Key to helping southern sea otter is in repopulating estuaries such as San Francisco Bay

DECEMBER 10, 2019

by California Polytechnic State University

The picture of sea otters frolicking among kelp beds and rocky shoals has become an iconic image of the California coastline. But it may be drawing attention away from the value of other habitat that could truly help the endangered species in its recovery—estuaries.

In fact, a new study released today concludes that California could more than triple its population of southern sea otters, from an estimated 3,000 to nearly 10,000, by repopulating the largest estuary on the coast—the San Francisco Bay.

"It would essentially end up lifting the sea otter out of its endangered species status," said Brent Hughes, assistant professor of biology at Sonoma State and lead researcher in the study published in PeerJ. "For the conservation of the sea otter, this would be huge."

According to Hughes and fellow researchers, current southern sea otter recovery plans have not included estuaries as target habitats. This "may be an artifact of where the surviving population persisted," they concluded in their paper titled "Species recovery and recolonization of past habitats: Lessons for science and conservation from sea otters in estuaries."

"Sea otters are widely associated with kelp forests in the minds of both the scientific community and the general public," said Lisa Needles, a member of the research team based at California Polytechnic State University. "However, over the last two decades, we've seen the resurgence of sea otters in two estuaries, Morro Bay and Elkhorn Slough. This led us to realize that not only did they occur in estuaries in large numbers in the past but they're also integral to the ecosystem health of estuaries, just as they are in kelp forests."

The southern sea otter was widely believed to be extinct due to the expansive fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, which reduced the global population from between 150,000 and 300,000 to roughly 2,000. Then in 1914 a remnant population of about 50 southern sea otters was found along the rugged Big Sur shoreline. Thanks to conservation efforts, the population has since grown to more than 3,000, but their numbers are still far below their historic numbers and range.

While conservation efforts have focused on protecting otters in these rocky coastal habitats, evidence shows that southern sea otters were once abundant in California estuaries, including in San Francisco Bay. Early accounts by Spanish explorers noted otter populations as far south as San Jose and as far north as Richardson Bay. "Sea otters probably numbered in the thousands in this estuary prior to being driven to local extinction by over-hunting," the researchers noted.

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Buzz kill: Killer bees invade San Francisco for first time

OCTOBER 1, 2015

by Chuck Bednar

An Africanized type of honeybees referred to as “killer bees” has been spotted in the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time, as researchers from the University of California-San Diego have reported spotting the insects near Briones Regional Park in the city of Lafayette.

According to CBS News and the San Francisco Chronicle, killer bees had only previously been observed as far north as Mariposa County in the more inland Central Valley area, but the insects may have been attracted to the Bay Area because of warming temperatures in the region.

It is unclear how many of the bees, which earned their nickname because of their tendency to swarm and become aggressive when their colony is threatened, have found their way to the San Francisco region. However, the UCSD team believes it is likely that there are multiple colonies of the honeybees, which are hybrids of the European bee and the African bee.

“The sampling is a little sparse up north,” Joshua Kohn, a professor of biology at UC San Diego, told the Chronicle. “Normally honeybees forage within about a mile of their hive, though they can go up to about five miles. There is no way we found a member of the only Africanized bee colony in that region.”

Killer bees have a bad rep

Africanized honeybees can sting en masse when they sense a threat – which they can do from up to 50 feet away from their nests, according to a University of California fact sheet. The bees will pursue targets for at least one quarter of a mile, and although they could pose a threat to humans, Kohn said that San Francisco residents should not be overly concerned.

“An Africanized honeybee out foraging on flowers is no more aggressive than your average European honeybee,” Kohn told the newspaper. “Nor is the sting of an individual any different. It’s only when a hive is disturbed that the level of aggression from Africanized bees is elevated,” he added. In these cases, the bees tend to attack in greater numbers than their relatives.

Read more at

San Francisco’s proposed ban on wild animals performing gets a step nearer to becoming law

San Francisco’s board of supervisors have voted unanimously to propose new regulations that would ban all performances, including movie and TV work, by wild and exotic animals in the city. 

This would mean species like lions, tigers, bears, elephants, sea lions, ferrets, dolphins, ostriches and emus would be banned from performing. However the ruling would not apply to domesticated animals, such as dogs, cats, horses and other livestock or pets.

Supervisor Katy Tang has stated that the ban is designed to “protect wild and exotic animals from cruel and inhumane treatment and to protect the public from the danger posed by the use of wild and exotic animals for entertainment.”

