Child This episode is part of the Wild Critters USA series, a collaboration with Orby, PBS Nature, and the National Wildlife Federation.

Rob All right, Hank, welcome to Monterey Bay in Northern California.

Rob Isn't it beautiful out here?

Rob Look down there.

Rob See all that green swaying stuff under the water?

Rob That's called kelp.

Rob I know.

Rob It looks like kind of a ribbony plant.

Rob It's actually a giant kind of seaweed.

Rob It can grow taller than a house, all swaying back and forth down there like an underwater forest.

Rob Hank, this kelp forest looks so healthy.

Rob Tall, thick, green as can be.

Rob Yeah, a lot healthier than our garden back home, that's for sure.

Rob Don't give me that look, Hank.

Rob We both know what happened to my tomato plants.

Rob It was a conspiracy by the squirrel mafia.

Rob Anyway, there must be some really good gardeners taking care of this kelp garden.

Rob An underwater park ranger?

Rob I don't think that's a real job, Hank.

Rob Wait, Hank, look, right there, floating on its back.

Rob I think that furry little guy might be our gardener.

Rob I want to learn how it gardens.

Rob Maybe it has some tips for our tomato plants.

Rob Hey Orbiters, today we're learning about one of the ocean's best gardeners, the sea otter.

Rob You Orbiters sent in some fantastic questions.

Child How do sea otters stay safe during storms?

Child How do sea otters hunt down their food?

Rob And we have an awesome expert to help us out.

Rob Her name is Miss Leilani and she's a marine biologist and a sea otter expert at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Rob But first, let's go check in with one orbiter who is a super mega fan of sea otters, Sam.

Rob And we are live back in action with Mr.

Rob Sam.

Rob Sam, welcome to orbit.

Sam Thank you.

Sam I always like being.

Rob And we always like it when you're here with us.

Rob Sam, what's going on in life?

Rob What's new?

Sam I recently read this book about an otter.

Sam It's called Some Letters.

Sam That's O-D-D-E-R.

Sam It's about an otter and his friend Carrie.

Sam They're out at sea and then a great white shark bites his tail.

Rob Oh my goodness.

Rob This sounds like a very scary book.

Rob Was it a scary book?

Sam A little bit.

Sam And then they wolf wash up at shore and Sam Then the story keeps going until he finds his friend Carrie at the aquarium.

Rob And is Carrie also an otter?

Sam Yes.

Rob Yeah?

Rob And so it's Otter the Otter and Carrie the Otter.

Rob And does it have a scary ending or a happy ending?

Sam Happy.

Rob You know, my sister's name is Carrie, and so I hope it has a happy ending.

Rob What was your favorite part of the book?

Sam When the great white shark bites his tail.

Rob No, you like that part.

Rob I think that was probably otter and Carrie's least favorite part of the book.

Sam Yeah.

Rob Well, hey, you read a book about otters this summer.

Rob Are you a fan of otters, Mr.

Rob Sam.

Sam Yes, of course.

Sam I told you in the last episode.

Rob Yeah, that's right.

Rob So in the last episode where we had you, we talked about alligators, but we had a game that involved river otters in that time, in the Florida Everglades.

Rob So tell me, Mr.

Rob Sam, do you have a preference between sea otters and river?

Sam I actually just really like bullfoot.

Sam I don't have a better.

Rob Yeah, that's totally fair.

Rob What is it about sea otters that you like so much?

Sam Their cute face.

Rob Yeah, and there's so many fun things about them, but they are, I think they're probably top 10 most adorable animals in the world.

Rob Would you agree with that?

Sam Yes.

Rob Hey, Mr.

Rob Sam.

Rob Today we're learning about sea otters, but we're also going to learn about kelp forests.

Rob Do you know what kelp is, Mr.

Rob Sam.

Sam Yes.

Rob Tell us about kelp.

Sam Kelp is something that some animals eat.

Rob Do you know where kelp grows?

Sam In the ocean.

Rob Yeah, that's right.

Rob So it grows in the ocean.

Rob It's a type of algae, which is kind of like an underwater plant, and it can grow really, really fast.

Rob So, Mr.

Rob Sam, the game that we have Rob today is to put the following in order.

Rob Which one do you think grows the fastest to the slowest?

