128 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



TWO TAME OTTERS 



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

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

 'was called " Aquarius" 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 Hock wold, 

 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 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 $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, phttt by A s Rudland v Stn 



like long plush, sprinkled all over with SEA-OTTER 



Whitish hairs like hoarfrOSt. The fa-otter h the <"' -valuable fur of any animal 



