304 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



Scammon (1874, p* 69) gives Cape Blanco, Oreg., as one of the 

 principal hunting grounds for sea otters from 1852 to 1872, and 

 Allen (1898, p. 366) reported many taken in Oregon as late as 

 1876. Since that time there has been only sad silence as to their 

 occurrence on the coast of the State, although there are evidently a 

 few left on the coasts of Washington and California, and if absolute 

 protection over the whole world could be enforced for this most 

 valuable fur bearer there would be a possibility of its increase to 

 abundance. 



During the summer of 1928, Mrs. Stanley G. Jewett and her son, 

 Stanley G., Jr., made a considerable collection of bones from the 

 shell heaps at Netarts, on the coast in Tillamook County, and sent 

 them to the Biological Survey for identification. Among the great 

 number of bones of sea lions and seals are a few fragments of sea- 

 otter bones. Just what the relationship of these animals to a pre- 

 historic people may have been, whether they were used as food and 

 clothing, or merely for ornament, is not evident from present 

 knowledge, but their association in Oregon with primitive man is 

 interesting and significant. 



General habits. Sea otters are highly adapted to an aquatic life 

 and apparently are able to spend their whole time in the water, and 

 on the floating beds of kelp, but in their early abundance they spent 

 much time basking on the rocky islands of our coasts or the floating 

 ice cakes of the far North. Originally they were very abundant 

 and highly gregarious, and 50 to several hundreds or even thousands 

 were found together on the feeding or sleeping grounds. All ac- 

 counts agree that they were gentle, timid animals, rarely making any 

 efforts at self-defense except in the case of mothers in defense of their 

 young, their only desire being to get into the water where escape by 

 diving and swimming long distances below the surface was possible. 

 They are said to swim on their backs but to turn over in diving. In 

 their early abundance they were unafraid and were easily slaughtered 

 by the thousands with clubs and spears, but after being brought to 

 the verge of extermination by years of ruthless slaughter they have 

 become extremely wary and difficult to shoot even at long range, 

 thus showing a degree of intelligence that may yet rescue the species 

 from extinction. 



Breeding habits. Sea otters have 1 pair of mammae located on 

 the posterior part of the abdomen, and normally they have but one 

 young at a time. The young are said to be generally brought forth 

 on the beds of floating kelp, but Steller speaks of them on the is- 

 lands where the herds were in the habit of resting or out at sea with 

 the mother, playing on or about her body as she floated on her back 

 in the water. The mother will not desert her young and often 

 sacrifices her life in protecting it. The young are found with the 

 mothers at all seasons of the year, and most writers agree that there 

 is no particular breeding season. 



Food habits. Only the statements of early writers are available 

 as to the nature of the food of sea otters, and they generally agree 

 that crabs, clams, and other forms of crustaceans and bivalves form 

 most of their food. Other foods generally referred to are sea urchins, 

 squids, small fishes, and some kelp. Scammon says they bring up 

 their food to the surface and instantly resume their habitual atti- 



