Cute Sea Otter Behavior Decoded
可愛海獺行為大解密
Hi, my name's Kristi. I'm a senior marine mammal trainer, who works primarily with the sea otters.
嗨，我的名字是 Kristi。我是海洋哺乳動物資深訓練師，工作的主要內容和海獺相關。
Why do sea otters hold hands?
為什麼海獺會牽手？
Otters hold paws, and it's called rafting. They do this to stay in groups; typically they do it when they're sleeping. If you think about it, safety in numbers is always a good thing, and so they don't want to float away and potentially get preyed upon. Out in the wild, if it means holding paws with a stranger...you hold paws with a stranger.
海獺會牽手，這種行為叫做「漂筏」。牠們這個行為是為了聚集成群；特別是在睡覺的時候。你仔細想想，為了安全，數量上眾多一直都是好事，牠們不會想要獨自漂走，變成別人潛在的獵物。在野外，如果這代表跟陌生人牽手...沒錯，你就是跟陌生人牽手。
Why do sea otters bang things?
為什麼海獺會敲擊東西？
So, the banging is a natural behavior for otters. They eat a lot of shellfish, a lot of invertebrates. And to crack open that shellfish, they'll bang that food on a rock, or they'll find a rock to bang against the shellfish to get to the food inside. Sea otters are one of the few marine mammals to use tools. Otters are also seen to—if they find a particular rock that works really well for them, they can actually store it in a loose fold of skin in their armpit area, referred to as a pocket, to hold on to it for later use.
對海獺來說，敲擊是自然的行為。牠們吃很多貝類和無脊椎動物。如果要把貝類敲開，牠們會用食物敲石頭，或者牠們會找一塊石頭來敲貝類，這樣才能拿到裡面的食物。海獺是少數會運用工具的海洋哺乳類。海獺也被觀察出有這樣的情形－－如果牠們找到很適合敲擊食物的石頭，會把石頭放在腋下比較鬆垮的皮囊中，有點像是口袋，拿來之後使用。
Why do sea otters rub their faces?
為什麼海獺會搓自己的臉？
So, this behavior. Rubbing the face is a grooming behavior. It's a really important behavior for otters. They have the densest fur in all the animal kingdom and rely on that fur to keep themselves warm in the cold water. They don't have any blubber or fat, so keeping that fur really clean maintain its waterproofing qualities. A healthy sea otter's fur never allows their skin to be wet, so grooming that fur and keeping it really clean is really important. If you were to try and part the fur down to the skin, you'd never be able to see the skin.
就是這個動作。搓臉是一種梳洗的行為。這對海獺來說是很重要的行為。在所有動物中，牠們的毛髮可說是最濃密的，也依靠毛髮在冷水中保持溫暖。牠們沒有任何海獸脂或脂肪，所以讓毛髮乾淨可以維持防水的能力。健康海獺的毛髮絕對不會讓皮膚濕掉，所以梳洗毛髮、讓毛髮保持乾淨對牠們來說是很重要的。如果你想試試看掰開牠們的毛看皮膚，你是絕對看不到的。
Why does a sea otter pup lie on its mom?
為什麼海獺寶寶會躺在媽媽身上？
When pups are born, they have a lanugo coat, which actually doesn't allow them to dive, so they can just float in the water. And they aren't very good swimmers when they're first born, either, so it's mom's responsibility to take care of that pup and keep it with her. And that's the easiest way for mom to do it—is to keep it on her chest. Now if the mom needs to go off and hunt for food, you may see a pup actually wrapped in kelp. They'll use kelp, kind of like a seat belt, to keep the pup in place so that mom can go and forage, and when she comes back to the surface, the pup is in the same place.
海獺寶寶出生的時候身上有胎毛，沒辦法潛水，所以只能漂在水面上。牠們剛出生的時候其實也不太會游泳，所以把寶寶帶在身邊照顧就是媽媽的責任。把寶寶放在媽媽胸膛上就是最簡單的方式。如果媽媽需要出門獵食，你可能就會看到海獺寶寶被裹在海草裡。牠們會用海草固定海獺寶寶，有點像安全帶，這樣媽媽才能外出覓食，媽媽從水中回來水面時，海獺寶寶才會在原位。
Why do sea otters wrestle?
為什麼海獺會摔角？
Young pups, especially, are gonna be socializing and interacting with other young pups. We're very fortunate here at the aquarium, where we do have four animals under the age of two, and so they're—have a lot of energy and very playful with each other and most of the time, spend most of their day playing and wrestling with each other. You would see this out in the wild as well with young pups interacting with each other, learning social cues and learning how to be an otter out in the wild.
海獺會跟其他海獺社交和互動，特別是年幼的小海獺。我們很幸運能夠在這間水族館，因為我們有四隻不到兩歲的動物，所以牠們－－活力充沛，很愛和彼此玩在一起，而且大多數的時候，整天都會摔來摔去，玩在一起。你也會在野外看到年幼的海獺彼此互動、學習社交線索，並學會如何在大自然中當一隻海獺。
