Sea otters eat a quarter of their weight…every day.

California sea otters live at sea, near rocky shores, or in estuaries, such as Elkhorn Slough in Monterey Bay. To keep their body temp-erature at 100 degrees (F), they eat one-quarter of their weight every day. That's like a 160-pound human eating 40 pounds of food daily.

Sea otters eat more than 40 different animals -- including abalone, sea urchins, crabs, and clams. To find that food, they can dive 350 feet deep and hold their breath for five minutes. Each otter has her or his favorite meal. They use their bellies as dinner tables. They break up their food by pounding it against a rock or glass bottle they put on their stomachs.