128 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photo ly the Duchess of Bedford] 



TWO TAME OTTERS. 



I Woburn Abbey. 



These two 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 "Aquarius" and " The Twins." 



in Mr. Percy Leigh Pemberton's 

 collection of British mammals at 

 Ashford, Kent. Their 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 ed^e of the 



O 



Norfolk fen at Hockwold, and shot 

 by the keeper, who was rabbiting. 



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. 



THE SEA-OTTER. 



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

 it either produces its young when in the water, or at any rate carries and suckles them 

 on the open sea. The sea-otter is much larger than the common otter. Unfortunately the 

 fish and other marine creatures which form the food of the sea-otters are found mainly 

 near the coast. Following them, the 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 200 for a first-class skin, have 

 caused its destruction. The skin, 

 when stretched and cured, is some- 

 times 5 feet long, and is of an exquisite 



natural rich brown, like long plush, photo iy A. s. Kwiiand d- sons. 

 sprinkled all over with whitish hairs SEA-OTTER. 



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



