The Sea Otter's Enchanted Forest | America's National Parks

Just offshore, the shallow coastal waters are also a refuge for marine mammals, such as the sea lions that hang out on the rocks or hunt beneath the sea. Here, in their own enchanted forest, the kelp beds are several stories deep.

[Music] There are seals, and the animal you might call the keeper of the kelp beds, the sea otter. They prey on clams, abalone, and sea urchin. Without them, small undersea life would overgraze, destroying the kelp forests that feed and protect marine mammals.

It's rare to see a mother and pup with a male escort; males are often a threat to the pair and might even keep the pup hostage until the female surrenders her food. For many years, being an otter was risky business. They have the densest fur of any mammal.

By the early 1900s, they had been hunted to extinction here on the Olympic coast, and only a few thousand existed worldwide. Sea otters were reintroduced to the region in 1969. They’re still endangered, but rebounding thanks to recovery efforts.

Today, nearly a thousand otters are getting by here, with a little help from their friends.