Rob And families, you can play along with us.

Rob Start with your guesses too.

Rob So the options are human hair, bamboo, human fingernails, kelp, and sunflowers.

Rob All right, Mr.

Rob Sam, what's the order that you would put those in?

Sam Bamboo.

Rob Bamboo is the fastest.

Rob Okay.

Rob Then.

Sam Kelp.

Rob Then kelp.

Rob Okay.

Rob What's next?

Sam A sunflower.

Rob Okay.

Rob And then?

Sam Human hair.

Rob Human hair.

Sam And then human fingernails.

Rob Human fingernails.

Rob All right, families.

Rob Now's your last chance.

Rob You can pause here if you want to have a conversation about it.

Rob But the answer is that Sam was correct.

Rob Bamboo was the fastest, and then kelp, and then sunflowers, and then human hairs, and then human fingernails.

Rob I didn't know that hair grew faster than fingernails.

Rob That was new information for me.

Sam Yeah.

Rob Well, Mr.

Rob Sam, today, as I mentioned, we're going to learn about sea otters.

Rob Are there things about sea otters that you're interested in learning about?

Sam Yes.

Rob What are some of those things, Mr.

Rob Sam.

Sam How sea otters protect kelp forests.

Rob Okay, why is that interesting to you?

Sam Because I don't know.

Sam Do they eat animals?

Sam Do they help it produce?

Sam I don't know.

Rob Yeah, we're going to learn a bunch about that and also about why kelp forests are really, really important.

Rob I think something else that I'm interested in learning about is sea otters' thick fur.

Rob Like how do they stay warm?

Rob They live in some really, really cold parts of the world.

Rob And if I were in the water all that time, I would get really cold.

Rob Mr.

Rob Sam, would you like to help introduce today's guest?

Sam Yes.

Rob Okay, perfect.

Rob So today's guest is Leilani Conrad from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Sam Hi Leilani, welcome to orbit.

Sam What do you do for work?

Leilani Konrad Hi orbiters, my name is Leilani Conrad.

Leilani Konrad I'm a research biologist at Monterey Bay Aquarium in our sea otter program.

Leilani Konrad My job is to learn about and study my favorite ocean animal, the sea otter.

Leilani Konrad So I get to spend most of my time outside with a big telescope, Leilani Konrad watching them eat, rest, and groom in the ocean.

Sam Hey, Leilani, what were you like as a kid?

Leilani Konrad When I was little, I was always really curious about all kinds of animals.

Leilani Konrad I was lucky enough for my grandpa to take me out exploring in the tide pools by the ocean in Hawaii.

Leilani Konrad And we would look under rocks for little crabs and fish, and it always felt like I was looking at a tiny city underwater full of creatures.

Leilani Konrad I think that's what got me interested in becoming a marine biologist.

Rob All right, Mr.

Rob Sam, are you ready to learn about sea otters with Leilani?

Sam Yes, I'm ready.

Sam Yeah, me too.

Rob Here we go.

Rob Hey, parents.

Rob Would you mind taking a moment to leave a review for Orbit on Spotify or Apple Podcasts?

Rob Let us know in your review on Apple Podcasts, what episode your little ones want to hear.

Rob Thank you.

Rob All right.

Rob We have some curious orbiters who have some awesome questions that Hank and I want to know the answers to.

Child Hi, my name is Juliana.

Child I'm 5 years old.

Child And my question is, what are sea otters?

Child Hello, Orbit.

Child My name is Maria Angel Garcia Zapata.

Child I am nine years old.

Child I live in Medellin, Colombia.

Child And my question is, where in the world can I find sea otters?

Child Hello, my name is Kabir and I am six years old and I live in Washington, D.C.

Child And my question is, how big can a sea otter get?

Rob And before Ms.

Rob Leilani answers orbiters, let's practice forming a hypothesis.

Rob How big do you think a sea otter can get?

Rob Let's compare Rob to a dog.

Rob Is it as big as a little dog, like a chihuahua?

Rob A medium dog, like a golden retriever?

Rob Or a really big dog, like a Great Dane?

Rob Shout out your guess.

Rob Okay, Miss Leilani, help us out.

Rob What is a sea otter?

Leilani Konrad Hi, orbiters.

