Sea Otters - a Million Dollar Baby Natural World

The coast of California is a wild and unpredictable place.

It is the home of the Californian sea otter -

a small animal in a huge ocean.

The shoreline divides us,

marking the edge of our world and the beginning of theirs.

It can be difficult for us to understand an animal that lives its life just out of reach.

But sometimes an animal crosses that divide

and gives us a chance to get to know them.

This is the story of a sea otter that has chosen to leave the open ocean

for life in a millionaires' playground.

# Welcome to the Hotel California

-# Such a lovely place

-Such a lovely place

# Such a lovely place

# Welcome to the Hotel California

-# Such a lovely place

-Such a lovely place

# Such a lovely place... #

Monterey Harbor is a luxurious place for people,

but it is an extraordinary choice of home for a wild otter.

Her decision to live here is not just unusual,

she's taken a huge risk, both for herself

and for her newborn baby daughter.

Raising her pup in this marina

could be the most expensive decision this mum will ever make.

The mum gave birth right here on the dock.

Her pup is just a few days old.

Ever since the pup was born

the mum has been lying here, holding her close.

Her pup will be completely dependent on her for six months.

So anything that scares the mother,

or undermines the bond growing between them,

could threaten the pup's chance of survival.

But in such a busy marina, quiet times are very hard to come by.

RADIO PLAYS

ENGINE STARTS

ENGINE REVS

It's summer, and wealthy Californians are at play.

Living among these yachts seems a crazy choice

when beyond the harbour wall

lies a beautiful stretch of wild coastline -

a perfect sea otter habitat.

Just beyond the rocky shore lie vast beds of seaweed.

This is the canopy of an underwater kelp forest,

a place where the water is calm.

Here, in sheltered coves, sea otters relax.

And sea otter mothers give birth.

This pup is also a few days old, but unlike the harbour pup

he was born into the water and will never leave it.

Along this quiet stretch of coast

there is little to disturb the bond growing between them.

But this female has different problems to the mum in the harbour.

She has balanced the newborn pup on her belly,

not because he will drown but because he could freeze.

Beyond the kelp, cold water seeps up from a deep underwater canyon.

Sea otters spend as much time as they can

basking in the sun and drying and fluffing up their thick fur.

They keep as much of their body out of the cold water as possible,

particularly their hands and feet.

While they rest, they wrap themselves in kelp

so they don't get washed out to sea.

But they haven't always been this tied to the ocean.

In the past, otters came onto land.

They have been forced to live in the kelp by their fear of people.

200 years ago, they were hunted for their soft fur.

Otter pelts were so valuable that people called them "soft gold".

Back then there were 20,000 otters on this coast,

but by 1911, there were just 50 left.

Since then they've been protected.

Today there are 2,500 sea otters here.

Some have colourful tags, so scientists can track their recovery.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium even takes in injured otters and tries to save them.

But most sea otters remain very frightened of people.

That is why it is so remarkable

that the harbour mum has reverted to resting on dry land,

although she remembers the security of the kelp

and can't resist wrapping herself up.

On the dock her pup stays warm and dry,

but the decision to raise her pup so close to people is risky.

The marina isn't just a parking lot for expensive boats,

it's part of a working harbour.

Generations of fishermen have brought their catch back here,

and the gulls and sea lions who followed them.

Unlike the other animals here, sea otters don't eat fish.

But otters do sometimes visit the harbour

on their way along the coast.

To the tourists, the otters are an attraction,

but to most who live and work here, the animals can be in the way.

But the harbour mum is different.

She is not just a visitor.

She has set up home here,

and in the most exclusive corner of the harbour.

People who have spent a fortune on their boats

might not welcome a wild animal on their tidy dock.

But the mother otter has chosen her spot very carefully.

Jim is a businessman and entrepreneur who owns a dive boat in the marina.

The mum is on his slip.

This is extraordinary.

Lo and behold, right in front of you, ten feet away,

there is an otter that before you'd only hope to catch a glimpse of out in the kelp

and here's one right in front of you.

It was a special moment for me

because I didn't know if it was ever going to happen again.

But the mum has deliberately had her pup near Jim's boat.

She checked this place out before she gave birth

and she knows that Jim is a quiet guy

who will tolerate her and give her space.

This has given her the time she needed to bond with her pup.

But she hasn't eaten since the birth and is getting hungry.

Nervously she leaves the pup to search for food.

PUP SQUEAKS

She stays close by and grabs a tiny crab to eat,

but she can't ignore the pup's frightened calls.

PUP SQUEAKS

This is the first time the pup has been in the water.

The pup is too weak to swim, so the mum holds her tight.

