For Otter Moms, Nursing Burnout Is Sometimes Deadly

What scene could be more tranquil than that of a sea otter mother cradling her nursing pup? Scientists knew that mortality rates are unusually high in female southern sea otters that have just finished lactating, but researchers had yet to pinpoint the cause. "This had been a big question within the marine mammal scientific community for many years," said study co-author Nicole Thometz, a postdoctoral researcher with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Califor