Rae [00:00:00] So we're in double digits. Now, this is episode 11 of 12 of this podcast, which means we're almost done. But just with this season, because we have so many stories to go and we have really done all the hits right. I mean, we told stories about cloning technology. We told stories about how your, you know, family dog can help solve science mysteries. It has been so cool.
Peter [00:00:26] We've been underground with bats. We've been very close to wolves. We've been in kelp beds watching what the sea urchins are doing in the kelp is. We've been so many exciting places and so many great stories to tell.
Rae [00:00:39] And in the case of the beloved Southern Sea Otter preservation efforts tap something that couldn't be manufactured in the lab. The maternal instinct.
Peter [00:00:50] I'm Peter Gros. Wildlife expert, educator, and behavioralist.
Rae [00:00:55] And I'm wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. This is Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. The podcast Episode: 11 Sea Otter Surrogates.
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Rae [00:01:15] I have to say, I was definitely not always the girl with the maternal instincts. But luckily, they clicked into place right around the time that I started having kids and it's been such a joy to even notice them surface in myself. I mean, whether it's knowing when my kids are awake in the night and heading to their bedroom before they can come into mine, or even just knowing exactly how to comfort them or feed them or just detect different things in them. But it's one of those things that makes us so much a part of the animal kingdom.
Peter [00:01:46] Exactly. I often think when I take my children into the wilderness that I turn, and they check the straps on their helmets if we're going to be mountain biking or if we're going to be rock climbing, double check all the ropes, if we're going to be rafting, tightening our lifejackets, all of these instincts just seem to surface when I have our children in those situations.
Rae [00:02:06] The Monterey Bay Aquarium in Northern California and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach are using the maternal instinct in female sea otters living under human care to help raise abandoned otter pups so that they can be re-released back to the wild.
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Megan Smylie [00:02:23] This program pairs stranded orphaned pups with adult females. They will get the initial stranding calls, bring the animals in to stabilize them. From there, that female does all the work to raise the pup. It teaches them to groom, socialize and forage. And then once that pup is ready to be weaned from its mom, that pup will be on a releasable track out to go back into the ocean. And this helps repopulate some of the existing territories for the Southern Sea Otter.
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Peter [00:02:55] While in the surrogacy program, these pups learn survival skills like how to use rocks to open shellfish, a skill that the original Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom host Marlin Perkins documented back in 1973.
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Marlin Perkins: [00:03:10] Sea otters are recognized by scientists as one of the few mammals that have learned by themselves to use a simple tool by turning over completely in the water; bits of broken shell are washed away. The otter keeps a good grip on the abalone and the rock to keep from losing them.
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Peter [00:03:30] On a recent episode of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, Rae and I got to meet some of the key people who were instrumental in the success of this program.
Rae [00:03:41] I was down in Long Beach where some older sea otters living at the Aquarium of the Pacific have been recruited as surrogates. That's where I met Megan Smylie. Megan is the Sea Otter program manager.
Megan Smylie [00:03:53] I just cannot remember a time where I was not fascinated by marine mammals.
Rae [00:03:59] I want you to kind of help bring our listeners into the story of the sea otter in America. When the Southern Sea otter population was basically at its height, can you like tell us when was that? What was that era?
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Megan Smylie [00:04:13] If we go back a few hundred years, there would have been anywhere from 150,000 to up to 300,000 sea otters along the coast of basically the Pacific Ocean, going from Baja, Mexico, all the way up the North American coastline and then over into Japan. What we found was that people are very attracted to these animals, which has not changed. And the reason they're so attracted to these animals is that not only are they very charismatic, but they have this beautiful fur coat. The fur coat was this highly coveted item that not only symbolized status for certain populations and different cultural groups but also it kept people very, very warm because it helps keep the otter very, very warm. And once people were able to commercialize the hunting of sea otters for their fur, that is when the population really started to decline.
Rae [00:05:11] In 1911, the Fur Seal Treaty was signed by the U.S., Japan, Russia, and Britain, representing Canada, and put in place protections for seals and sea otters. Later, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act were passed. But all of these things came kind of late.
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Megan Smylie [00:05:33] They had been hunted to almost extinction. And so, the Southern Sea otter was thought to be only having a population of about 50 individuals left at that turning point of the fur trade Treaty. And so once those protections started to come into play, those protections really allowed the animals to kind of stabilize and then slowly start to grow again. And so here along our coast in California, we have recovered to approximately roughly 3000 southern sea otters left along our coastline. And probably one of the more shocking statements is that they're only existing in about 13% of their historical range. And so in their current range, they have reached carrying capacity, which means that they cannot continue to grow because the food sources available are basically at a maximum for them. And so right now, fast forward from the 1700s to 2024, they're still considered threatened because of the small population that exists.
Peter [00:06:34]: You know, you are such a wealth of knowledge. The area that I think you were describing. That's up to carrying capacity is not that far from Monterey Bay Aquarium. And when we filmed there, I was surprised that the numbers that we would see along the shore and the kelp beds in the seagrass and that's all great news. It appears to me that people are sort of loving to see them again so much that we have to really make sure when you go to view them, you keep your distance. I think the limit legally is 500ft, right? Otters need at least that much room. Do you know about what that number is?
