Spring arrives and notoriously shy sea otters pups play in the ocean off Vancouver Island. The Wild Canadian crew hides to capture those magical moments.
These adorable sea otters live off the rocky coast of Vancouver Island. They were introduced to British Coumbia in the early 1970's after the fur trade decimated their population in the 1900's.
Unlike other marine mammals, these otters don't have blubber to keep them warm. Instead their fur is the densest of any animal of Earth — an estimated one million hairs per square inch, which is what made them so desirable to traders.
Spring is the best time to capture cute scenes of females raising their biosterous pups amongst a large litter of playmates.
The Wild Canadian Year team used cameras to film them from land, underwater cameras to watch them foraging and diving underwater and small aerial drones to capture images of their seaside environment.
But a major challenge was dealing with stormy weather. Cameraman Justin Maguire had to hide camouflaged on rocky outcrops to get close enough to film the skittish moms feeding, grooming and snoozing at sea holding paws their precious pups. Huge swells and lashing winds at high tide made getting onto — and off of — his rugged perch a challenge!
