THE CAPE OR CLAWLESS OTTER 
fall victims to the otter, particularly wild ducks, 
which are often seized from beneath by the feet 
when swimming in the mud-discoloured water. 
The eggs and young of water birds are also eaten 
when found amongst the reeds and rushes. 
A satisfactory supply of food in and near the water 
not being forthcoming, the Cape Otter forages the 
neighbourhood for considerable distances in search 
of the eggs and young of ground birds, land tortoises, 
lizards, and insects. At the Botanical Gardens at 
Pietermaritzburg, several swans were attacked and 
killed by otters, which, no doubt, had been driven 
to desperation by hunger. 
Frogs and fresh-water crabs constitute the main- 
stay of the diet of the otter. The excreta of the 
Cape Otter is usually a mass of fragments of the 
chewed-up armour of fresh-water crabs (Ihelphusia 
perlata), indicating that crabs, shell and all, are eaten. 
Owing to a changed environment, persecution 
by enemies, or failure of the ordinary food supply, 
various animals are forced to gradually change 
their habits, and in consequence, their bodies 
become modified to suit their new surroundings. 
How this change is induced we know not. It is 
certainly quite independent of the intelligence 
of the animal. When we refer to this controlling, 
moulding, directing power which permeates every- 
thing we, for lack of a more convenient term, call 
it Nature. It is evidently a law of Nature that 
what is not used must be taken away, modified, or 
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