Leilani Konrad Sea otters are ocean animals with super thick fur.

Leilani Konrad They're mammals, just like dogs and cats.

Leilani Konrad This means they breathe air and their moms feed their babies milk.

Leilani Konrad The sea otters here in Monterey can grow up to about four feet long and weigh anywhere from 35 to 70 pounds, which means they can get as big as a golden retriever.

Rob Four feet is a little more than one meter, and 35 to 70 pounds is around 15 to 30 kilograms.

Leilani Konrad Sea otters live along the coastlines of the Pacific Ocean and can be found in places like Alaska, Canada, Washington, and even where I live in California.

Rob Wow.

Rob From California up to Alaska is really far.

Rob I wonder if sea otters live everywhere or if they like specific types of places.

Leilani Konrad They love hanging out in kelp forests, which are like underwater forests, but instead of trees, they have giant seaweed.

Rob Kelp forests.

Rob This is a super cool ecosystem, Orbiters.

Rob You're going to want to remember it.

Rob What was the name of the underwater forest again?

Rob Shout it out.

Rob Kelp forests.

Rob You might remember the word kelp from a few episodes ago when we learned about algae in coral reefs.

Rob We learned that algae are like underwater plants, and they can be super small, like the itsy-bitsy algae that live in coral reefs, but they can also be really big.

Rob The big type of algae is often called kelp.

Rob We'll learn more about this in a little bit.

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani, are sea otters related to river otters?

Leilani Konrad Well, they're actually cousins, so sea otters and river otters are related, but not exactly the same.

Leilani Konrad They're both part of the weasel.

Leilani Konrad but sea otters spend most of their life in the ocean.

Leilani Konrad They actually eat, sleep, and even have their babies floating on the water.

Leilani Konrad River otters like fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, and they come out on land a lot more.

Rob Do you have any cousins orbiters?

Rob If not, maybe your friends.

Rob Think about which one of your cousins or friends would be a sea otter, and which one would be a river otter.

Rob Hank says he's always pictured himself as a sea otter because of their sophisticated taste in classical music.

Rob I'm not sure that's true, Hank.

Rob But anyways, let's keep going.

Child Hello, my name is Georgia Rose and I'm 5 years old and I live in California.

Child And my question is, how do sea otters hunt down their food?

Child My name's Junia, I'm 3 years old.

Child I live in Illinois, Springfield.

Child And my question is, how do sea otters use tools?

Rob I'm excited about this one.

Leilani Konrad Hi, Orbiters.

Leilani Konrad So sea otters actually eat a lot of animals that have hard shells and aren't super easy to open.

Rob Hey, Orbiters.

Rob Want to know something cool?

Rob Oftentimes, when an animal has a hard shell, it doesn't move very fast.

Rob Think of a clam, a turtle, or even something like a porcupine, which has quills that provide protection.

Rob These animals don't have to move very fast, because if another animal tries to eat them, their shell will protect them, or those spikes will protect them.

Rob So Miss Leilani is saying that sea otters' favorite thing to eat are these animals that don't move very fast, but they're hard to eat because they're protected by hard shells or pointy things.

Rob Ouch!

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani, how do they eat something with such a hard shell?

Leilani Konrad So they've adapted to be one of the few animals in the world that use tools to eat, just like us.

Leilani Konrad When they dive underwater to get something to eat, like a clam, sometimes they'll also grab a rock.

Leilani Konrad Once they're on the surface, they float on their backs, and then they bang that rock on the clam to crack it open and get all the yummy food inside.

Rob Hey, orbiters.

Rob Did you know that it's super rare for animals to use tools?

Rob A tool is something that an animal uses instead of just its own body to help get a job done easier.

Rob We humans use a lot of tools.

Rob Can you think of tools that you use to eat?

Rob You might use things like forks or spoons.

Rob Those are examples of tools that we use for food.

Rob Here are some animals that are famous for using tools.

Rob I'll read them out and then you can pause the episode and talk with your family about which tool-using animal is your very number one most favoritest of them all.

Rob Chimpanzees use sticks to poke termite mounds and then pull out the stick covered in tasty termites.

Rob Crows Rob sometimes bend twigs into little hooks to pull bugs out of tight spots and trees.

Rob And some octopuses have been seen carrying coconut shells around with them so that they can hide inside, like a portable fort, whenever they need to.

