CHAPTER X 

 SEA OTTER AND LAND OTTER 



Zoologically they may not be related but as to furs and habits 

 they are, the Sea Otter, the king of all fur-bearing animals of the 

 sea, now all but extinct, and the Land Otter, whose fur stands at 

 the head of the list for beauty and durability. 



The Land Otter is as fond of water as the Sea Otter ; but its 

 habitat is the land, not the water. Its favorite food is fish. Its 

 webbed feet carry it over swamp ground. Its pointed flat tail 

 acts as rudder when swimming, and its little short legs act as motors 

 when running over land. Differing from its lesser brothers of 

 the weasel family, the Land Otter is neither a thief, nor a robber, 

 neither a blood-sucker nor a wanton assassin. He is a night hunter, 

 too, but no enemy of man and under care becomes a good-natured 

 pet. In length the Land Otter is 3 to 3^ feet with a tail about 16 

 inches long ; and his ranging ground used to be from Florida to 

 Alaska ; but settlement has drained his old time solitary ponds ; 

 and the Otter to-day is rarely trapped in the South, the best pelts 

 now coming from Labrador, Athabasca, the Rocky Mountains 

 and Alaska. Ten years ago, the catch of Land Otter for America 

 used to run at 30,000 a year. To-day, I should be surprised if the 

 catch ever exceeded 10,000. In only 1904, a Land Otter pelt sold 

 for $20 ; and the price was considered high. In the Montreal sale 

 of 1920, Labrador Otter sold for #100 plus. Labrador and Kam- 

 chatka Otter rank as the best in the fur trade ; and the two best 

 markets for Otter skins were in Russia and Canada. Owing to 

 the demoralization of Russia by the War, that market has been cut 



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