Sea Otters, seen mostly on the Pacific Coast from Japan to Alaska and California were almost driven to extinction as people hunted them for their fur. At one time last century their numbers had plunged from a million to several thousand. An international ban on hunting has halted the decline, and today it is estimated that there are 100,000 of them, with 3,000 on the coastline of California.
When we arrived at Moss Landing Wildlife Area, we were pleasantly surprised to see dozens of them swimming on their backs in Elkhorn Slough.

Sea Otters at Moss Landing Wildlife Area. The two in the middle were intertwined and twisted in the water as they swam.
Some climbed ashore to rest and sleep.
Wonderful shots! I love how they just float around on their backs completely relaxed.
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Thanks Tiny! We should learn to relax like them, floating on our back, one leg over the other. 🙂
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Oh how lovely they are! 😀
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They are adorable indeed.
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Nicely captured – so relaxed. I’m glad they were saved from extinction.
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Thank you! I am always surprised at the number of species, that we humans have managed to drive to extinction.
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Wondrrous photos. Bravo ông Hiền.
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Thank you!
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We have river otters here, but they’re seldom seen. I’d love to see sea otters and get photos of them as good as yours are.
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River otters, now that’s an animal I haven’t seen. Will have to work on that. Thanks Jerry!
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Fabulous photo series,Hien!The group portraits have so much fun,I double-clicked some of your images and I was stunned.The one facing your lens is gorgeous and so is the sleeping one.
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Thank you Doda. I’m glad you like these Sea Otter photos. They are cute animals.
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Indeed they are !
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Great captures! Love the last one especially. 🙂
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Thanks Amy! That last one: you should have seen them in real life. Next time I’ll have to shoot a short movie.
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I love otters. Great photos.
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Thanks Katelon!
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