Rob Or maybe you know another animal that uses tools.

Rob Pause here and hit play whenever you're ready.

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani, where do these rocks that otters find come from?

Leilani Konrad A cool fact about sea otters is that they have pockets, loose folds of skin under their arms that let them stash tools and yummy prey.

Leilani Konrad Scientists have watched otters pull out up to 20 small critters from their pockets in the wild.

Rob I bet some of our listening orbiters also put rocks in their pockets, just like sea otters.

Leilani Konrad People don't realize if you see an otter, sometimes they're hiding a snack in there.

Leilani Konrad You might not see it, but they're all folds and fur, so there's like little weird things tucked away.

Rob Okay, while we're on the subject of tools, we got this super interesting question from Kenji.

Child Hi, my name's Kenji.

Child I'm 6 years old.

Child I live in Pasadena, California.

Child And my question is... Child How do sea otters learn how to use tools?

Rob We brought this question to our friend, David Mazajewski.

Rob Mr.

Rob David is a science advisor for Ranger Rick Magazine from the National Wildlife Federation and is helping us out with this Wild Gooders series.

Rob Hey, Mr.

Rob David, can you help us out?

David Mizajewski That's a good one, Kenji.

David Mizajewski Baby sea otters don't use tools to crack open shellfish, snails, and urchins like their moms do.

David Mizajewski That's because they don't eat those things when they're babies.

David Mizajewski Otters are mammals, just like you and me, and when they're babies, they drink milk from their mom.

David Mizajewski Even if they wanted David Mizajewski to dive down and grab a clam from the sea floor, they couldn't.

David Mizajewski Their fur traps air, which makes them float on the surface.

David Mizajewski Sea otter moms also blow air into their baby's fur, which helps keep them warm, but also makes the babies even more floaty so they stay at the surface when mom swims down to get something to eat.

David Mizajewski As they grow, the baby otters learn to use tools by watching their mom and other adult sea otters.

Rob Hey parents, if you'd like to continue learning about awesome animals, Ranger Rick Magazine has some great resources for families.

Rob I'll leave a link in the show notes.

Rob Okay, let's keep rolling with the questions.

Rob Hi, I'm Vivian.

Child I'm 5 years old.

Child I'm from New Jersey.

Child And my question is, who eats sea otters?

Child Hi, Vivian.

Leilani Konrad Great question.

Leilani Konrad Here in California, there aren't Leilani Konrad There aren't any animals that eat sea otters, but sometimes sharks can mistake them for their food, like seals and sea lions.

Leilani Konrad But up in Alaska and Canada, there are more predators of sea otters like orcas and even occasionally bears and wolves.

Rob Wow, those are some really big predators that sea otters have to watch out for.

Child Hi, my name is Cristobal.

Child I am 10 years old.

Child I live in Panama City.

Child My question is, does the otter's hair have thermal properties to keep them warm?

Child Bye.

Child Hi, my name is Juliana.

Child I'm 7 years old.

Child And my question is, how do sea otters stay warm in cold water?

Rob Yeah, the water up here in Northern California is really Rob really cold.

Rob I would be shivering like crazy if I was swimming around out there.

Leilani Konrad Great question, Cristobal and Julian.

Leilani Konrad One of the coolest things about sea otters is that unlike lots of other ocean mammals like whales and seals, they don't have blubber.

Rob Blubber is a word for fat that animals like whales and sea lions and even sea turtles have.

Rob But blubber is a special type of fat.

Rob It often surrounds the entire body, and it has the superpower of helping to trap heat so that the inside of the animal Rob stays nice and warm.

Rob Okay, but Miss Leilani, you said that sea otters don't have blubber.

Rob How in the world do they stay warm in cold water?

Leilani Konrad Instead, they have super thick fur.

Leilani Konrad They can actually have up to a million hairs in the space the size of 1/4, giving them the thickest fur of any animal on Earth.

Leilani Konrad They spend a lot of time grooming this fur to keep it fluffy, and that's how they stay warm.

Rob A million hairs in a space the size of 1/4?

Rob That's about the size of a button on your computer keyboard, or as big as a die that you might roll, or maybe a Lego brick.

Rob Let's get to a question from our friends, Caleb and Josh.