MOTHER OTTER COOS

Soothed by the movement of the water and her mum's soft calls,

the pup is soon fast asleep.

She couldn't do this if she didn't feel safe.

But she can't eat and hold the baby,

so very gently she returns her to the dock.

She quickly runs out of food under Jim's dock.

As the days go on, she tries different slips close by,

parking the pup each time she dives.

She is torn between comforting the pup and feeding herself.

It is vital that she gets the balance right, for both their sakes.

At the end of the day, they come back to Jim's dock to rest.

Without realising it, they are becoming part of Jim's life too.

It went from being, "I'm going to relish this

"because it's never going to happen again,"

to, "Now I have something to look forward to

"when I go down to the marina."

Jim is quiet, still and respectful, and the mum seems content

for him to share these intimate moments with them.

I think she trusts you until you do something differently,

so if you were to betray her by reaching for the pup

or doing something that would frighten her,

I don't think she would forgive you.

But even though she trusts Jim, the security of the dock is not enough.

The pup is getting bigger and it is difficult to find food around these expensive boats.

She has made her job much harder than a mother on the coast

because she is cut off from the natural wealth of the sea.

The seas off California are so rich

that they attract an abundance of animal life.

The kelp forest is full of life.

A place where every dive brings new surprises.

But even for experienced divers, glimpsing an otter underwater...

Is a rare treat.

Beyond the kelp, the ocean floor drops into the canyon.

This is the edge of the otter's world.

Otters are powerful swimmers

but they are not built to catch fish.

So otters have to be canny and persistent to find enough to eat.

Searching for crabs and octopus

hiding in the rocks takes a long time.

Even in the kelp forest, otters spend most of their day

trying to get enough to eat.

Around the rocks, the sea if rough.

Perfect conditions for carpets of shellfish.

The otters need a lot of strength

to rip mussels and barnacles off the rocks.

But they're not strong enough to break them open.

To do that, they need a tool.

Resting a stone on their bellies, and holding a clam in their hands,

the otters smash open the shells.

It can take a pup six months to learn how to do this.

It's a skill handed down the generations.

The harbour pup is now three weeks old,

but the mum can't show her how to find and open shells like the otters along the coast,

because in the marina there is no kelp forest and few stones.

Jim has discovered that the mum has found her own way of getting by.

You'd be sitting on the boat and you hear somebody's hammering

or doing some maintenance on their boat

until the first time that you see the otter coming up with a shell

and they use the bow of the boat to crack open the shell.

All I thought was, "That's the darn cutest thing I've ever seen."

But the mum isn't just cute, she is very clever.

She has taken skills from the wild

and reinvented them for her new surroundings.

And there's a subtlety in what she does.

She's worked out which parts of the boats are hardest.

The pup watches closely.

PUP SQUEAKS

As she chips paint off the boat,

she causes thousands of dollars worth of damage.

No wonder she checks whether boat owners are watching her!

The owner of this boat isn't as forgiving as Jim,

he hangs tequila bottles off the side to scare her off.

Although some boat owners find them a nuisance,

Jim is enjoying the otters around his slip

and is spending more and more time here.

Sometimes I'll get distracted by the pup and what it's doing,

then I lose track of time.

Every day they're a little different, every play period is a little bit different,

so I think that's really the attraction.

It gives me an excuse to stop

and it seems to be an experience that I need at this time in my life maybe.

Up until now, the slips around Jim's boat have been the limit of the pup's world.

But to find enough food, they will have to go further

and that means that the pup must learn to swim.

The mum is taking her just past the slips to a bit of quiet water,

away from the moving boats.

# A fish was made to swim in the ocean

# A boat was made to sail on the sea

# As sure as there are stars above

# I know, I know you were made for me

# You were made for me... #

At first the mum holds her,

then she lets her go, just for a minute.

# A fish was made to swim in the ocean

# A fish was made to swim in the ocean

# A boat was made to sail on the sea

# A boat was made to sail on the sea

# As sure as there are stars above

# I know, I know you were made for me

# You were made for me

# You were made for me... #

This is her first swim.

The pup's fur is fluffier than her mother's, which helps her to float,

but makes her awkward in the water.

Soon she is tired.

The pup will become stronger and swim a little further

with the passing of each summer day.

By the beginning of autumn, the change in the pup is incredible.

Now she's the one trying to drag her mum into the water!

The pup has an adventurous spirit,

but the exhaust pipes of a boat are not a safe place to play.

The mum is quick to come to her rescue.

It's not safe for a naive little pup to explore the marina alone.

The slips are full of moving objects and sharp blades.

Even so, it is time to show the pup the underside of this world.

She's losing her fluffy baby coat

and can dive with her mum to find food.

