A female sea otter thinks enough is enough, and “surfs” in Santa Cruz, California. Now the authorities have issued a warning.
Idyllic Santa Cruz is known as a place where surfers make a pilgrimage in California. Now, however, it may seem that one of the city’s beings at sea is getting tired of people on boards.
City wildlife authorities have put out a warning against a five-year-old female sea otter, who has been named Oter 841.
According to AFP, this sea otter has been attacking surfers for several weeks and “steals” surfboards. And on Monday, a video of that attack garnered a lot of attention on social media.
It shows an otter hijacking a surfboard and making the surfer “surrender” himself and the board.
Per a message from wildlife authorities, it’s been known that professionals will now try to catch the aggressive surfer anteater and find her another home.
Sea otters are cute, but also very smart — and aggressive. They are known to be the only marine mammals that use “tools” when searching for food.
The sea otter lies on its back and crushes its shells with stones.
Researchers told AFP that the female sea otter’s behavior is unusual.
The New York Times He writes that encounters between humans and sea otters are rare because sea otters are afraid of humans and try to avoid us.
Researcher Tim Tinker believes the reason this five-year-old girl is so close to people may be due to hormonal changes due to pregnancy. Or it may have been fed or approached frequently by humans.
841 had previously lived at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Before being released into the sea, care was taken to ensure that the sea otter would not have a positive association with humans, but it seems to have happened nonetheless. Researchers cannot fully explain why.
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