Sea Otters

Objectives:

• Students will be able to describe the physical characteristics of otters.

• Students will be able to identify the behavioral characteristics of otters.

• Students will be able to explain how otters are organized into groups and how they communicate with each other.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension worksheet passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

Sea otters are amphibious mammals. That is, they live both on land and in the sea. As mammals, sea otters have hair and feed their babies milk. Sea otters come from the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, where it is very cold. Otters do not have blubber like other marine mammals, such as whales. Instead, they have an extremely thick coat of fur to keep warm - no animal has thicker fur. The fur on the surface of an otter's coat is waterproof. This keeps the cold water away from their skin. In order to live easily in the sea, otters have small ears and noses that can close to keep water out.

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