Beneath the docks and tethered yachts,

the marina is a maze of shadows and strange creatures.

The water here is clean, but as calm as a pool,

a refuge for miniature shrimp and shoals of young fish.

But none of this is food for otters.

They rely on shellfish that need rich, flowing water to grow.

The pup is cut off from the vitality of the ocean

beyond the harbour wall.

But there is one huge advantage to growing up in the harbour.

Because the pup hasn't had to fight the ocean swell, she's grown big.

She's now strong enough to keep up with her mum.

The mum has chosen this quiet morning

to show the pup her own way of finding food.

But it means leaving the marina and heading

to the outer edge of the harbour,

to the industrial fishing wharf.

Here the currents are strong and there is nowhere to rest,

but it's a trip worth making.

Just like the coast otter, the mum leaves the pup in a safe place...

..and heads under the wharf, alone.

This is not a place for an inexperienced otter.

It is dark and noisy, and full of unexpected dangers.

This is a shellfish farm.

The cages are full of giant underwater snails called abalone.

In the past, abalone thrived in the kelp forests all along the coast

and were a favourite delicacy of both people and otters.

But now there are so few that it is illegal for people to collect them.

So they are carefully tended for the six years they take to grow.

Each day, kelp is brought in from the ocean

and stuffed into the cages for the abalone to eat.

As the cages are lowered, water runs through them,

washing fresh nutrients out onto the pilings below the farm.

Although the mum cannot reach the abalone,

she knows the rich water under the farm

means that pilings here are covered in life.

These barnacles and mussels are bigger than anywhere else in the harbour.

She needs to be strong to rip barnacles off the pilings,

but unlike the coast mothers,

she does not have to fight the waves and has time to feed.

As she heads for the surface, fish dart in to grab any scraps.

The mum returns to the pup after each dive

and hands over her share of the food.

Discipline is strict.

The pup must stay in the same place every time her mum dives

to avoid being separated from her, or hurt.

As well as barnacles, crabs are abundant here,

attracted to the offcuts dropped from the fishing boats as they pass by.

The mum is proving she can give the pup a good start in life.

Now that they can travel together across the harbour,

there will be enough food for them both.

The pup's world is suddenly much bigger...

..but this also exposes her to other threats.

The harbour lies within the territory of a large male.

He visits the harbour regularly as part of his patrol.

It's he who decides which otters are welcome here.

He's known as Pink Blue, after the colour of his flipper tags.

He is also known to be very aggressive.

Last year, he took over this part of the territory

from the resident male.

He killed his rival in the process.

This gives him the right to mate with any females

who turn up in the harbour.

It is normal for male sea otters

to hold on to the slippery female by her nose while they mate.

But Pink Blue's unbridled strength has left females with serious cuts.

Pink Blue is not a danger to the mum at the moment,

but as the pup gets closer to weaning, that may change.

Through the late autumn, Jim continues to watch the otters.

He's become so involved watching the mum,

she's become known locally as Jim's Otter.

But his anxiety for them is growing too.

I would be there before sunrise

and it felt like sometimes my heart wouldn't really start beating

until I saw them and that they were OK.

He is right to be concerned. The pup is almost four months old.

She needs to play, but perhaps has more energy than sense.

Every day, the mum takes the pup across the harbour.

She is working hard to teach her pup the skills she will need.

In two months, she will need to be fully independent,

but she still has a lot to learn.

She has watched her mum cracking open shells, but she'll only learn

which surfaces are best for opening food by trying it herself.

The mum shows her that metal ladders work well...

..but the wood nearby isn't a great place to crack shells.

Rubber is even less effective!

This will take a bit of trial and error.

# Had a little girl She was little and low

# She used to love me But she don't no more

# Got to step it up and go Yeah, go

# Can't stand pat Swear you gotta step it up and go

# Yeah. #

She is supposed to be staying close to her mum,

but she's got distracted and has wandered away.

Unable to find the pup, the mum calls for her.

The pup hears the call...

PUP SQUEAKS

..but so does Pink Blue.

PUP SQUEAKS

He grabs the pup and frightens her,

knowing that her calls will bring the mum in.

This is a trap.

MOTHER CALLS

When she arrives, she will quickly give up her food in exchange for the pup.

Pink Blue has got what he wanted - a free meal.

But he has another reason to take interest in them.

He wants to see if the mum is ready to mate.

She won't come into season until the pup is weaned.

But that won't stop Pink Blue harassing her.

To protect her daughter, she drags her away.

Winter's coming.

The people have gone, the boats are quiet, the animals can relax.

BARKING

The mum has adapted incredibly well to a life among the polished chrome

and neatly coiled ropes.

Tucked away in the marina, the mum and pup have found some peace.

