What are sea otter pelts used for?

What are sea otter pelts used for?

Today sea and river otters are the main bearers of fur. It is commonly used for coats, hats trimming and lining.

What is otter fur worth?

Otter – about a quarter sold, averaging around $15. Marten – about 50% sold, averaging $20.

What is special about otter fur?

Otter fur has two special properties that make it especially good at creating an insulating layer of air: It’s dense, and it’s spiky. Otters fur is about 1,000 times more dense than human hair. But it wouldn’t do them any good if it were smooth and perfectly combed.

Is otter fur valuable?

With up to a million hairs per square inch, otter fur was prized for its softness and warmth—the warmest in the animal kingdom. By the late 1700s, British and American hunters had begun harvesting otter pelts in California and selling them to trading outfits including Hudson’s Bay Company.

Why is sea otter fur so valuable?

Just a few hundred years ago, thousands of sea otters peppered the coast of California, dwarfing the current population of less than 3000 animals. With up to a million hairs per square inch, otter fur was prized for its softness and warmth—the warmest in the animal kingdom.

Is sea otter fur legal?

The skull provides the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with valuable biological data about the sea otter. For example, teeth are used for aging the animal.

How does a sea otters fur keep it warm?

To stay warm in such cold water, the otters’ fur has long strong outer hairs – called guard hairs. They can also fluff up their fur when they get out of the water to trap air between the hairs. The trapped air can help insulate them from the cold, as well.

Why did the French explorers want animal furs?

The things they were trading fur for with the French were equal to great wealth in their societies. As the French and the Natives interacted, they developed friendly relations with one another. They also began to learn each others’ languages.

Why do sea otters have so much fur?

MANY aquatic mammals that live in cold waters have a thick layer of blubber under the skin to help them stay warm. The sea otter relies on another insulation method​—a thick fur coat. Consider: The fur of the sea otter is denser than that of any other mammal, with some one million hairs per square inch (155,000 per sq cm).

How did the fur trade affect sea cows?

These slow-swimming kelp-eaters provided the on-the-go meals the hunters needed. But unlike sea otters, the sea cows didn’t survive the onslaught. The otter fur trade wiped them from existence. On down the coast the Russian hunters moved to present-day California.

How did the fur trade affect the otter population?

But only the fur trade could whittle the otter population down to the few dozen that were left in the early 1900s.

Why do sea otters swim in cold water?

When the otter swims, its coat traps a layer of air close to its body. That air acts as an insulator, preventing the cold water from coming into direct contact with the animal’s skin and sapping its body heat.