Characteristics Of Sea Otters And Elephants

Keystone species play some of the most vital roles in ecosystems across the globe. While their importance to the ecosystem is often undervalued, they are the glue that holds everything together. Two perfect examples of keystone species are Sea Otters and Elephants. Even though they are two completely different types of animals with two entirely different sets of characteristics, both of these species are crucial to the ecosystem that they live in running smoothly. Sea Otters are a pretty unique mammal that is essential to the pacific coast maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Otter’s diets tend to consist of urchins, abalone, mussels, clams, crabs, snails and about 40 other marine species. Sea otters eat approximately 25% of their weight in food each day to support their high metabolism. In the past, the population of otters in the …show more content…
Unfortunately, due to the fur trade, the population dropped to around only a thousand left in the wild during the early 1900’s. Currently, there population has been increasing and is now at about 100 thousand, and about 3 thousand off the coast of California, where the otter is a keystone species. Otters tend to live all over the pacific coast: from Siberia to japan, to Washington to southern California. It is primarily considered a keystone species because of its’ consumption of sea urchins, which plays an essential role in controlling sea urchin’s population size. One of Sea Urchin’s primary food sources is kelp. Kelp is extremely necessary to its’ ecosystem, as it is a major source of food and shelter for a variety of ocean species. Many species of crustaceans even depend on kelp for food, and lots of smaller

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