NATURAL HISTORY OF THE OTTER 



and small, delicate forefeet. The hind paws 

 alone are used for swimming, the delicate and 

 sensitive forefeet being employed in locating the 

 otter's food, consisting of mussels, crabs, and other 

 shell-fish, which it hunts for amongst the rocks at 

 the bottom of the sea. This otter spends its entire 

 existence in salt water, and has been found as far 

 as twenty miles from land. 



The female usually has but a single young one, 

 born, so it is thought, on the large beds of seaweed 

 commonly known as kelp. Lying on her back in 

 the sea, the mother sleeps and suckles her baby 

 in that position. 



In Africa there is a species known as the spotted- 

 necked otter, which has shorter ears, longer toes, 

 and more hair about its nose than the common 

 otter. Africa also produces a large otter which 

 has more or less given up its aquatic habits. The 

 claws on this otter's forepaws have disappeared, 

 while those on the hind feet have practically done 

 so. In India there is a small otter whose claws 



resemble those of the foregoing, and in both 



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