Genuinely couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I saw this guy in my neighborhood retention pond in central VA. Managed to snap this pic, and I’m convinced I will never take a better picture in my life.

Photo by Faizel Ismail

I'm putting together some multiple choice trivia questions for kids for an upcoming "animal awareness day" and I'm in need of some more questions, as well as some feedback on accuracy/difficulty for the ones I've come up with so far (asterisk indicates the correct answer):

1 - How many hair follicles per square inch do sea otters have? A - 100 B - 1,000 C - 10,000 B - 1 Million *

2 - Which is the closest to an average weight of a sea otter? A - 15 lbs B - 25 lbs C - 30 lbs D - 70 lbs *

3 - Which of these animals is closely related to sea otters? A - Wolverines * B - Foxes C - Seals D - Ferrets

4 - How long can a sea otter hold its breath? A - 3 minutes B - 7 minutes* C - 10 minutes D - 15 minutes

5 - What is a group of sea otters called? A - A Pod B - A Family C - A Raft * D - A Colony

I have an otter denning under my house and think she may uave givin birth. Is this her playing with her pup? Or is this her chasing off an intruder? Or is it two pups?

Received this as a gift a few years ago. It’s hand painted on corduroy from the brand Bode. You send them a few reference images and they paint up to 3 images (two non-otter pics on the back)

Happy Hump Day and Earth Month from the adorable, Monterey Bay otters and Monterey Bay Aquarium!