THE OTTER PLAYS ON
A long-bodied, yellow-brown animal walked out of the woods and paused
for a moment by the rapids of a mountain stream. Its body architecture
was that of a dachshund, with the stout neck and small upraised head
of a sea lion. Leaping into the rushing water it shot the rapids in a
spectacular manner. At the bottom of the rapids it climbed out of the
water on the bank opposite me and stopped to watch its mate. This one
stood at the top of the rapids. It also leaped in and joyfully came
down with the torn and speeding water. It joined the other on the
bank.
Together they climbed to the top of the rapids. Again these daredevils
gave a thrilling exhibition of running the rushing water. They were
American otter, and this was a part of their fun and play. A single
false move and the swift water would have hurled and broken them
against projecting rocks. In the third run one clung to the top of a
boulder that peeped above the mad, swirling water. The other shot
over its back a moment later and endeavoured in passing to kick it
off.
Though I had frequented the woods for years and had seen numerous
otter slides, this was the beginning of my acquaintance with this
audacious and capable animal whose play habit and individuality so
enliven the wilderness.
Play probably is the distinguishing trait of this peculiar animal. He
plays regularly--in pairs, in families, or with numbers who appear to
meet for this special purpose. Evidently he plays when this is not
connected with food getting or mating. He plays in Florida, in the
Rocky Mountains, and in Alaska; in every month of the year; in the
sunlight, the moonlight, or darkness. The slippery, ever freshly used
appearance of bank slides indicates constant play.
The best otter play that I ever watched was staged one still winter
night by a stream in the Medicine Bow Mountains. The snowy slide lay
in the moonlight, with the shadow of a solitary fir tree across it. It
extended about forty feet down a steep slope to the river. The slide
had not been in use for two nights, but coasters began to appear about
nine o’clock. A pair opened the coasting. They climbed up the slope
together and came down singly. No others were as yet in sight. But in
a few minutes fourteen or more were in the play.
Most of the coasters emerged from an open place in the ice over the
rapids, but others came down the river over the snow. As the otter
population of this region was sparse the attendance probably included
the otter representatives of an extensive area. Tracks in the snow
showed that four--possibly a family--had come from another stream,
travelling over a high intervening ridge four or five miles across.
Many may have come twenty miles or farther.
The winter had been dry and cold. The few otters recently seen by
daylight were hunting over the snow for grouse and rabbits, far from
the stream. Otter food was scarce. Probably many, possibly all, of
these merrymakers were hungry, but little would you have guessed it
from their play.
It was a merry-go-round of coasters climbing up single file by the
slide while coaster after coaster shot singly down. Each appeared to
start with a head-foremost vault or dive and to dart downward over the
slides with all legs flattened and pointing backward. Each coaster, as
a rule, shot straight to the bottom, though a few times one went off
at an angle and finished with a roll. A successful slide carried the
coaster far out on the smooth ice and occasionally to the farther bank
of the river.
After half an hour of coasting all collected at the top of the slide
for wrestling contests. A number dodged about, touching, tagging,
rearing to clinch and then to roll over. Several exhibitions were
occurring at one time. A few times one chased another several yards
from the crowd. Once a number stood up in pairs with forepaws on each
other’s shoulders and appeared to be waltzing. Finally there was a
free-for-all mix-up, a grand rush. One appeared to have an object,
perhaps a cone, which all the others were after. Then, as if by common
consent, all plunged down the slide together. At the bottom they
rolled about for a few seconds in merry satisfaction, but only for a
few seconds, for soon several climbed up again and came coasting down
in pairs. Thus for an hour the play in the frosty moonlight went on,
and without cry or uttered sound. They were coasting singly when I
slipped away to my campfire.
The otter is one of the greatest of travellers. He swims the streams
for miles or makes long journeys into the hills. On land he usually
selects the smoothest, easiest way, but once I saw him descend a rocky
precipice with speed and skill excelled only by the bighorn sheep. He
has a permanent home range and generally this is large. From his den
beneath the roots of a tree, near a stream bank or lake shore, he may
go twenty miles up or down stream; or he may traverse the woods to a
far-off lake or cross the watershed to the next stream, miles away. He
appears to emigrate sometimes--goes to live in other scenes.
These long journeys for food or adventure, sometimes covering weeks,
must fill the otter’s life with colour and excitement. Swimming miles
down a deep watercourse may require only an hour or two. But a journey
up stream often to its very source, through cascades and scant water,
would often force the travellers out of the channel and offer endless
opportunities for slow progress and unexpected happenings. What an
experience for the youngsters!
They may travel in pairs, in families or in numbers. The dangers are
hardly to be considered. The grizzly bear could kill with a single
bite or stroke of paw; but the agility of the otter would discourage
such an attack. A pack of wolves, could they corner the caravan, would
likely after severe loss feast on the travellers. The only successful
attack that I know of was by a mountain lion on a single otter. Yet so
efficient is this long-bodied, deep-biting fellow that I can imagine
the mountain lion usually avoiding the otter’s trail.
