26 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 68 



than emaciated individuals which die on beaches in a densely- 

 populated area. Animals in captivity, taken in a densely populated 

 area (Amchitka), lost about 25 percent of their body weight at 

 capture, before death. 



MISCELLANEOUS MEASUREMENTS 



Skin length and body length 



The skin of the sea otter is ''loose" and stretches considerably 

 after it is removed from the animal, as shovm by the following 

 figures : 



Specimen 



Sex 



Body 

 length 1 



Millimeters Inches 



Skin 

 length 2 



Millimeters Inches 



Percent 

 increase 



Remarks 



KWK 59-61 



? 



720 28% 



1,035 40% 



44 



Fresh skin. 



KWK 59-77 



? 



1.320 51% 



1.850 72% 



42 



Fresh skin. 



BDM 128 





1,478 58 



1.715 671/2 



16 



Tanned skin. 



1 Tip of nose to tip of tail flesh. 



2 Moderate tension applied. 



Thus, a skin freshly removed from the animal may easily be 

 stretched 144 percent and a tanned skin 116 percent of the animal's 

 body length. It is concluded that measurements taken from skins 

 are of little use in establishing body size in the sea otter. 



Intestine length 



Length of intestine in four adult sea otters is shown in table 7. 

 Shortly after death, the intestinal tract was removed, laid on flat 

 ground, and measured. An effort was made to obtain the relaxed 

 length (not the stretched length). The mean length of the small 

 intestine was 9.0 times body length (table 7). 



In general, carnivores have shorter intestines than herbivores 

 but the variation among strictly carnivorous mammals is great. 



Table 7. — Intestine length of adult sea otters 



[Length in centimeters] 



Collection 

 number 



Sex 



Body 

 length 



Intestine 

 length 1 



Small 

 intestine ^ 



Ratio, small 

 intestine to 

 body length 



59-60 



female 



124. 



1,214 (39.5 feet) 



1,154 



9.3:1 



61-2 



- -do- -- 



127. 



1,076 (35.3 feet) 



1,016 



8.0:1 



62-11 



do 



128. 



1,313 (43.1 feet) 



1,253 



9.8:1 



62-10 



male - 



136. 



1,290 (42.3 feet) 



1,230 



9.0:1 



Mean 





128.7 







9.0:1 



1 From stomach to anus. 



2 No caecum is present in the sea otter. The small intestine gradually expands into the large 

 intestine. The approximate length of the large intestine is 60 cm. This amount is subtracted 

 from the total intestine length to obtain the approximate length of the small intestine. 



