the popular YouTube video.
	Tanu was found on her own off the coast of Alaska in mid-July 2004, when she was only a week or two old. She was rescued and now resides at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Note: The staff and volunteers at the Vancouver Aquarium are profoundly saddened to share the news that Nyac, the 20 year old female sea otter died on September 23, 2008. She was one of the last surviving sea otters of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, and was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia a few days before her death. Lymphocytic leukemia has not been previously reported in sea otters, but there is some association of this disease with contact with petroleum in other species. Goodbye Nyac.

We keep their home clean
Can’t see the sea otters? Or any water, for that matter? One day each week, this exhibit is completely drained and power-sprayed to keep it clean. During this time, the sea otters hang out behind-the-scenes.  

Sea otters eat a lot
They burn lots of energy and need to eat frequently. Sea otters in the wild eat up to 25-30 percent of their body weight each day. The sea otters here eat surf clams, fish fillets and occasionally, some live crabs. The Vancouver Aquarium buys $20 000 worth of clams, fish and crabs for each sea otter annually. 

Sea otter grooming looks like scratching
Sea otters depend on their fur to keep warm in chilly water, so they spend most of their day keeping their fur clean. Sea otters “scratch” to untangle knots and remove loose fur. If you take a closer look, you’ll also see them blow or fluff air into their fur, creating an insulating layer of air between their fur and skin.  

“Holding paws” is a natural behaviour
If you see the sea otters here holding paws, there’s a good chance that one of them is Milo; he tends to initiate this type of behaviour. Sea otters in the wild will sometimes hold paws with other otters to form a raft. Find out more about sea otter rafting in the wild. 

Toys keep the sea otters stimulated
The marine mammal trainers give toys to the sea otters as part of their enrichment activities. The sea otters are particularly challenged by a plastic ball with holes. Watch for it: The trainers place edible treats inside the holes to encourage the sea otters to interact with the toy and problem solve.

More information:
If you would like to get to know the otters 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.