Megan Smylie [00:07:08] I believe the legal limit is 300ft or about 100 yards for all marine mammals, not just the sea otters. But I think the the better advice I could give is stay as far away without causing any disturbance. Some of the challenges with these disturbances is that it actually cause a pretty high metabolic requirement for them that they shouldn't necessarily need. And so what I mean by that is if an animal's sleeping at the surface and then gets scared and has to swim away or flee, they're now required to make up for that calorie loss. And when we're talking about animals that are eating between 20 and 30% of their body weight already, it really complicates things for them.
Peter [00:07:52] Rae, I couldn't get too close to the otters I saw up in Monterey Bay. But you got to be up close and personal with a couple of mamas in the surrogacy program with Megan.
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Rae [00:08:04] I don't see anything yet. Oh, yes, I do. Hi!
Megan Smylie [00:08:08] So we have two of our adult female southern sea otters, Millie. And then behind her is Chloe.
Rae [00:08:15] Wow.
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Megan Smylie [00:08:16] That day was super fun because we got to bring Rae to the behind-the-scenes areas in a couple different places, but we got to be up close and personal with two of our adult females, Millie and Chloe, who are just incredible animals. They are two of our surrogate mothers. They are helping to raise and teach young releasable animals how to go back to the ocean. And so it's really, really cool.
Rae [00:08:45] Peter, I have to say, like, you know, this is me admittedly personifying the sea otters a little bit. Okay. So forgive me for that, but they're essentially like middle-aged moms, right? But you would never guess. They were, like, hyperactive, almost like puppies would be. Right. I mean, they were zooming around. They had all the energy in the world. I mean, they were doing flips and tricks and begging for food. And, you know, and I remember it was just fun.
Megan Smylie [00:09:13] Millie and Chloe are really special because they get to make people fall in love with them daily. And then when it's time to get that call of, Hey, there's a releasable pup that needs a mom, they get the call into surrogacy, and they get to go off behind the scenes where they are paired up with these pups, and they get to teach them all sorts of cool skills like grooming their fur, which is crucial to their survival. The fur is super dense, has about a million hairs per square inch, and it's so dense that their bodies are not getting wet when they're in the water. They are pretty water-resilient and can stay super, super warm just with that fur. And so the pups learning how to groom it properly is really, really helpful for their survival. In fact, they would not survive if they cannot properly groom themselves. And so they're teaching them to manipulate prey. So they're going to be offered a bunch of different life type food where there's urchins, crabs, clams, mussels, oysters, all sorts of things. And these little pups don't know how to open any of that stuff. And so nearly and Chloe get to be the amazing teachers of those types of behaviors.
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Peter [00:10:23] These little sea otter pups become stranded for a variety of reasons. Severe storms or hurricanes, getting entangled in fishing gear, or sometimes being bitten by sharks. Different organizations try to help these pups once they've been spotted.
Megan Smylie [00:10:39] There's a number of organizations that respond to stranding calls along the coast of the Central California region, and they will go out and actually evaluate the situation. And then depending on the results of that quick evaluation, they will bring it to the most appropriate facility that can care for it. And most of the time, that is Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they are going to intake an animal, especially the young pups, do a full exam on it to see what attention medically it needs and then begin a treatment plan from there with that animal grooming it bottle feeding it because at that point, those babies depend on milk for survival and are starting to learn how to swim, which is so counterintuitive. Every time I tell people sea otters have to learn how to swim, they're always surprised by that.
Peter [00:11:32] Do we have an idea of the foster pups that are released Back to the Wild? How many of those are successfully reproducing themselves?
Megan Smylie [00:11:39] As of about 2 or 2 and a half years ago, Monterey Bay Aquarium has posted some pretty impressive data from their program. And of these surrogate-reared animals that have been rereleased, over 40, probably closer to 50 births, have happened just in the last 18 years. And so we're proud to be a partner with them. They're amazing, and we are honored to be a part of their program.
Rae [00:12:06] In terms of your career. How did your career overlap with the Millie and Chloe career, right, of being surrogate moms? Did you get to kind of watch their skills develop? Did you you know, did you watch them kind of become surrogate moms for the first time?
Megan Smylie [00:12:24] So, Chloe, we're going to start with her because she is the older of the two. Chloe is about 11 years old now, and I was fortunate enough to meet her when she first came to the Aquarium of the Pacific.
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She was a stranded pup that had some neurological issues and was deemed non-releasable. And so fortunately she outgrew some of those neurological issues and is a really healthy, wonderful animal now. But she has always been one of my favorites because she is just really calm, really sweet, sometimes a little aloof, which is an abnormal characteristic for an otter. Now, Chloe is raising sea otter pups to go back to the ocean, which is incredible how instinctual and natural she picked it up. I was surprised at that. Millie and I met. I think Millie has been here for about five years now, and so we were kind of meeting as Millie was an adult and I, I had worked with otters, but unlike Millie, she's this powerful, super dominant force to be reckoned with. There's no doubt in. In her maternal instincts. She is a fierce mom and the coolest way possible. And so watching her get to be around these really simple pups has been an incredible journey because she is one of the coolest moms I know, human or animal, She is just instinctual. She commands respect from all creatures, humans alike, that she works with, and it is an honor to work with her.
