Point Lobos, California

Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) The densest fur of any animal, and the reason they were almost wiped out. Hunted relentlessly for the fur trade in the 1700s and 1800s, the California population was presumed extinct by the early 1900s — until a small raft of about 50 otters was discovered off Bixby Creek in 1938, just down the coast from here. Not so fun fact: they were hunted for that fur. ...