THE FLORIDA OTTER. 



As a rule, the Otter is considered 

 mainly because of its valuable fur, which 

 is a beautiful seal-brown and of a close, 

 velvety growth and smoothness ; but it is 

 far more interesting as a study of na- 

 ture. 



The Otter is not unlike a seal in ap- 

 pearance. The body is long and grace- 

 ful, the legs short and rather stout. The 

 four paws have each five toes, with sharp, 

 pointed claws. The paws are webbed, 

 and fitted for swimming ; as the Otter is 

 an anomaly, — an animal both terrestial 

 and aquatic. The tail is flat, broad 

 at the base, but tapering at the 

 end. His eyes are small, and very black. 

 His nostrils are large and open. His 

 ears are small, and are set at the side 

 of the head. His mouth is large, set 

 with the whitest of teeth. With the ex- 

 ception of four large, and very strong 

 tusks, his teeth are small, and peculiarly 

 shaped, usually twenty in number. In 

 weight, when full-grown, it is from 

 twenty to thirty pounds. Once a year 

 they produce from three to five young, 

 and at very rare instances, as many as 

 eight at a birth. 



Before the advent of the hunter and 

 the trapper for gain, in Florida one 

 could often see Otters in droves of four, 

 with, perhaps, a lot of young ones scamp- 

 ering about and playing along the shore 

 of the rivers or 'creeks; but now it has 

 become next to impossible to study the 

 characteristics of them in their natural 

 haunts, unless one were to go into the 

 Everglades, among the Indians, who seem 

 to be more the friends of animals than is 

 the rapacious white man. 



In the quite wild state the Otter is bold, 

 and does not hesitate to venture forth 

 to investigate the intentions of friend 

 or foe ; where he has cause to suspicion 

 the wiles of guns or traps, he is as cun- 

 ning and as wary as a fox : but should 

 the conviction once come to him that man 

 is his friend, he is very affectionate, and 



makes the cutest and most trusting of 

 pets. So quaint and winsome is he that 

 one is almost forced to credit him with 

 human intelligence. In a wild state, he 

 burrows for himself a cave in the side of 

 a mud-bank ; but oftener he hunts one 

 that nature has already burrowed for 

 him. Sometimes his den is found in 

 rock-holes. On some of the outlying isl- 

 ands on the gulf coast, one may find whole 

 colonies of Otters which inhabit the nu- 

 merous caves and passages which run in 

 all directions underground. In making 

 or selecting his den, he is exactly like the 

 squirrel — hard to please. He will move 

 three or four times a day, and then per- 

 haps come back to his first choice. 

 When tamed, this making of dens, and 

 frequent moves is one of his very sober 

 performances, and very amusing to those 

 who are privileged to watch this sort of 

 house-hunting. 



He is very cleanly in his habits. In 

 the wild state or in captivity, the first 

 thing he will do after he has stretched 

 himself and has given a few very big 

 yawns after his nap, is to take a plunge 

 into the water, where he takes a thor- 

 ough bath. And how he does seem to 

 enjoy it! He will dive and float, swim 

 on his side and cut all manner of capers. 

 Xow and then he sticks up his little 

 black, round head and shakes the water 

 out of his whiskers, and gives a sniff at 

 the breezes, then down he goes again, 

 only to appear again later on, but much 

 further away, and never where he had 

 been expected. 



When taken into a room he will first 

 take a general survey of everything as 

 a whole, then he will curiously examine 

 each article separately. He will finger 

 and sniff at the curtains as though judg- 

 ing as to the quality of their make and 

 texture. Boxes he will open if he can ; 

 failing that, he will strive to turn them 

 over in his endeavors to get at their con- 

 tents. He will look up inquisitively at 



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