Child Hello, my name is Caleb, and my question is, how do sea otters hide bad weather?

Child Hello, my name is Josh, and I'm 5 years old and I'm in Colorado.

Child And my question is, how do sea otters stay safe during storms?

Rob You know, when it starts to thunder, Pink and I hide under the bed with our emergency stash of doggy snacks.

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani, what do sea otters do when it gets really stormy?

Leilani Konrad Hi, Josh and Caleb.

Leilani Konrad Well, big storms happen a lot in the ocean, so marine animals have to be well prepared.

Leilani Konrad During these storms, sea otters will wrap themselves up in long pieces of kelp to keep themselves in place to protect from big waves and high winds, sort of like a boat uses an anchor.

Leilani Konrad Sometimes during big storms, they'll also tuck into calmer coves and bays where the water isn't quite as rough.

Rob Wow.

Rob So the kelp grows Rob from the ocean floor and often reaches up to the surface of the water.

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani, you're saying that sea otters hold on to the kelp during storms?

Leilani Konrad They'll kind of like roll around and you can sometimes see them pull it with their mouths over themselves.

Leilani Konrad And then they're just kind of like sitting in this thick canopy.

Leilani Konrad So the canopy, obviously that kelp is anchored really strongly to the ground because obviously the kelp has to withstand the storms.

Leilani Konrad So even sitting in it can keep them pretty anchored.

Leilani Konrad But if it gets really stormy, they'll wrap themselves up and they'll kind of tuck in a group so most of them are sitting on top of this big thing of kelp.

Rob That is so cool.

Rob Hey, we're about to learn a lot about these kelp forests.

Rob But how about we first take a moment first?

Rob mystery sound.

Rob You can move around and wiggle while you listen and think about what the sound is.

Rob Think you got it?

Rob Here's a hint in the form of a riddle.

Rob I don't flap like a bird, I whirl instead.

Rob What am I?

Rob Stick around to the end for the answer.

Rob Okay, let's get back to more questions.

Rob Kenji and I want to learn more about these kelp forests.

Child Hi, my name's Kenji.

Child I'm 6 years old and my question is, what is a kelp forest and why is it so important?

Leilani Konrad Hi Kenji, great question.

Leilani Konrad So kelp forests are like underwater forests, but instead of trees, it's made of giant kelp, which is a kind of seaweed that grows super tall.

Leilani Konrad Sometimes it can be taller than even your house.

Leilani Konrad These kelp forests are super important because they give food and shelter to over 1000 different kinds of ocean animals.

Rob Hank and I love ocean animals.

Rob Right Hank?

Rob Lots of different animals live in kelp forests.

Leilani Konrad There are lots of large animals like sea lions, seals, and sea otters, but also lots of small animals like fish, snails, starfish, sea slugs, crabs.

Leilani Konrad Sea otters feed on a lot of these small animals, with one of their favorites being these very spiky little creatures called sea urchins.

Rob Sea urchins.

Rob What's that?

Leilani Konrad So sea urchins are a small, round, spiky sea creature that eats kelp.

Leilani Konrad There are a few different types of sea urchins, which means they can be in a few different colors, including purple, red, and even green.

Rob Want to know a fun fact, Orbiters?

Rob Sea urchins are a type of animal called an echinoderm.

Rob Another famous echinoderm are sea stars.

Rob So these spiky little colorful creatures called sea urchins eat the kelp.

Rob Samuel and I want to know more about how this works.

Child Hello, my name is Samuel.

Child I live in the United States.

Child I'm 7 years old, and my question is, how are sea otters, sea urchins, and kelp all connected?

Child Thank you.

Child Bye, orbiters.

Leilani Konrad Hi, Samuel.

Leilani Konrad This is one of my favorite things to talk about with sea otters.

Leilani Konrad Sea otters are a predator of sea urchins.

Leilani Konrad So if we have a healthy population of sea otters, then it's easier to have a healthy population of urchins.

Leilani Konrad But if sea otters disappear from an area, the urchins can start to multiply like crazy since nothing is eating them.

Rob Other animals can't eat sea urchins because they're super spiky.

Rob But remember that sea otters can use rocks to break open things with hard shells or spikes.

Rob So they love a delicious sea urchin.

