Biology:Rosa (sea otter)

Short description: Oldest known living sea otter

Rosa

Species	Sea otter
Sex	Female
Born	late August 1999 (24 years, 10 months old)
Residence	Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey, California

Rosa is a female sea otter at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, born in late August of 1999. She was brought to the aquarium when she was four weeks old, found stranded on a beach in Santa Cruz County in September 1999. At that time, she weighed 5 pounds. Rosa was released at age two for two years, but had to return to the aquarium because she continued to interact with humans by jumping on swimmers and kayakers, which was a danger risk to herself and humans. Rosa has acted as a surrogate mother for 15 abandoned otters as part of the aquarium.

Rosa is currently the oldest known living sea otter at approximately 24 years, 10 months. She is older than the oldest known male sea otter, Adaa, who lived to be 22 years 8 months old before his death but not older than the oldest known female otter, Etika, who lived to be approximately 28 years old.

Appearance, habits and care

One of the otters at Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2007

Rosa is characterized by her large figure with soft silver colored fur and white freckles on her head. She can be seen on the aquarium's live sea otter cam and normally rests on the water surface at the center window after feeding. She for a period of time loved eating live food with shells and also loves to eat crabs. She eats over 10 pounds a day (160 oz). She raised 15 otters before retiring in 2019 with her last otters being released into the wild in October of that year. She has been slowed down by a heart condition and very limited eyesight. However, she has lived to her old age by being fed daily using plastic balls, called boomer balls, or other toys to deliver food, and she is groomed regularly with a health monitoring team that does personal training sessions that accommodates Rosa's limits. Rosa receives a physical checkup three times a year with radiographs, blood tests, and dental care. The aquarium staff have also built a ramp in 2013 to deal with potential arthritis. Her diet is adjusted based on her weight which gets regularly checked. Normally the toys are either bought by staff as presents from a dog store or with the boomer balls bought from an online manufacturer. Some of the trained behaviors exhibited by Rosa are getting on weight scales, sticking up her paws for inspection, allowing the usage of eyedrops on her including being able to target on to a target pole to position her, and opening her mouth for inspection, but like many other otters at the aquarium she has over 20 different behaviors.

Name origin

Some of the otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, including Rosa, are named after John Steinbeck characters, Rosa's name originates from a short novel, John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat. In a livestream celebrating her 24th birthday, it was stated that her original name was Faye, but was changed to Rosa, as it was deemed too similar to another otter's name at the time, as the otter's names are used in enrichment.

Rosa's birthday

Since Rosa's 20th birthday, Twitch streamer and YouTuber Douglas Wreden, also known as DougDoug, has hosted annual charity livestreams to raise money for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. These streams have massively contributed to Rosa's popularity. Wreden and his community raised $320.18 for Rosa's 20th birthday, $2,676.31 for her 21st birthday, and $14,172.92 for her 22nd birthday. During his 8 hour long stream celebrating Rosa's 23rd birthday, he and his Twitch viewers raised over $104,326.89 for the aquarium. Wreden held two streams for Rosa’s 24th birthday. The first stream for Rosa's 24th birthday happened on August 24, 2023, with the second happening two days later on August 26. Wreden and his community raised over $85,000 in the first stream, and over $215,000 during the second stream for a total of over $302,014.21. In total, Wreden has raised $423,510.41 for Monterey Bay Aquarium.