Mid-Week Mini: Sea Otters Holding Hands

In this week’s Mid-Week Mini Episode, we learn that Sea Otters hold hands.

A group of sea otters floating in the ocean is called a raft. Which sounds relaxing until you realize that the ocean is trying to separate that raft every second of the day.

Sea otters sleep on the water. They don’t build dens on shore like some other animals. They just float on their backs, usually wrapped up in kelp like a little weighted blanket. But in areas where kelp isn’t available – or when they’re sleeping close together – sea otters have another strategy. They hold hands.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

Researchers and wildlife photographers have documented sea otters linking paws while they sleep so they don’t drift away from each other while currents move underneath them. Sometimes it’s a mother and pup. Sometimes it’s two adults. Sometimes entire groups will bunch together in giant floating rafts while tangled in kelp forests off the coasts of places like California and Alaska.

And honestly, it’s one of the few animal facts that somehow gets cuter the more you learn about it.

Because sea otters are basically built for this floating lifestyle. They have the densest fur of any animal on Earth – up to a million hairs per square inch. That’s important because unlike whales or seals, sea otters don’t have a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm. Their fur does all the work. So they spend huge amounts of time grooming themselves to trap air in that fur for insulation.

They also eat a ridiculous amount of food. Sometimes up to 25% of their body weight every day. Crabs, clams, sea urchins, mussels. They even use rocks as tools, cracking shellfish open on their stomachs while floating around like tiny exhausted contractors on lunch break.

And then, after all that effort, they fall asleep holding onto each other so they don’t float away.

What’s funny is that scientists think this behavior may also help strengthen social bonds. Sea otters are more social than many other marine mammals, especially females with pups. So while the hand-holding is practical, it also probably serves as a form of connection and protection.

Which means somewhere in the Pacific Ocean right now, there’s a sleepy little sea otter reaching out like, “Hey… you still there?”

And another one squeezing back.

The internet says it’s true.