Posted by kelphead on March 02, 2001 at 20:15:11:
In Reply to: Welllllll....... posted by mike on March 02, 2001 at 19:37:15:
my point is that i don't see seahunt finding any
other animal besides sea otters as "guilty", even
according to his own logic.
as for what ate sea otters in the past,
i've learned that the alaskan sea otter has
on-land predators since it actually does spend
more time on land than the california cousin
(don't know about the asian sea otter).
so, in the case of the alaskan sea otter, wolves
and bears are their public enemy #1.
as for the cal sea otter, the only animals i can
think of that could be potential predators of
otters are sharks and orcas, though orcas are not
known to frequent our shores(...are they??!!).
the shark may be a good candidate but since the
numbers of otters are much lower than before, perhaps
the sharks cut them out of their diet completely
and favored other sources (ie, elephant seals, sea
lions, etc).
if numbers of otters/pinnipeds were much higher in
socal than before, perhaps sharks like the great
white were more frequent here, but perhaps over
time their migratory routes could have evolved--again
based on food source, or lack thereof.
...lots of presumptions and guesses when all is said
and done...
= : )
kelphed.