Animals
Do sea otters hold hands while they sleep?
The short answer
Sometimes, genuinely. Resting sea otters do link paws so they don't drift apart from their raft. It is real behaviour and not a myth — but it is less frequent than the internet implies, and rafts mostly stay together by watching and listening to each other.
A group of resting sea otters is called a raft, which is already a good start. To keep the raft from coming apart in a current, otters will sometimes link paws while they sleep on their backs at the surface. Some also anchor themselves by wrapping up in kelp, which is the same idea with better equipment.
The nuance is worth keeping. Paw-holding is not the primary way large rafts stay together — mostly they maintain proximity by watching each other, listening, making casual contact, and adjusting with their tails and rear flippers. The hand-holding photo that goes around every few months is real, and it is also the highlight reel.
Rafts can get enormous. Super-rafts of more than 200 otters have been reported off the coast of Monterey, California.
Sources
- Sea Otters Hold Hands While Sleeping and They Even CuddleDiscover Magazine
- Sea otterSeattle Aquarium