128 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



TWO TAME OTTERS 



These tiuo little otters -were photographed by the Duchess of Bedford. Alluding 

 to the old signs of the zodiac and their fondness for the -watering-pot, their portrait 

 was called ' jtfyuarius" and " The Twins." 



THE SEA-OTTER. 



owner made a large brick tank 

 for them, where they were allowed 

 to catch live fish. Once one of them 

 seized a 4-lb. pike by the tail. The 

 pike wriggled round and seized the 

 otter's paw, but was soon placed hors 

 de combat. The largest otter which 

 the writer has seen was bolted by a 

 ferret from a rabbit-warren on the 

 edge of the Norfolk fen at Hockwold, 

 and shot by the keeper, who was rab- 

 biting. 



English dog otters sometimes 

 weigh as much as 26 Ibs. They 

 regularly hunt down the rivers by 

 night, returning before morning to 

 their holt, where they sleep by day. 

 No fish stands a chance with them. 

 They swim after the fish in the open 

 river, chase it under the bank, and 

 then corner it, or seize it with a 

 rush, just as the penguins catch 

 gudgeon at the Zoo. Captain Salvin 

 owned a famous tame otter which 

 used to go for walks with him, and 

 amuse -itself by catching fish in the 

 roadside ponds. 



Common otters killed on the coast are often confounded with the SEA-OTTER. This is a 

 great mistake. The sea-otter is as much a marine animal as the seal or the sea-lion. It swii 

 out in the open ocean, and is even more of a pelagic creature than the seal, for it either produce 

 its young when in the water, or at any rate carries and suckles them on the open sea. The sez 

 otter is much larger than the common otter. Unfortunately the fish and other marine creature 

 which form the food of the sea-otters are found mainly near the coast. Following them, 

 otters come near the Aleutian Islands, 

 where the hunters are ever on the 

 watch for them. If a single otter is 

 seen, five or six boats, with a rifleman 

 in each, at once put out, and the otter 

 stands little chance of escape. It never 

 was a common animal, and the prices 

 given for the fur, up to $1000 for a 

 first-class skin, have caused its destruc- 

 tion. The skin, when stretched and 

 cured, is sometimes 5 feet long, and 

 is of an exquisite natural rich brown, 



like long plush, sprinkled all over with 

 whitish hairs like hoarfrost. 



Photo by A. S. Rudland & Son 



SEA-OTTER 



The sea-otter has the most -valuable fur of any animal 



