Sea Otters ? Furry Mammals of the Sea

Summary
Students will understand what a sea otter is, learn about its environment and recognize vocabulary terms in relation to a sea otter.

Objectives
• Students will learn what a sea otter is.

• Students will understand key vocabulary words associated with sea otters.

Suggested Grades
6th Grade
7th Grade
8th Grade

Excerpt
Sea otters are mammals and so have fur, are warm-blooded, give live birth, nurse their young with milk, and breathe oxygen. They don?t have blubber like other sea mammals such as whales and must keep their fur healthy and themselves warm in order to survive. Needing a healthy internal body temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, these otters need help to keep warm. Their amazing fur maintains an extraordinary thickness ? approximately 1,000,000 hairs per square inch ? in comparison with dogs that have 1,000 to 60,000 hairs per square inch and humans that have about 100,000 hairs per square inch.

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