They glide through the water as graceful as swans, their little paws folded across their chests as if in prayer.

They are so intelligent they carry rocks in the loose folds of skin under their forearms and use them to crack open clams and sea urchins.

They spend much of their lives floating on their backs, and they often wrap themselves in kelp to keep from floating away while they sleep.

They are Enhydra lutris neries — the California sea otter, also known as the southern sea otter — and there once were 20,000 of them, ranging from the coast of southern Oregon to northern Baja.

Their lustrous fur, which is unlike that of any other mammal, was once considered so valuable it acquired the sobriquet “soft gold,” and because their pelts were so highly prized, they once were hunted to the brink of extinction.

But, as Jeff Goldblum’s character says in Jurassic Park, life found a way, and the California sea otter staged a comeback, one so startling it caused a scientist to declare that a report of dinosaurs being found could hardly have been more astonishing.

When Capt. James Cook’s flagship Resolution returned to England on Oct. 4, 1780, it brought news that would set off something akin to a gold rush: Staggering profits could be made by slaughtering Pacific sea otters — including the California variety — and selling their skins in Canton.

From there they would be fashioned into garments the wealthy of China, Russia, England, Europe and the United States were willing to pay the equivalent of $90,000 to own.

The maritime fur trade ensued, with ships from Britain, Russia and the United States descending on the Pacific Rim and the California coast, carrying traders and hunters determined to fill their holds with as many sea otter pelts as they could, and get in on the incredible amounts of money being made in this lucrative business.

A lot of dead sea otters were required to make to make a single garment.

Depending on its size and style, an overcoat might consume as many as eight pelts, a shorter coat five, a large robe six, and a full cloak or mantle seven.

No surprise, then, that the entire sea otter population of the Pacific Rim, which may have been as high as 300,000 when the Resolution reached England, was reduced to around 2,000 by the end of the 19th century, surviving in small remnants in remote locations in parts of Alaska and Russia.

By the start of the 20th century, the California sea otter was believed to be completely extinct.

And the wholesale killing of the sea otters had other consequences, especially in the Channel Islands, which were particularly attractive to hunters because of their abundant otter population.

When Aleut hunters from the Russian ship Il’Mena began killing otters on San Nicolas Island in 1814, it may have been the spark that set off the pitched battle between the Aleuts and the Nicolenos that brought about the demise of the Nicoleno people.

The long-established economies and trading practices of the other Channel Island natives were disrupted as well. Contact with Europeans brought diseases like small pox, measles and influenza.

The sea otter’s slow reproductive biology added to this perfect storm.

Females generally produce only one pup every 407 days. Pups remain dependent on their mothers for at least six months, and many fail to reach adulthood.

Add to this the fact that females take several years to reach reproductive maturity, and it becomes clear that sea otter populations could not replenish themselves nearly as fast as commercial hunters were killing them.

However, life found a way.

As early as 1914, some Big Sur residents reported seeing small clusters of otters along the coast. Due to Big Sur’s isolation and the rugged terrain, these sightings went unverified.

But in 1938, Big Sur rancher Howard Sharpe, an amateur naturalist, spotted a small colony of California sea otters living in the kelp beds off Bixby Creek.

Sharpe took the news of his discovery to Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station, where he was met with polite skepticism. He received the same response when he went to the California Fish and Game Commission.

No one could believe that the California sea otter could have survived.

But a few days later some Fish and Game officials agreed to come to Bixby Creek and see for themselves.

To their amazement, they saw that Sharpe was right: About 50 sea otters were living there.

“Had you reported dinosaurs or ichthyosaurs running down your canyon, swimming about, we couldn’t have been more utterly dumbfounded,” were the words of professor Harold Heath from the Hopkins Marine Station.

From this small group the California sea otter began to come back, its grace and beauty capturing the public’s imagination.

Today they number around 3,000,ranging from Monterey Bay to San Nicolas Island.

Some fun sea otter facts:

• From 1984 to 2004 a Cambria radio station was named “K-Otter,” KOTR, 94.9 FM, playing “Rock n’ Rhythm n’ Blues.”
• As many as 100 sea otters will gather together to sleep, groom or socialize, forming what is known as a “raft.”
• Sea otter fur is waterproof and can contain as many as 1 million hairs per square inch!

Challenges still remain for the Enhydra lutris neries. Climate change, oil spills and changes to federal protections under the Endangered Species Act all pose potential threats.  

But judging from its history, the California sea otter will continue to survive and flourish — for life finds a way.