Photo: Sea Otter Nootka Sound

A sea otter enjoys a morning swim in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.

We nickname these cute creatures "sea grizzlies" but actually this is a Sea Otter or Enhydra lutris. The Sea Otter, seen here in Nootka Sound, is a marine mammal which dwells mostly in relatively shallow coastal waters.They are distinguished by the fact that they can use tools ie, rocks in order to pry food from rocks, or to crack open their prey.They live in groups called rafts and can often be seen resting in kelp forests along coastlines. It seems that Nootka Sound has a healthy population of Sea Otters.