Individual variation in prey selection by sea otters: patterns, causes and implications

Summary Longitudinal records of prey selection by 10 adult female sea otters on the Monterey Peninsula, California, from 1983 to 1990 demonstrate extreme inter‐individual variation in diet. Variation in prey availability cannot explain these differences as the data were obtained from a common spatial‐temporal area. Individual dietary patterns persisted throughout our study, thus indicating that they are life‐long characteristics. Individual dietary patterns in sea otters appear to be transmitted along matrilines, probably by way of learning during the period of mother–young association. Efficient utilization of different prey types probably requires radically different sensory/motor skills, each of which is difficult to acquire and all of which may exceed the learning and performance capacities of any single individual. This would explain the absence of generalists and inertia against switching, but not the existence of alternative specialists. Such individual variation might arise in a constant environment from frequency‐dependent effects, whereby the relative benefit of a given prey specialization depends on the number of other individuals utilizing that prey. Additionally, many of the sea otter's prey fluctuate substantially in abundance through time. This temporal variation, in conjunction with matrilineal transmission of foraging skills, may act to mediate the temporal dynamics of prey specializations. Regardless of the exact cause, such extreme individual variation in diet has broad ramifications for population and community ecology. The published literature indicates that similar patterns occur in many other species.