If the City Council vote in favour of the ban next week San Francisco would be the largest city to adopt such a sweeping prohibition on the commercial use of wild animals for public amusement. 

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Raccoon's freedom costs San Francisco carpenter his job

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A carpenter has been fired for freeing a raccoon that had been trapped by exterminators at the San Francisco construction site where he worked.

Todd Sutton tells the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1x8xudK ) that he came to work one morning in late February and saw the animal inside a trap.

The builders had hired professional trappers to have the critter — which was blamed for damage at the $610 million project — removed and euthanized.

But the 49-year-old carpenter says he put the animal in his truck and released it in a nearby grassy area, after getting guidance from animal control officers.

His employer told the newspaper the move amounted to theft, because Sutton took something from the site that didn't belong to him.

Sutton has hired an attorney.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com

Source

20 foot-long giant millipedes seized at San Francisco airport

Customs officials say they thwarted a plan to bring creepy crawly contraband into the States when they opened a toy box arriving from Germany – and found 20 foot-long giant millipedes inside.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection staff operating at the international mail facility at San Francisco International made the discovery when they removed the lid from a styrofoam box marked ‘toy car model.’

Officials said they x-rayed the package and were confused when it didn’t appear to contain a toy, so they opened the lid.

‘Customs and Border Protection officers and agriculture specialists routinely x-ray and inspect packages arriving from foreign locations for contraband and other prohibited items before they are permitted to enter the U.S.,’ Brian J. Humphrey, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Francisco, explained.

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'Rat girl' bred thousands of rodents and then released them onto city streets

A rat-mad woman has single-handedly launched a city-wide infestation after breeding thousands of rodents and letting them go.

Erika J aka Rat Girl has spent years taking in rats and "compulsively breeding them", according to public health officials in San Francisco, California.

On one occasion they exterminated 1,000 of the furry pests in a hotel when she was staying.

Californian television channel KTVU said the 43-year-old's rodent obsession had become so bad officials now confiscate her rats "whenever they can" - but say she always seems to find more.

Read on and video

New ban in nanny city San Francisco? Releasing butterflies could soon be illegal

San Francisco, California could soon be the first city in the United States to adopt a law prohibiting the release of commercially-bred butterflies, a common wedding ceremony practice that has peeved local environmentalists.

The seven members of the San Francisco Commission on the Environment voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a resolution which urges the city’s Department of Environment to work alongside lawmakers and conservationists towards potential legislation.

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Rare Kissing Octopus Unveiled For the First Time

Scientists are unveiling a rare octopus that has never been on public display before.

And unlike other octopuses, where females have a nasty habit of eating their partners during sex, Larger Pacific Striped Octopuses mate by pressing their beaks and suckers against each other in an intimate embrace.

CREDIT: Richard Ross 

The beautiful creature can also morph from dark red to black-and-white stripes and spots and can shape-shift from flat to expanded.

The sea dweller will be on display starting today (Mar. 6) at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

"I'm thrilled that Academy visitors will have the opportunity to view this fascinating animal up close in the aquarium, where they'll see just why its beauty, unique mating technique and social habits are intriguing the cephalopod community," said Richard Ross, a biologist at the California Academy of Sciences, in a statement.

Read on:

Sparrows Change Their Tune to Be Heard in Noisy Cities

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2012) — Sparrows in San Francisco's Presidio district changed their tune to soar above the increasing cacophony of car horns and engine rumbles, details new Mason research in the April edition of Animal Behaviour.

"It shows a strong link between the change in song and the change in noise," says David Luther, term assistant professor in Mason's undergraduate biology program. "It's also the first study that I know of to track the songs over time and the responses of birds to historical and current songs."

The study, "Birdsongs Keep Pace with City Life: Changes in Song Over Time in an Urban Songbird Affects Communication," compares birdsongs from as far back as 1969 to today's tweets. Plus, the researchers detail how San Francisco's streets have grown noisier based on studies from 1974 and 2008.

Luther wrote the study with Elizabeth Derryberry, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane University and a research assistant professor at Louisiana State University's Museum of Natural Science. "We've created this artificial world, although one could say it's the real world now, with all this noise -- traffic, leaf blowers, air conditioners," Luther says. "A lot of birds are living in these areas, and what, if anything, is this doing to their songs?"

Turns out, quite a bit.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120402162710.htm