AnAge entry for Enhydra lutris
Classification (HAGRID: 02171)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Enhydra
- Species
- Enhydra lutris
- Common name
- Sea otter
- Synonyms
- Mustela lutris
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 27 years (captivity)
- Source
- ref. 671
- Sample size
- Medium
- Data quality
- Acceptable
- Observations
There is a delayed implantation and the total gestation time varies from 4 to 12 months. The actual embryonic development takes about 4-5.5 months [0443]. It has been suggested that longevity in the wild may be as high as 30 years [0542], which is dubious. One wild born female was about 27 years old when she died in captivity [0671].
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 974 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 1,369 days
- Gestation
- 140 days
- Weaning
- 175 days
- Litter size
- 1 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- 0.8
- Inter-litter interval
- 548 days
- Weight at birth
- 1,868 g
- Weight at weaning
- 13,425 g
- Adult weight
- 25,850 g
- Postnatal growth rate
- Maximum longevity residual
- 116%
Metabolism
- Typical body temperature
- 311ºK or 37.5ºC or 99.5ºF
- Basal metabolic rate
- 98.4790 W
- Body mass
- 26832.8 g
- Metabolic rate per body mass
- 0.003670 W/g
References
- [1143] Nussey et al. (2013), Senescence in natural populations of animals: widespread evidence and its implications for bio-gerontology (PubMed)
- [0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
- [0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
- [0443] Ronald Nowak (2003), Walker's Marine Mammals of the World
- [0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
- [1007] Monson et al. (2001), Chemical anesthesia of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris): results of past field studies (PubMed)
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0538] Don Wilson and Sue Ruff (1999), The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals
- [0441] William Burt et al. (1998), A Field Guide to Mammals
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
- [0542] Bernhard Grzimek (1990), Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals
- [0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 180547
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account (if available)
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 34882
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
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- Images
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- Internet
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