Sea Otter 



get the greatest fun from sliding; where the bank is sufficiently 

 steep and slanting they make a roundabout path leading up 

 to the top of the bank and from there they slide down the 

 slippery surface into the water one after another like boys slid- 

 ing down hill on the snow. 



There is usually a playing ground at the head of each of 

 their slides, where the turf is dug up and trampled and broken 

 sticks scattered about. 



In places where the water remains open in the winter the 

 otters take advantage of the snow crust formed by the water 

 dripping from their fur and freezing on the snow, and when 

 travelling overland in snowy weather they always slide down 

 any declivity they come to. 



In the Northern States and Canada they pass most of the 

 winter under the ice. 



Sea Otter 



Latax lutris (Linnaeus) 



Length. 4 feet. 



Description. Thick set, muzzle well beset with bristles presenting 

 much the same appearance as that of the fur seal; tail one- 

 quarter the length of the body. Fore feet rather small, hind 

 feet very large, fully webbed between the toes, teeth curiously 

 blunt and rounded. Body covered with a dense under fur and 

 a longer coarser outer coat as in the fur seal. Colour, black 

 with whitish tips, head and neck grayish or yellowish white. 



Range. Shores of north Pacific, formerly south to northwestern 

 United States, becoming very scarce everywhere. 



This curious and interesting animal ot our northwest coast 

 has been reduced to danger of extinction by the fur hunters, 

 who find in its skin the most valuable pelt furnished by any 

 North American quadruped. 



H. W. Elliott says of it: "There is no sexual dissimilarity 

 in colour or size, and both parents manifest the same intense 

 shyness and aversion to man, coupled with the greatest solici- 

 tude for their young, which they bring into existence at all sea- 

 sons of the year. As the natives have never caught the mothers 

 bringing forth their offspring on the rocks, they are disposed to 

 believe that their birth takes place on kelp beds in pleasant or 

 not over-rough weather. The female has a single pup, born about 

 fifteen inches in length, and provided during the first month or 



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