128 



The Living Animals of the World 



riiiAu bi/ the Ilvdiiss of Bcilford] 



TWO TAME OTTERS. 



[]Voburn Abbey. 



These two little otters were photorrniphed 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 Peinlserton's 

 collection of British mammals at 

 Ashford, Kent. Their owner made a 

 large brick tank for them, wliere 

 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 liors de cornhat. 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 Hockwold, and sliot 

 by the keeper, who was rabbiting. 



English dog otters sometimes 

 weigh as much as 2() lbs. 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 

 rusli, just as the penguins catch 

 gudgeon at the Zoo. Captain Salvin 

 owned a famous tame otter whicli 

 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 uKjre of a pelagic creature than the seal, for 

 it either piroduces 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. P'ollowing them, the otters come near the Aleutian Islands, where the 

 himters are ever on tlie watch for 

 them. If a single otter is seen, 

 five or six lioats, with a riHciiian 

 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 sl<iii, liave 

 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, runiob,, a. s. Rudian.ui- &ons. 

 sprinkled all over with whilisli hairs sea-otter. 



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



