Land Otters

Young otters sliding down hill.

       Land otters, young and old, are the most playful of all the animals. You are probably familiar with the frolicsome rompings of puppies and kittens, but they gradually quiet down and lose some of their playful ways as they grow up. The otters, on the contrary, do not lose their merry ways of playing; they always seem to enjoy tussling with each other, rolling, pulling, splashing in the water and sliding on ice.

       The otter spends most of his life in or near the water. The home or den is in a burrow in the bank of a stream or river; it may be close to the water, or it may be back from the river at the base of a cliff. The tunnel widens out toward the back into a room which contains the nest made of sticks, leaves, and grass. Here the baby otters, from one to three in number, are born in April or May. They remain in the den for about a month until their eyes are open. Then the mother takes the babes out for their first trip. She picks them up by the nape of the neck or persuades them to mount on her back; then she carries them to the water. They don't want to go into that water at all; they don't like it; but in they go and she "ducks" them under. They cry and cry, even shedding real tears, but she continues to teach them to swim by swimming with them for a time and then leaving them alone for a few minutes. As soon as she disappears under water, they begin to cry and call her with loud bird-like chirps. Then she comes up from beneath the surface and supports them on her back again.

       After the first few lessons in plain, ordinary swimming, she teaches them to dive and dart after crayfish, frogs, and fish. They soon become very skillful in the water; they swim rapidly, first under water, and then at the surface in a rolling motion. They stick their heads in the muddy holes after eels. Whatever they do seems to be great fun.

       The most remarkable sport of these good-natured otters is coasting or sliding. The entire family of otters enjoy this game together. They find a clean, steep clay bank sloping down into deep water. Then the otters, one after the other, shove off and slide down, splash gleefully in the water, and then quickly climb the hill again and take another slide. The slide becomes smoother and slicker with the mud and water, and the otters go faster and faster. They seem to vie with each other as to which can get in the most slides. Sometimes they stop at the top and wrestle with each other for a while.

       The same slide is used day after day and even year after year. It may be used in both summer and winter. The winter slide must end in deep water which does not freeze; the otters shoot down this icy slide with lightning speed, splash in the icy cold water for an instant, and then rush up the hill again.

       As they turn about in the soft snow, making their way from the hilltop, they often push the snow into snowballs that go rolling about with the otters as they chase each other. This winter coasting seems to be more fun than the summer kind because the snow packs down and becomes covered with ice on the slide; it becomes as slick as glass and the sheer joy in whizzing down such a hill appeals to the entire otter family. Wood

Watch Videos:

• Otters have a favorite rock they play on from BBC Earth: also see red panda, meerkats and lynx kittens 
• Sea Otter Rescued by Monterey Bay Aquarium 
• Baby otter learns to swim by National Geographic Wild
• Second Chances: Tilly The River Otter
• River otter plays in the snow