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The Otter of the Sea is floating amongst its raft of colony members. While the Otter of the Sea was almost trapped to extinction through the 1800's because of their desirable fur coats. Their coats being among the thickest among mammals, they need this to survive in the cold northern Atlantic Ocean.
While the story of the Otter of the Sea is not faring well. Mean while the Pocket Gopher of the Mountain is happily digging his burrow in sandy, silty, soft, and porous soil. The Pocket Gopher of the Mountain believes that it has chosen a ideal location for it's burrow with perfect soil. The Otter of the Sea was hunted down to a dwindling population of only about 2,000 members. Then came the 20th century and in one of the most successful marine conservation efforts, the population of the Otter of the Sea exploded from the 1930 to the 1980's to a number of more than 200,000. The Pocket Gopher of the Mountain all summer has been busily storing up for winter in the the mountain valley that it resides in. Using its specially adapted skin pockets on either side of its lower jaw and head. The Pocket Gopher of the Mountain gathers and stores vegetation and seeds it in its 'pockets', and then stores it underground in its burrow for use in the winter months. They need this food supply of tubers roots vegetation and seeds during the winter because they do not hibernate. While the population of the Otter of the Sea has recently increased to a number that still makes it's species endangered. Environmental changes, pollution, and changing climates of the Earth are now endangering the species further, and death rates are increasing because of the changes to their environment. The Pocket Gopher of the Mountain is continuing to expand its domain moving upto 2 tons of soil per year. The Pocket Gopher of the mountain to maney farm and livestock owners is considered a nuisance for disturbing so much soil and propagating weeds. Despite a negative reputation the Pocket Gopher of the Mountain does help to aerate and bring nutrients up from lower layers of soil. The Otter of the Sea is still hanging on to its population because it is what is known as a keystone species. A keystone species is when an ecosystem is dependent on one animal to fill a role in that ecosystem. So if the Otter of the Sea goes extinct an ecosystem will subsequently collapse around it. Much is the same for the Pocket Gopher of the Mountain except its role in the ecosystem is not predator. The Pocket Gopher of the Mountain is prey to owls, weasels, cotes, hawks, badgers, and snakes. The Otter of the Sea does have its predators consisting of orcas, sea lions, great whites, and bald eagles. Although due to the superior brains of the Otter of the Sea they do not get preyed upon often. This is due to them staying in their 'rafts' and mainly staying in shallow coves. The Pocket Gopher of the Mountain unbeknownst to it was digging in the silty soil of a river bed in the mountains. The spring floods came and the Pocket Gopher of the Mountain had to move to higher ground. The Otter of the Sea has a large enough brain to begin to use tools to procure meals. In this respect the Otter of the Sea has trounced the Pocket gopher of the Mountain. The Pocket Gopher of the Mountain while unawares on the surface at night gathering vegetation for the winter. A owl swooped down and caught the gopher and ate it up in a nearby tree. The Otter of the Sea Trounces the Gopher of the Mountain! |