Sea Otters | #BigBlueLive #SciSparksAdvent

For day 10 of my advent calendar, I thought we'd have a flashback to this summer's Big Blue Live. You may remember that the Sea Otters of Monterey Bay stole the show!They relax on the waters just of the coast of America and surprisingly are fairly closely related to the weasel. They are perfectly adapted to spend their days lolling back on the water, with their thick fur they can stay warm and toasty

I thought I'd leave you with some of my favorite sea otter pictures.... (prepare for a overload of cuteness!)

#BigBlueLive

The ADORABLE Sea Otter

Monterey Bay, California. Quite literally one of the greatest places on Earth. Some of the world's most amazing marine life are arriving or have already taken up residence in the 21 mile wide bay. Brought to you by Matt Baker, Liz Bonnin and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the show is packed with incredible sights from the majestic Humpback Whale to the incredibly cute Sea Otter. The spectacle is quite literally AMAZING. Matt Baker takes the short trip to meet the relaxed sea otters, lolling back on the water - quite literally living the Californian life. Of course there's some ideal conservation opportunities that come with the abundance of wildlife - Matt and the team spoke with the people who are doing their best to allow the wildlife to thrive. Even something as simple as removing sea urchins which eat kelp to help the sea otter. Kelp is actually one of the sea otters favourite food, so something so simple makes so much difference! 

And of course Big Blue UK has been airing all week showcasing  the incredible wildlife Britain has to offer, from killer whales to dolphins and puffins - although somewhat a little worrying how close whales are to our shores! 

Yesterday Big Blue UK met some of the puffins off the coast of Scotland - I won't even start talking about Puffins, I'll be hear until Christmas! (If you do want to hear more, then check out my previous post, FULL of puffins!) But they did look at how they breed, what I didn't realise was how sociable they are and how unthreatened they felt when he was separated from his young (only temporarily though!) 

I think now, it's safe to say Monterey Bay has been added to my bucket list of places to go!

Big Blue Live airs from California 8pm tonight BBC1