Sear Otters Analysis

The author states that the pollution hypothesis seemed the most likely cause of otters decline along the Alaskan coast and provides three reasons. In contrast, the professor states that the ongiong investigation show that the predation theory is mst likely the cause of the decline and sh.e opposes each of the author 's reasons

First, the reading claims that there were known sources of pollution along the Alaskan coast. However, the professor refutes this pint by saying that the pollution theory is weakened by that no dead sea otters were washed up to the shore. She said thet if the infection is the cause of the decline, there should be a lot of killed otters washed up, so this fact is consistent with the predation theory because if the sear otters were killedby predetors, they would not wash up to the shore.

In the other hand, the speaker contends this by explaining that whales were declined because of the human hunting , orcas changed their diet to survive and because just of the sea mammals were available, human started to hunt sea mammals and cause the decline.

Third, the author asserts that scientist believed that the pollution hypothesis could also the uneven pattern of otters decline. However, the professor opposes this pint by explaining that the uneven pattern is better explained by orcas predation theory. she added that it depends on whether the location is accessible by orcas or not, so because orcas are large, they can 't access the shallow region where sea otters have not