80 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



The hearing of the otter is probably as acute 

 as that of most wild animals, but the sense of 

 smell appears to be more highly developed than 

 usual. 



I have frequently heard it suggested that 

 otters smell their prey under the water. With 

 this I do not agree. If the otter depended on 

 smell to find his fish he would not hunt in the 

 methodical manner he usually employs. An 

 otter can, however, detect the variation in the 

 smell of man from a considerable distance. A 

 keen naturalist was most anxious to watch the 

 otters on my pond, and tried to do so on 

 several occasions, but long before he came 

 up to the pond one particular otter would 

 invariably start to snarl and upset the others, 

 and nothing would induce them to behave in 

 a reasonable manner while the stranger was 

 present. 



Before considering the influence of the otter 

 upon our fisheries I would draw attention to but 

 one other point, and that is the remarkable 

 agility of the animal under the water. To 

 illustrate these rapid movements eight pictures 

 are shown, cut from three feet of cinematograph 

 film. 



