Happy summer, y’all! I know in San Francisco summer often means fog, but drive a few minutes in almost any direction and you’ll find some sun. Do it — the June gloom is real! Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• Join our exclusive James Lick Observatory tour
• Otter foster care that works
• Vote on what we should cover next

Win a Prize Pack!

Congratulations to the winner of May’s trivia: Brina. She correctly answered this question: From 1906 until prohibition in 1919, Richmond, California was home to the largest winery in the world, producing up to 12 million gallons of wine a year. What was the name of this winery? The answer is: Winehaven.

This month’s question:
Folgers, a nationally leading coffee company founded in San Francisco, is famous for its slogan. What is the slogan?

Anyone who guesses it right will be entered to win our prize package with Bay Curious and Sierra Nevada goodies. Good Luck!

Our Trivia Quiz is made possible by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.

How One Otter Mom Helped Revive Her Species

Southern sea otters, also known as California otters, are one of the state’s most iconic marine residents. These shaggy, charismatic creatures love to relax, floating on their backs through kelp forests, cracking crabs on sharp rocks, and munching away on their hard earned treats. But not long ago, they were a species on the brink of extinction.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, European-American colonizers hunted California’s southern sea otters to near extinction for their thick, insulating pelts. By the time the practice was restricted in 1911, less than 50 southern sea otters remained along the central coast. But they’ve gradually been making a comeback, in part due to a happy accident at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Since the 1980s, the aquarium has rescued and rehabilitated stranded and orphaned sea otters. But raising a baby otter is no easy task. In the wild, pups learn everything from their mothers — how to dive, find and crack open food, and even how to take care of their pelts, an extra important skill for one of the only marine mammals with no blubber to keep them warm. When orphaned otters enter human care, these skills become harder to teach.

“For many years it was human beings that were working with these pups, one on one, living with them, in tanks with them 24/7, showing them how to find food and handle live food,” said Sandrine Hazan, an aquarium staffer who has worked on the otter rehabilitation program for nearly 17 years. But when those otters were released, Hazan explained, “[they] had a much harder time acclimating to the wild.” Many of these released pups were too habituated to humans — they’d climb on the back of kayaks — and had to return to the aquarium.

Then in 2001, staffers stumbled upon an unexpected solution. It all started with an adult female otter named Toola. Toola had recently been brought to the aquarium after contracting toxoplasmosis, a debilitating parasitic infection. She had also recently given birth to a stillborn. Around that time, staff were caring for an orphaned otter pup — Otter 217 — who was in need of a mom. As Hazan tells it, the team had a sort of aha moment: “He's nursing, she's lactating. Let's give it a shot.”

They introduced the pair and they bonded. “I like to say that literally that was the birth of the surrogacy program,” Hazan said. Toola groomed the pup, fed him, taught him to dive, and let him rest on her belly. It was instinctive and it worked. Otter 217 thrived and was eventually released into the wild.

That first connection led to the Sea Otter Surrogacy Program: pairing orphaned pups with non-releasable otter moms. And these adult otters don’t have to be lactating, maternal instincts are all it takes. In this role, staffers take a back seat. The goal is to keep otters wild, that means human staffers wear disguises and stay silent when in the presence of the pups.

“We call them like Darth Vader disguises,” Hazan said.

So far, the program has raised close to 75 sea otter pups. Toola herself reared nearly a dozen. The initiative has even expanded beyond Monterey. In 2020, the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach joined the effort. Turns out, only a sea otter can teach a sea otter how to be a sea otter.

Many of the pups released from Monterey Bay Aquarium have made their home in a nearby estuary, Elkhorn Slough. Just inland from Moss Landing, the slough is one of California’s biodiversity hotspots. It’s home to over 340 species of birds and 16 threatened and endangered species (southern sea otters among them). When rehabbed otters showed up there, it sent ripple effects across the ecosystem. Learn more about it in an upcoming Bay Curious episode!

— By Gabriela Glueck

Tour the Cosmos With Us

The Lick Observatory perched atop Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, has been at the forefront of astronomy since its founding in 1888. It debuted as the world’s first year-round accessible mountain-top observatory and is where the University of California runs its astronomy research.

Join Bay Curious to explore this historic observatory way up on top of a mountain. This intimate tour offers a rare peek into one of the region’s most fascinating scientific landmarks. Space is limited, so don’t miss your chance to explore this one-of-a-kind landmark!
 

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June Voting Round

The winner of May’s voting round with 38% of the vote is: “What is the longest stairway in San Francisco? What is the shortest? What is the steepest?”

VOTE for which question you'd like featured in an upcoming podcast episode.