Determined sea otter swims through slush to find meal at Alaska park, video shows

A determined sea otter wouldn’t let heavy snow and a slushy lagoon keep it from finding its next meal, video shows.

The sea otter was swimming through a lagoon at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska when heavy snow started to fall, park officials said Friday on Facebook. The lagoon was turning to slush.

“This sea otter was not fazed by the heavy snow turning this lagoon into slush, continuing its quest for calories even in rough weather,” the park said.

An inch or two of slushy ice started to form on the lagoon, park officials said. The sea otter was chewing and biting something in its paws, video shows.

Sea otters can drastically impact their environment, according to the National Park Service. To survive in “cold-water environments,” they have to eat 20-30% of their body weight every day.

There are more than 8,000 sea otters at Glacier Bay, according to the National Park Service.

“Most of these animals are concentrated in lower reaches of the Bay. Sea otters consume large quantities of clams, mussels, crabs and other invertebrates, some of which are commercially, culturally or ecologically important,” the National Park Service said on its website. “Scientists have long known that increased predation on these species can cause long-term changes that ripple through the ecosystem.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Determined sea otter swims through slush to find meal at Alaska park, video shows."