Sea Otters Content / Sea Otters Content for ºÙºÙÊÓƵ en Ensuring a Future for 10 Iconic Animals /climate/news/saving-our-wild-creatures As the Endangered Species Act celebrates 50 years, a UC feature story highlights ºÙºÙÊÓƵ efforts to protect animals like Channel Island foxes and white abalone. April 19, 2023 - 1:16pm Katherine E Kerlin /climate/news/saving-our-wild-creatures Sea Otters Killed by Unusual Parasite Strain /health/news/sea-otters-killed-unusual-parasite-strain An unusually severe form of toxoplasmosis killed four sea otters and could pose a threat to other marine wildlife and humans, finds a study from ºÙºÙÊÓƵ and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. March 22, 2023 - 8:00am Katherine E Kerlin /health/news/sea-otters-killed-unusual-parasite-strain Southern Sea Otter Heart Health in Hot Water /one-health/southern-sea-otter-heart-health-hot-water <p>A recent study led by the <a href="https://ohi.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/centers/epicenter-disease-dynamics">EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics</a> at the <a href="https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/">School of Veterinary Medicine’s</a> <a href="https://ohi.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/">One Health Institute (OHI</a>) examined the association between long-term environmental exposure to domoic acid (DA) and fatal cardiac disease in southern sea otters (<em>Enhydra lutris nereis</em>), a threatened species.</p> January 26, 2021 - 9:01am Eunah Cho Preston /one-health/southern-sea-otter-heart-health-hot-water Ocean Toxin a Heartbreaking Threat for Sea Otters /climate/news/ocean-toxin-a-heartbreaking-threat-for-sea-otters <p>Heart disease is a killer threat for southern sea otters feasting on domoic acid in their food web, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis.</p> <p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568988320302523">The study,</a> published in the journal Harmful Algae, examined the relationship between long-term exposure to domoic acid and fatal heart disease in southern sea otters, a threatened marine mammal.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> January 26, 2021 - 7:11am Katherine E Kerlin /climate/news/ocean-toxin-a-heartbreaking-threat-for-sea-otters Sea Otters, Opossums and the Surprising Ways Pathogens Move From Land to Sea /news/sea-otters-opossums-and-surprising-ways-pathogens-move-land-sea <p>A parasite known only to be hosted in North America by the Virginia opossum is infecting sea otters along the West Coast. A study from the University of California, Davis, elucidates the sometimes surprising and complex pathways infectious pathogens can move from land to sea to sea otter.</p> March 18, 2020 - 1:25pm Katherine E Kerlin /news/sea-otters-opossums-and-surprising-ways-pathogens-move-land-sea What’s Killing Sea Otters? Scientists Pinpoint Parasite Strain /news/whats-killing-sea-otters-scientists-pinpoint-parasite-strain <p>Many wild southern sea otters in California are infected with the parasite <em>Toxoplasma gondii, </em>yet the infection is fatal for only a fraction of sea otters, which has long puzzled the scientific community. A study from the University of California, Davis, identifies the parasite’s specific strains that are killing southern sea otters, tracing them back to a bobcat and feral domestic cats from nearby watersheds.</p> August 22, 2019 - 11:23am Katherine E Kerlin /news/whats-killing-sea-otters-scientists-pinpoint-parasite-strain Paving the Way for Pathogens /news/paving-way-pathogens <p>Higher levels of rainfall and coastal development increase the risk of disease-causing organisms flowing to the ocean, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.&nbsp;The study advances earlier work by tracking the parasite <em>T. gondii </em>to see how human-driven land-use change and rainfall might be impacting pathogen movement from land to sea.</p> August 29, 2016 - 11:31am Katherine E Kerlin /news/paving-way-pathogens