\ud83d\udd35 Blunt teeth, unique for a mammal \u2192 designed for crushing shellfish and other benthic (bottom-dwelling) invertebrates common in kelp forests, estuaries, and the rocky bottom ecosystems the otters inhabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83d\udd35 An intricate honeycomb-like structure inside the nasal passages \u2192 indicates an acute sense of smell that also aids in heat regulation in cold water (temperatures range from 8\u00b0 C to 17\u00b0 C!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83d\udd35 Large eye sockets \u2192 demonstrate good vision both above and below the water\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you to \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Cecelia Azhderian<\/a>, a trained visual #communicator<\/a> who celebrates the collaboration of art and #science<\/a>, the old and new, and bringing the outside in! #imagenscienceadventcalendar<\/a>#otters<\/a>#sciart<\/a>#endangered<\/a>#zoology<\/a>#scicomm<\/a>#wildlife<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n What does the skeleton of a highly specialized marine mammal reveal about its life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2515"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2587,"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515\/revisions\/2587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/child.imagenscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The #illustration<\/a> was commissioned by SeaOtters.com<\/a>, and appeared here: https:\/\/lnkd.in\/eiDuzfA<\/a>. The organization raises awareness about California\u2019s threatened sea otters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"otter](\"http:\/\/staging.careersinscience.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/master-skeleton-skull-72dpi-copy-2-Cecelia-Azhderian-1024x791.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"