Sea Otters Content

Ensuring a Future for 10 Iconic Animals

Katherine E Kerlin — April 19, 2023 - 1:16pm

As the Endangered Species Act celebrates 50 years, a UC feature story highlights �ٺ��Ƶ efforts to protect animals like Channel Island foxes and white abalone.

Sea Otters Killed by Unusual Parasite Strain

Katherine E Kerlin — March 22, 2023 - 8:00am

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 �ٺ��Ƶ and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Southern Sea Otter Heart Health in Hot Water

Eunah Cho Preston — January 26, 2021 - 9:01am

A recent study led by the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics at the School of Veterinary Medicine’s One Health Institute (OHI) examined the association between long-term environmental exposure to domoic acid (DA) and fatal cardiac disease in southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis), a threatened species.

Ocean Toxin a Heartbreaking Threat for Sea Otters

Katherine E Kerlin — January 26, 2021 - 7:11am

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.

The study, 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.

Sea Otters, Opossums and the Surprising Ways Pathogens Move From Land to Sea

Katherine E Kerlin — March 18, 2020 - 1:25pm

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.

What’s Killing Sea Otters? Scientists Pinpoint Parasite Strain

Katherine E Kerlin — August 22, 2019 - 11:23am

Many wild southern sea otters in California are infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, 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.

Paving the Way for Pathogens

Katherine E Kerlin — August 29, 2016 - 11:31am

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. The study advances earlier work by tracking the parasite T. gondii to see how human-driven land-use change and rainfall might be impacting pathogen movement from land to sea.