Kate and Wills court controversy by wearing scarves trimmed with sea otter fur
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sported scarves trimmed with sea otter fur on their visit to a remote Canadian island today.
The couple were given the garments as a sign of welcome and respect by the local First Nations Haida Community, the Daily Mail reports.
The woven raven's tail scarves are a sign of wealth and rank among the Haida people, who in times gone by had to travel by canoe to trade for the wool on the mainland.
But a closer look showed that they were trimmed with fur, often a controversial issue for British royals.
Local resident Denise Ross told Mail Online that the fur was sea otter, which was worn only by matriarchs, Chiefs and their wives or persons of great standing in the community.
She said the fur would most likely have been brought in from Alaska or Bella Bella, with whom the Haida people had a trading agreement: “A long time ago there were many sea otters here but they were hunted and traded to extinction.
“But they are very plentiful in other areas of the country and most likely the fur would have been brought in from Alaska or Bella Bella, as we having a long-standing trading agreement with the Heiltsuk people,” she said.
“The Raven's Tail scarves are a sign of great respect and are only worn by matriarchs and Chiefs.
'It is wonderful that William and Kate have come to visit us here and very normal that they would be given these scarves.”
Sea otters are the second smallest marine mammals.
Unlike others, they do not have a layer of blubber to help them keep warm.|
Instead, sea otters have the densest fur in the animal kingdom, ranging from 250,000 to a million hairs per square inch, which insulates them.
Sea otters are a keystone species, meaning their role in their environment has a greater effect than other species.
As predators, sea otters are critical to maintaining the balance of the near-shore kelp ecosystems.
Without sea otters, the undersea animals they prey on would devour the kelp forests off the coast that provide cover and food for many other marine animals.
Sea otters eat urchins, abalone, mussels, clams, crabs, snails and about 40 other marine species and need to eat approximately 25% of their weight in food each day to support their high metabolism.
Historically, sea otters numbered between several hundred thousand to more than a million.
But due to the fur trade, worldwide numbers plummeted down to a total of 1,000-2,000 in the early 1900s.
Today, there are estimated to be just over 106,000 worldwide,.
They live in shallow coastal waters off the northern Pacific and can be found in Canada, Russia and the US, although the majority of all wild sea otters are found in Alaskan waters.
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