When it comes to the creatures of the ocean, which is the cutest? Perhaps many people will say that of course it is a sea otter, because its appearance of cute pet image has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and even many manufacturers, are to the appearance of the sea otter cartoon image for their own brand advertising, then it is such a cute pet in the marine world, even in the mating process, male sea otter tortured the female to death, why is this?
What kind of animal is a sea otter?
Many people confuse sea otters with otters and stupidly can't tell them apart, but from the name, we already know that these are two completely different animals. Sea otters naturally live in the ocean, while otters live on the edge of freshwater, and the two animals have different appearances and forms due to their different living environments.
Sea otter is a kind of animal in the ferret family, its entire body length is about one meter three to one meter five, the weight reaches 60 to 100 pounds, the general male sea otter will be larger than the female sea otter, their forelimbs are short, the hind limbs are long.
Only during the breeding season will sea otters live on land, other times it can be said that sea otters live in the ocean. At night, sea otters wrap seaweed around their bodies and sleep as their pillows, in order to prevent themselves from being swept away by the waves.
When diving, sea otters can dive to the bottom of the sea at 50 meters and feed on shellfish, abalone, sea urchins, etc. on weekdays. Because sea otters live in a harsh environment and need to consume a lot of energy every day, they also eat a lot of food. Sea otters are currently distributed in Japan, Mexico, the United States and other places.
Because sea otters live in the ocean all year round, summer is better, the sea temperature in the ocean will not drop too low even at night, but in the winter, sea otters will inevitably encounter cold ocean temperatures, at this time their thick fur plays a very important role in keeping warm. According to incomplete statistics, on the body of each sea otter, there are nearly one million hairs per square inch, which shows how exuberant the fur of the sea otter is.
Why do sea otters mate violently during the breeding season?
Sea otters practice polygamy, and male sea otters establish their sphere of influence in waters near females or juveniles, and during the breeding season, a male sea otter can mate with multiple female sea otters. Male sea otters usually have penis bones up to 15 centimeters long, and they are called "tyrants" because male sea otters tend to use an aggressive act of violence during courtship and mating.
So, how violent is it? For example, when male sea otters are mating, they will bite the nose of female sea otters, and sometimes even bite off a few pieces of meat until they complete the mating task. Throughout the mating process, female sea otters tend to be scaled all over their bodies, and some will be directly bitten or drowned.
According to relevant biologists, nearly eleven percent of female sea otters die from mating during the breeding and mating season, which shows how wild and rough male sea otters are. Some netizens can't help but ask: "Why do male sea otters make such cruel and violent mating behaviors?" ”
In the study, the relevant people found that this may be related to the polygamy practiced by male sea otters. As we mentioned earlier, male sea otters will establish their own territory, and there will be many female sea otters living in this territory, but male sea otters are not welcomed in this territory and are often expelled. Once the male sea otter has been expelled from the territory, it is no longer possible to mate with the female sea otter.
Male sea otters that have been expelled from their territories are not without a place to go, they will come to the area specially established for female sea otters, these hormone-intensive sea otters, in this area it is impossible to find female sea otters to vent their desires, once there is an opportunity to mate and attack, they will not let go of any target, even if the other party is a different species, sometimes seals will become their victims.
It can be seen that once the female sea otter encounters the male sea otter, it can be said that it is extremely sad, and whether she can survive after mating is completely resigned to fate. Not only that, but female sea otters also have the responsibility of reproducing offspring, they will raise offspring, but male sea otters are often irresponsible and directly find new love.
In addition to sea otters, what other animals have violent mating?
In addition to the violent behavior of sea otters during mating, there are also great white sharks that are notorious in this regard, and sometimes they will bite each other directly during the mating process because they are very intense, and the scene is extremely cruel.
In addition, walruses are also a violent mating animal, in order to compete for female walruses, male walruses will fight with their competitors, after the fight wins, they will give all their remaining energy to the female walrus, in the mating process will use their jaws directly to crush the female walrus, to ensure that the female walrus will not escape during the mating process, most of the male walrus violence, female walrus will be crushed to death.
These animals will do whatever it takes to reproduce, and for females, they have to bear not only the harm caused to them by the male and the same species, but also the psychological damage, and complete the task of feeding alone.
In any case, for animals, this is a way for them to survive and reproduce, and it is immutable. As human beings, we should respect these animals and treat them kindly, rather than harming these animals for our own sake.
In recent years, there have been many unscrupulous merchants who have put their interests on the sea otters, because the sea otters have dense furs, and these merchants have made a variety of handicrafts with their furs after large-scale capture, which has also led to a continuous decline in the number of sea otters, so once again we call on everyone to protect animals and not let them embark on the road of endangerment.