Leilani Konrad Since urchins eat kelp, they'll start to overeat and can wipe out an entire kelp forest, which is bad for all Leilani Konrad all those other critters that need kelp forests to survive.

Leilani Konrad Sea otters help hold the kelp forest ecosystem together, sort of like the stone in the top of a stone archway that holds the whole archway together.

Leilani Konrad When an animal becomes that stone for an ecosystem, we call them a keystone species.

Rob Remember that a keystone species is important for keeping an entire ecosystem healthy, just like the American bison or the Mojave desert tortoise or American alligators or mountain lions.

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani.

Rob So if sea otters Rob The sea urchins multiply like crazy and eat lots of kelp.

Rob But what happens if the sea otters come back?

Leilani Konrad The good news is that if we can bring otters back to an area that they've disappeared from, they remember their place pretty quickly and do a great job at eating all those urchins until they're back to a healthy number.

Leilani Konrad Once that happens, the kelp forest can have a chance to grow back and bring other ocean animals back with it.

Rob Woo-hoo!

Sea otters rushing back to the rescue, eating all the delicious sea urchins they can get their Rob little paws on.

Child Hi, my name is Ezra.

Child I'm 5 years old.

Child I live in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Child And my question is, how do sea otters eat sea urchins?

Leilani Konrad Great question, orbiters.

Leilani Konrad So sea otter paws are actually extra tough and padded, kind of like a pair of oven mitts.

Leilani Konrad So those spines don't bother them too much, but they will crack the spiky shells open so that they can eat Leilani Konrad eat the soft, yummy part that's on the inside.

Rob Is there anything special about their mouths, Miss Leilani?

Leilani Konrad And one other cool thing is that they can actually bite down on the things they eat as hard as a bear.

Rob As hard as a bear?

Rob I didn't expect that.

Rob Hey, let's go check in real fast with our friend Sam.

Rob Hey, Mr.

Rob Sam, are you ready to take a short break and stretch move around a little bit?

Sam Yes, I'm ready.

Rob Okay, what movement should orbiters do today?

Sam You should stand up and move your arms this way, but on one foot, and then move your arm this way.

Rob Okay, and so what Sam did, Sam's showing me, he took his right arm and you moved it in kind of like a circle.

Rob Is that right, Mr.

Rob Sam?

Rob And we should be standing on one foot, moving my right arm in a circle and then my left arm in a circle.

Rob Sam is watching me move like that and thinking that he's talking with a crazy person right now.

Rob And while we're making circles with our arms while balancing on one foot, let's recap what we've learned.

Rob Sea otters are ocean mammals with super thick hair, up to 1,000,000 hairs packed into a space the size of 1/4.

Rob We learned that sea otters are one of the few animals that use tools.

Rob They use rocks to crack open hard-shelled food, like clams and spiky sea urchins.

Rob Speaking of sea urchins, sea otters love eating sea urchins.

Rob And that's really important because sea urchins eat kelp.

Rob So without otters around, urchins can multiply out of control and destroy an entire kelp forest.

Rob That's why sea otters are called a keystone species, an animal that makes the whole kelp forest ecosystem healthy and balanced.

Rob Okay, we're curious about a few more things, Miss Leilani.

Child Hi, my name is Alina.

Child I'm 4 years old.

Child And my question is, how do scientists skyline protect the sea orders?

Child Bye.

Child My name's Wendel.

Child I live in.

Child I'm 5 years old and my question is how do scientists study and care for sea otters?

Leilani Konrad Hi, Alina and Wendell.

Leilani Konrad Here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we use lots of cool tools to study sea otters, like boats, telescopes, and radio tags to track them in the wild.

Leilani Konrad Our team also helps to rescue sea otter pups that have lost their moms and raise them with the help of our own sea otters as foster moms.

Leilani Konrad Once they're big enough, we release them back into the wild so they can do their job as a keystone species and protect the kelp forest.

Leilani Konrad This helps not only the sea otter population, but also the kelp forest ecosystems.

Rob You said a new word in there, Miss Leilani.

Rob You said foster moms.

Rob For humans, a foster mom or a foster parent takes care of a child for a while when their birth parents can't.

Rob Some of our listening orbiters might live with their foster parents or have a friend who has foster parents.

