Utterly Otterly
FASCINATING FACTS ON POND LIFE THIEVES
THEY may look like lovable furry critters, but wily otters have increasingly learned how to get under coverings to pilfer fish from people’s ponds, as we reported yesterday.
But how much do you know about the mammals and are they really as cute as they seem? Here JAMES MOORE has put together 15 facts you really otter know… 1 THERE are 13 species around the world, with most living in rivers – but there are sea otters too. A member of the weasel family, they’re found everywhere except Australia and Antarctica.
2 A group of otters is called a “romp” or “bevy” and they live in a riverside den called a “holt” or “couch”. Males are called boars, females are known as sows and babies are pups.
3 They have sharp teeth and eat up to 25% of their own body weight daily, mostly gobbling fish but also crabs, birds and frogs. They sometimes use rocks to smash open shellfish and boffins say they solve puzzles to get food.
4 Otters perform “scat dances” before leaving poop called spraints, which have been described as smelling like violets or jasmine tea.
5 Using communal latrine sites, they can also identify each other by the smell of their droppings.
6 In the UK they are typically about 80cm long and weigh around nine kilos, but the giant otter of South America can grow up to 6ft long.
7 They have the thickest fur of any animal – up to a million hairs per square inch. That compares to 700 for human heads. They use their whiskers to detect vibrations, helping them to hunt.
8 With long slim bodies and strong tails, they have webbed feet and sharp claws on the ends of their toes. They typically live between four and 15 years.
9 Otters can swim up to seven miles an hour – and can hold their breath for up to four minutes.
10 Boffins have found otters make slides on riverbanks or juggle rocks – just for the hell of it. Communication involves a series of whistling and spitting sounds.
11 When they sleep they lie on their backs in water and hold hands in groups, called a raft. This prevents families splitting up.
12 Otter males also hold hands with females, to stop them being taken by another male. But they may also bite a partner’s face and hold on during sex.
13 Facing UK extinction in the 1950s, cleaner rivers have helped numbers of the protected species bounce back to 11,000. They inspired Henry Williamson’s famous 1927 novel Tarka the Otter, set in Devon.
14 The ancient Zoroastrian religion 14 held otters to be sacred, believing they helped purify water by eating dead creatures, even holding ceremonies for the critters when they died.
15 Asian fishermen train otters to help herd their hauls. But the critters do sometimes attack humans. Brit Graham Spencer was bitten 26 times by a “frenzied” pack in Singapore, saying: “I thought I was going to die.”