Sea otters eat constantly and one of their favorite snacks is the striped shore crab. Researchers found that the return of the crab-eating sea otters to a tidal estuary near Monterey, California, helped curb erosion. Hunting bans and habitat restoration efforts helped sea otters recover some of their former range. For the new study, researchers analyzed historic erosion rates dating back to the 1930s to assess the impact of sea otters' return. Other research has shown that sea otters help kelp forests regrow by controlling the number of sea urchins that munch kelp.

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Persons: Brent Hughes, Hughes, Johan Eklöf, ”, Brian Silliman Organizations: WASHINGTON, Sonoma State University, Nature, Stockholm University, Duke University, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: California, Monterey , California, Elkhorn Slough, Alaska, Russia, Japan, Monterey, Stockholm