There is no such thing as an uncute sea otter.
With their rolling antics, hilarious grooming, and whip-fast dive-and-swims, rescued sea otters are a draw at zoos and aquariums across the country. But when 45-pound Ruby recently arrived at the Seattle Aquarium from Monterey Bay Aquarium, she came with special honor: Ruby is the Seattle Aquarium’s first southern sea otter.
The aquarium isn’t new to sea otters, however. In fact, it has done research on helping recover and care for northern sea otters unable to live in the wild for nearly 30 years. Ruby is simply an expansion of the organization’s commitment to sea otter recovery. Northern sea otters are found in waters from Washington to British Columbia to Alaska, while southern sea otters hail from California.
“We are so excited for everyone to meet Ruby,” Veronica Seawall, Seattle Aquarium curator of birds and mammals, said in a news release. “We’ve been working very closely with the team at Monterey Bay Aquarium for several months to ensure her move to Seattle is a smooth transition.”
Check out the otters’ live webcam below:
After being found stranded, 1-day-old pup Ruby was rescued. She weighed just 1.9 pounds at the time. She grew and was nurtured in the California aquarium’s surrogacy program. Unfortunately, she became dependent on humans for food and is unable to survive in the wild after several attempts.
Here in Seattle, Ruby will room with northern sea otters Mishka and Sekiu, who are both slightly larger than Ruby at 50 and 53 pounds, respectively. Despite their differences in weight and origin, Seawall said northern and southern sea otters “happily cohabitate in zoos and aquariums as their care needs are the same.”
You can visit Ruby and her new otter friends any day the Seattle Aquarium is open.