Rae [00:13:59] Megan, this is a bit of a personal question, but I'm wondering if you know, and there's no right or wrong answer, but if working with these particular surrogate sea otters has taught you anything about yourself.
Megan Smylie [00:14:17] Working with the animals specifically, I think they humble you all the time. And I mean that in the coolest way. You know, you could be feeling really confident in how you're going to handle something or a plan, and then they show you that there's other ways to do things, and your plan maybe wasn't the best. And that's totally fine. We just have to adapt and move on. I think it's humbling every time you're around them, whether it's how amazing and impactful they are or, my gosh, you taught me so much that I didn't know. I didn't know. So it's it's constantly learning, which is really cool.
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Peter [00:14:53] Megan isn't just the sea otter caregiver. She's a sea otter whisperer with a vast wealth of facts about these charming little mammals.
Megan Smylie [00:15:03] I mean, one that still surprises me to this day is eating 20 to 30% of your body weight a day is like a really common otter fact. But when you actually see how much that is, and you see how big a sea otter is, you're like, How is that possible? So I always tell people, if you are 100 pounds, that's like eating a 30-pound turkey every day of your life, and that's just to survive.
Peter [00:15:26] And where do they keep their food?
Megan Smylie [00:15:28] They keep their food in their armpits. And that is one of my favorite facts also. Sea otters have pockets, and it's really just some extra fur and skin around their armpits. And they will dive to the bottom, pull food off the bottom, stick it in their armpit pockets, and then come up to the surface and have a full buffet on their chest at the surface of the water. And so sea otters having pockets, but more specifically armpit pockets is hilarious. And I think kids always think it's really funny if we tell them you're going to keep your snacks in your armpit.
Peter [00:16:00]: Do they make any noises?
Megan Smylie [00:16:02] So when a sea otter pup needs to find their mom, they scream very loudly, and on the surface, they're like, my gosh, that pup is in major distress. But really, they're just screaming because they want to know, Mom, I'm over here. I know you just dove to get some food, but I'm over here no, and they have to be able to hear each other. And out of the ocean can be quite loud. But this screaming is, I think, jarring when people first hear it for the first time.
Rae [00:16:32] Megan, you are like an encyclopedia of sea otter information. You have a cool job. You're obviously very happy about it. And you retain all of this info. You're fantastic. Thank you so much for, you know, for taking me through the Aquarium of the Pacific a few months ago. And then thanks for joining us on this podcast.
Megan Smylie [00:16:52]: It's been a pleasure.
Peter [00:16:53] Yes, indeed. Thanks so much, Megan. You were great.
Megan Smylie [00:16:56] Thank you.
Peter [00:17:04] As a keystone species. The sea otters help to maintain the ecological health of their environment. Megan's work with the Sea Otter program is helping to naturally reinvigorate sea otter populations in the wild by matching abandoned pups with surrogate mothers. Megan and her team are ensuring magical moments in the wild kingdom for future generations.
Rae [00:17:31] Join us next week when we speak with bear biologist Dan Bailey with the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game. Dan and his team of biologists are working to address a growing bear population whose habitat is shrinking due to human development.
Dan Bailey [00:17:46] Habitat loss is certainly the greatest threat that's facing our black bear. You know, in the last 30 years, our bear population in the state has more than doubled. But during that period of time, we've also added over 300,000 residents to the state. Bear are a species that require large blocks of fragmented forest land.
Rae [00:18:07] That's next week on Mitchell of Omaha's Wild Kingdom The Podcast.
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom The Podcast is a production of Pineapple Street Studios and Mutual of Omaha.
Our Senior Producer is Stephen Key.
Producers are Xandra Ellin and Jenny Van Soelen.
Associate Producer is Lisa Cerda.
Editor is Darby Maloney.
Executive Producers are Bari (Barry) Finkel, Gabrielle Lewis, and Jen Wulf.
Pineapple’s Head of Sound & Engineering is Raj Makhija. Senior Audio Engineers are Marina Paiz, Davy Sumner, Javi Cruces, and Pedro Alvira (all-vee-rah). Additional engineering by Rob Miller and Jason Richards.
This Episode was mixed by Davy Sumner.
Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound and Hearst Media Production Group.
Episode Clips courtesy of Hearst Media Production Group.
Fact checking by Justine Daum.
Marketing and Promotion by Emily Poeschl.
This podcast is hosted by me, Dr. Rae Wynn Grant
And me, Peter Gros.
Special thanks to Katelyn Williams, Sophie Radmilovich, and Stephanie Diaz
Today’s episode is based on the Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom series created by Don Meier.
Our next episode will be out in a week.
Make sure to listen on the Audacy app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