Rob But Ms.

Rob Leilani, what does it mean for a sea otter to be a foster mom?

Leilani Konrad When a pup loses its mom, we bring it into the aquarium and then we introduce them to one of the sea otters that's on exhibit here at the aquarium.

Leilani Konrad Those sea otters naturally take to Leilani Konrad their role as mom really well, treat them as their own pup and then teach them how to be a good sea otter so that when they get released back into the wild, they know how to find food and do all the things that a normal wild sea otter would be able to do.

Rob Aren't sea otter moms special orbiters?

Rob They see a new little sea otter pup and think, hey, that little fella needs a mom.

Rob I can be its mom.

Rob And then they help the baby sea otter grow into a healthy adult that has all the skills it needs to survive in the wild.

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani, how can families continue learning about sea otters and kelp forests together?

Leilani Konrad There are a lot of different things you can do to learn about sea otters and kelp.

Leilani Konrad You can get books from your local library and read more about all the ocean creatures as well as sea otters.

Leilani Konrad Or you can visit natural history museums and aquariums in person to learn and see more about these animals and others.

Rob Parents, we'll leave some links in the show notes to some cool resources from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Rob Hey, Miss Leilani, you're so cool.

Rob Thanks for teaching us so much today.

Leilani Konrad Thanks, Orbiters, for learning about sea otters with me.

Leilani Konrad Remember that every time you Leilani Konrad learn something new about animals or the ocean, you're helping to take care of it too.

Leilani Konrad There are lots of ecosystems, even in your own backyard that you can learn about.

Leilani Konrad So stay curious and keep asking all those great questions.

Rob Hey parents, our guest today was Leilani Conrad, a marine biologist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Northern California.

Rob If your family is in Northern California or if you plan to visit, it's a really special aquarium to check out.

Rob You can even see their kelp forest and sea otters.

Rob I'll leave a link in the show notes.

Rob And before we wrap up, I bet a few of you are curious about the mystery sound.

Rob Do you remember it?

Rob If you said it's a helicopter, you were right.

Rob Way to go.

Rob All right, let's go check in with our friend Sam one last time.

Rob Hey, Mr.

Rob Sam, let's say that you could be a sea otter for a day.

Rob What would you spend your day doing?

Sam I think I would be making friends, catching fish, and making front flips.

Rob Making front flips in the water, or would you be jumping off of rocks?

Sam Jumping off rocks and in the water.

Rob I think it would be so fun to be able to swim like a sea otter and just kind of move around and have a body that's perfectly designed to move like theirs.

Rob Yeah.

Rob And hey, Mr.

Rob Sam, before we say goodbye, why don't we give families a conversation starter?

Rob What is something that families can talk about or do together?

Sam If you were a family or a group of sea otters for a day, what would you do together?

Rob Yeah, that's a great, great question.

Rob And hey, Mr.

Rob Sam, before we wrap up, do you have a joke?

Sam Yes, a joke.

Rob Okay, what's the joke?

Sam Why did the otter cross the river?

Rob Why did the otter cross the river?

Rob I am drawing a blank.

Rob I do not know the answer to this one.

Rob I hope the orbiters got it right.

Rob Mr.

Rob Sam, why did the otter cross the river?

Sam To get to the otter's side.

Rob I'm pretty sure I should have known what the answer was, but that's great.

Rob I love it.

Rob I love it, Mr.

Rob Sam.

Rob Any special messages for our audiences today, Mr.

Rob Sam.

Sam Remember to stay curious.

Rob I love that message.

Rob Remember to stay curious, everyone.

Rob We'll catch y'all soon.

Rob Bye bye.

Speaker 6 Bye.

Rob This episode is part of the Wild Critter series, a collaboration with our friends at PBS Nature and the National Wildlife Federation.

Rob Orbit is produced by Cumbre Kids.

Rob This episode was written by me, Robert Carpenter.

Rob The producer is Catherine Aguilar.

Rob Artwork for the episode by Moises Monsalve and Jorge Wake.

Rob And parents, if you enjoyed this episode, can you think of another family who you would like to share it with?

Rob Recommendations from parents like you are the number one way that families learn about Orbit.

Rob We'll see you in the next episode.

Child The important thing is not to stop questioning Albert Einstein.

Child