276 
IN FOBBIDDEN SEAS 
considerably raising the hind parts of the animal 
when it attempts to walk or run on shore or on the 
ice, and give it a totally different appearance from 
that usually depicted. 
The tail of the sea-otter is not cylindrical, as 
described by most writers, but flattish, being about 
2\ inches wide by less than 1 inch thick. It is 
stiff, and incapable of being bent to any great extent. 
It is moved from the root where it joins the body, 
and has a certain amount of play sideways, and 
more in an up-and-down direction. From the root 
to near its end it is almost of the same width, and 
then suddenly runs off to a bluntish point. The 
tail is almost always covered with very fine fur, 
often black and silvery-tipped when that on the body 
is very indifferent. The width and length of the 
tail varies in different animals, some being much 
broader than others. The skin on the tail, unlike 
that on the body, adheres tightly, and cannot be 
stretched much. The sides of the tail, which are 
thinner than the centre, are filled in with a layer of 
gristly fat, and before 44 staking out ” this has to be 
cut out, or the tail could not be spread open and 
flattened out. The function of the tail appears to 
be to act as a rudder. On one occasion I killed an 
otter which behaved in a very peculiar manner ; it 
would dive and remain under water the usual length 
of time, but would not go any distance, and always 
came up in the most unexpected places. When it 
was secured, its erratic movements were accounted 
for by the loss of its tail, which had apparently been 
bitten off by some enemy, probably a shark. 
The female otter has only two teats, and as a rule 
produces but a single young one at a birth. Occasion- 
