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More About Otters ...
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Otters are aquatic or marine carnivorous mammals, members of the large and diverse family, Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, polecats, badgers and others. There are 13 species of otter in 7 genera, with a distribution that is almost worldwide.
Otters have a dense layer 1,000 hairs/mm² (~650,000 hairs/in²) of very soft underfur which, protected by their outer layer of long guard hairs, keeps them dry under water and traps a layer of air to keep them warm. Unlike most marine mammals (seals, for example, or whales), otters do not have a layer of insuating blubber, and even the marine Sea Otter must come ashore regularly to wash its coat in fresh water.
Fish is the primary item in the diet of most otters, supplemented by frogs, crayfish, and crabs; some have become expert at opening shellfish, and others will take any small mammals or birds that happen to be available. To survive in the cold waters where many otters live, the specialised fur is not enough: otters have very high metabolic rates and burn up energy at a profligate pace: Eurasian Otters, for example, must eat 15% of their body weight a day; Sea Otters, 20 to 25%, depending on the temperature. In consequence, otters are very vulnerable to prey depletion: in water as warm as 10°C an otter needs to catch 100 g of fish per hour: less than that and it cannot survive. Most species hunt for 3 to 5 hours a day; nursing mothers up to 8 hours a day.
All otters have long, slim, streamlined bodies of extraordinary grace and flexibility, and short limbs; in most cases the paws are webbed. Most have sharp claws to grasp prey but the Short-clawed Otter of southern Asia has just vestigal claws, and two closely related species of African otter have no claws at all: these species live in the often muddy rivers of Africa and Asia and locate their prey by touch.
The North American River Otter (Lutra canadensis) was one of the major animals hunted and trapped for fur in North America after contact with Europeans. They are playful and active, making them a popular exhibit in zoos and aquaria, but unwelcome on agricultural land because they alter river banks for access, sliding, and defense. River otters eat a variety of fish and shellfish, as well as small land mammals and birds. They are 3 to 4 feet (1 m) in length and weigh from 10 to 30 pounds (5 to 15 kg). They were once found all over North America, but are rare or extinct in most places, although flourishing in some locations.
The Sea Otter Enhydra lutris is found along the Pacific coast of North America. Their historic range included shallow waters of the Bering Strait and Kamchatka, and as far south as Japan. Sea otters have 1 million hairs per square inch of skin, a rich fur for which they were hunted almost to extinction. By the time they were protected under the 1911 Fur Seal Treaty, there were so few sea otters left that the fur trade had become unprofitable.
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Taxonmony
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Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
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Source: Wikipedia Read more about Otters
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VIDEO CLIPS
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Sea Otter
Streaming RAM View Movie
Adopt a Dolphin with WDCS
A normally shy young otter eating a Sea Trout it had caught
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Otter
0.730MB MOV View Movie
CNN
Otter clip
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Sea Otter
Streaming RAM View Movie
Friends of the Sea Otter
Clip from "The World of the Sea Otter"
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Sea Otter
Streaming RAM View Movie
Friends of the Sea Otter
Clip from "A Sea Otter Story"
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River Otter
Streaming RAM View Movie
National Geographic - Creature Feature Archive
Video of River Otters
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Cape Clawless Otter
0.560MB MPG View Movie
theBigZoo.com
Cape Clawless Otter Swimming
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Asian Small-Clawed Otter
2.650MB MPG View Movie
theBigZoo.com
Asian Small-Clawed Otter Going for a Swim
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American River Otter
Streaming RM View Movie
PBS
A pair of Yellowstone otter pups get to know their new home.
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Otter
MOV View Movie
Arkive.org
Nice selection of Otter video clips available in various formats
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Sea otter
MOV View Movie
Arkive.org
Nice selection of Sea otter video clips available in various formats
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Giant otter
MOV View Movie
Arkive.org
Nice selection of Giant otter video clips available in various formats
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Sear Otter
0.930MB MOV View Movie
Creatas
Sea otter grooming itself in the water
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River Otter
0.410MB MOV View Movie
Finley-Holiday Films
River Otter
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River Otter
0.440MB MOV View Movie
Finley-Holiday Films
River Otters
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Sea Otter
Streaming RAM View Movie
BBC
Sea Otter video clip
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Sea Otter
Streaming RAM View Movie
BBC
Sea Otter video clip
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Sea Otter
MOV View Movie
Dive Site Videos
Sea Otter movie clip
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Giant Otter
MOV View Movie
Napo Wildlife Center
Giant Otter clip
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North American River Otter
Streaming RAM View Movie
National Geographic
North American River Otter
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Sea Otter
View Movie
National Geographic
Sea Otters in Danger
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