They’re the stars of our favorite Coca-Cola commercials, and the unofficial spokes-animals for the fight against global warming. Polar bears, the largest land carnivores, are not the only species whose habitat is threatened by the changing climate, but they are one of the species in the most imminent danger of extinction. Because of this, we at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium are dedicated to protecting polar bears at the Zoo and in their natural habitat.

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Sea otters are adorable, cheerful creatures, but did you know they also help combat global climate change? Their contribution in the ocean habitat actively sucks carbon dioxide from the water and the atmosphere. The otter’s favorite dinner is sea urchins, and by eating them they keep vast forests of kelp healthy. The kelp then removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Without sea otters to control sea urchin population, the kelp would be greatly reduced or even wiped out altogether, seriously disrupting the ocean ecosystem and destroying an important means of natural carbon dioxide reduction.  

If Northern sea otter populations were restored to pre-hunting levels, they could sequester around 10 million tons of carbon in the ocean ecosystem.  One scientist calculates that the otters can sequester .40 pounds of carbon for every square meter of habitat they occupy. When multiplied by every sea otter in existence, that’s quite an impact.

Sea Otters were hunted for their pelts and nearly went extinct between 1700 and 1900, but by the mid 1970s their populations had grown to around 125,000 animals due to conservation efforts. Since then, their populations have again decreased and perhaps 70,000 of them live in the Pacific waters of North America. Increasing their populations through conservation would help reduce carbon in the atmosphere, making them as Discovery says, “the cutest way to fight global warming.”

Here at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, we are dedicated to protecting these valuable (and adorable) creatures. In fact, in cooperation with the Alaska Sea Life Center (ASLC), we are providing a safe home for an orphaned sea otter pup who was found stranded along the Alaska coastline. You can visit the pup in a special nursery in the lower level of Water’s Edge beginning Friday, April 27.

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Each week we are going to post about conservation efforts and projects going on at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. This week we’re going to tell you about our coral conservation efforts—and about a group of kids who took matters into their own hands.

Conserving Corals

While corals may look like they are a form of plant life, they are actually living creatures. Even more surprising to some: they are one of the most important species of animal in the ocean. They make up only 2 percent of the ocean, but around 25 percent of all ocean species rely on corals to sustain life. Were corals to disappear, so would nearly a quarter of the ocean’s biodiversity. Unfortunately, this is becoming a real possibility. Factors like pollution, sedimentation, bleaching, temperature changes, and an increase in predators are causing coral numbers to rapidly decrease.

So we at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium are taking action.  We have launched or participated in multiple efforts to conserve and educate about corals. [click to continue…]

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