The pup gets a reassuring suckle. She is still a baby, after all.

But the encounter with Pink Blue turns out to be just a hint of things to come.

Unfortunately, this was the last time

anyone saw the mum and pup together.

ELECTRONIC BEEPING

Two days later, Jim gets a call from the otter scientists at the aquarium.

A badly injured female has been rescued,

and they think it's Jim's Otter.

I didn't really know what to expect and I was very anxious.

All I knew was that they'd picked her up, she was on the edge of death.

There was no real assurance that she was going to make it.

It seems Pink Blue did try to mate with her

and she was trying to protect the pup.

The demands of motherhood have weakened her.

It wasn't a fair fight.

She will be kept in this tank in the aquarium while they try to help her.

To be injured by an aggressive male

at a time when she was just completing her job

seemed very unfair.

She doesn't deserve this.

Worse still, no-one has any information about her pup.

The pup is all of a sudden without its parent,

completely at the mercy of whatever is going to be dealt it now.

Jim spends the rest of the daylight looking for the pup among the slips,

even though he knows there would be very little he could do to help were he to find her.

It's a tough decision - whether to get involved in an animal's life,

or to let nature take its course.

The following day at first light, the pup is seen in the harbour.

She has survived the fight between her mum and Pink Blue.

But on her own, only four months old,

her chances are dwindling.

She has found a little bit of food, but Pink Blue has spotted her.

She gives up her food to him straightaway,

to avoid him injuring or even killing her.

The pup faces a difficult choice.

If she stays in the harbour, she risks losing any food she finds to Pink Blue.

If she leaves, she faces the wild winter ocean,

a world for which she is unprepared.

Nevertheless, she has gone.

After six weeks of nursing her back to health,

the aquarium staff feel the mum is ready to be released.

There is still no sign of the pup around the yachts.

It was an unknown, what she was going to do when we released her.

Is she going to go looking for the pup?

Or is there going to be aggression between her and the male?

My greatest fear was that the male would attack her when he came back.

It was a happy day, and a lot of anticipation to see what she was going to do.

Back in the harbour, and alone,

the mum has no energy to search for her pup.

But the truth is that her chance to finish raising her daughter has gone.

Now she needs time and a safe place to recover from her ordeal.

She did actually hang out by my slip.

I would come down to do boat maintenance

and she would be sitting at the end of the slip-off from my boat.

And I wanted to think that that was more than coincidence.

The aquarium staff have put tags on her flippers so that they can check on her progress.

The human world has given her respite,

but she's still a wild animal.

Now that she has no pup to suckle, she's come into season again.

A male has picked up her scent,

but this is not Pink Blue.

A new male has sneaked into the harbour without Pink Blue seeing him.

He approaches her on the dock to persuade her to come with him.

OTTER COOS

Whether she needs to mate, or is just too weak to fight, the mum accepts him.

This male is gentler than Pink Blue.

She has been lucky.

# Hold me close and hold me fast

# The magic spell you cast

# This is la vie en rose... #

If she falls pregnant now, then Pink Blue will have no reason to pursue her.

But this is not the end to her change in fortune.

Jim had never lost faith in her mothering skills,

never given up hope for the pup.

-And finally, one evening, he hears a familiar sound.

-TAPPING

It was the pup.

It could only be her

because she was feeding at the places her mum had taught her.

Even in the short time she had with her mum, she had learnt just enough to survive.

She followed her mother's decision to stay in the harbour.

This saved her from the winter storms.

And by keeping to the darkest corners and feeding at night,

she has stayed hidden from Pink Blue.

But more than this, she has found her own way of getting by.

To her, this antique bottle, discarded decades ago on the harbour floor, has become a tool.

Like her mum, she is full of creativity!

Through the nurture of her mother and own strength

she has made it through to independence.

The chances of her following the same path as her mother

and coming back to give birth on the dock is very likely.

To carry on that relationship with her now as a mother would be fantastic.

Not just the curiosity of seeing whether she has the same dedication and love and nurturing

that her mum did, but just to see how she handles the raising of a family.

She and her mum are wild otters living among million dollar yachts

in one of the most beautiful marinas in the world.

They have shown how intelligent and adaptable sea otters are,

no matter where they choose to live.

But by living in the harbour,

this particular mum and pup have done something more.

For me, personally, I am happy that there are the harbour otters

because it's helped me to slow down.

Watching them helps me live my life more the way that I would like to.

The mum and her pup prove that the chance to stop

and become entranced by the life of a wild animal

can be priceless.

# It happened in Monterey

# A long time ago

# I met her in Monterey

# In old Mexico

# Stars and steel guitars And luscious lips as red as wine... #

Subtitles by Ericsson