The long land journeys from water to water appear to call for the
greatest resourcefulness and to offer all the events that lie in the
realm of the unexplored. Between near-by streams and lakes there are
regular and well-worn ways. By easy grades these follow mostly open
ways across rough country. It is likely that even the long,
seldom-used, and unmarked ways across miles of watersheds are otter
trails that have been used for ages.
Fortunate folks, these otters, to have so much time, and such wild,
romantic regions for travel and exploration! After each exciting time
that I have watched them I have searched for hours and days trying to
see another outfit of otter explorers. But only a few brief glimpses
have I had of these wild, picturesque, adventurous bands.
In all kinds of places, in action for fun or food, frolic or fight,
the otter ever gives a good account of himself. He appears to fear
only man. Though he may be attacked by larger animals this matter is
not heavily on his mind, for when he wants to travel he travels; and
he does this, too, both in water and on land, and by either day or
night. To a remarkable degree he can take care of himself. Though I
have not seen him do so, I can readily believe the stories that
accredit this twenty-pound weasel-like fellow with killing young bears
and deer, and drowning wolves and dogs.
The otter is a fighter. One day I came upon records in the snow far
from the water that showed he had walked into a wild-cat ambush. The
extensively trampled snow told that the desperate contest had been a
long one. The cat was left dead, and the otter had left two pressed
and bloody spaces in the snow where he had stopped to dress his wounds
on the way to the river. On another occasion the fierceness of the
otter was attested to by two coyotes that nearly ran over me in their
flight after an assault on the rear guard of a band of overland otter
emigrants.
Probably the only animal that enters a beaver pond that gives the
beaver any concern is the otter. One morning I had glimpses of a
battle in a beaver pond between a large invading otter and numerous
home-defense beavers. Most of the fighting was under water, but the
pond was roiled and agitated over a long stretch, beginning where the
attack commenced and extending to the incoming brook, where the badly
wounded otter made his escape.
Both beaver and otter can remain under water for minutes, and during
this time put forth their utmost and most effective efforts. Several
times during this struggle the contestants came up where they could
breathe. Twice when the otter appeared he was at it with one large
beaver; another time he was surrounded by several, one or more of
which had their teeth in him. When he broke away he was being
vigorously mauled by a single beaver, which appeared content to let
him go since the otter was bent on escape. It was an achievement for
the otter to have held his own against such odds. The beaver is at
home in the water, and, moreover, has terrible teeth and is a master
in using them.
Though originally a land animal, the otter is now also master of the
water. He has webbed feet and a long, sea lion-like neck, which give
him the appearance of an animal especially fitted for water travel. He
outswims fish and successfully fights the wolf and the beaver in the
water. He still has, however, extraordinary ability on land, where he
goes long journeys and defends himself against formidable enemies.
There are straggling otters which invade the realm of the squirrel by
climbing trees.
The otter is a mighty hunter and by stealth and strength kills animals
larger than himself. He is also a most successful fisherman and is
rated A1 in water. Here his keen eyes, his speed and quickness enable
him to outswim and capture the lightning-like trout. Fish is his main
article of diet, but this must be fresh--just caught; he is a fish
hog. He also eats crawfish, eels, mice, rabbits, and birds. However,
he is an epicure and wants only the choicer cuts. He never stores
food or returns to finish a partly eaten kill. The more abundant the
food supply the less of each catch or kill will he eat.
Food saving is not one of his habits, and conservation has never been
one of his practices. Though he hunts and travels mostly at night and
alone, he is variable in his habits.
Like all keen-witted animals the otter is ever curious concerning the
new or the unusual. He has a good working combination of the cautious
and the courageous. One day an otter in passing hurriedly rattled
gravel against a discarded sardine can. He gave three or four
frightened leaps, then turned to look back. He wondered what it was.
With circling, cautious advances he slowly approached and touched the
can. It was harmless--and useful. He cuffed it and chased it; he
played with it as a kitten plays with a ball. Presently he was joined
in the play by another. For several minutes they battered it about,
fell upon it, raced for it, and strove to be the first to reach it.
The otter is distributed over North America, but only in Alaska and
northern Canada does the population appear to have been crowded. In
most areas it might be called sparse. In reduced numbers he still
clings to his original territory. That he has extraordinary ability
to take care of himself is shown in his avoiding extermination, though
he wears a valuable coat of fur. In England he has survived and is
still regularly hunted and trapped. Like the fox he is followed with
horse and hounds.
[Illustration:
_Photo. by Enos A. Mills_
_A Beaver House and Winter Food Supply_]
[Illustration:
_Photo. by Enos A. Mills_
_A Beaver House in the First Snow_]
[Illustration:
_Drawing by Will James_
_Coyote--Clown of the Prairies_]
Relentless in chase for food and fierce in defense of self or young,
yet he is affectionate at home and playful with his fellows. If an old
one is trapped or shot the mate seeks the absent one, wandering and
occasionally wailing for days. Perhaps they mate for life.
The young, one to four at a birth, are born about the first of May.
They are blind for perhaps six weeks. They probably are weaned before
they are four months old, but run with the parents for several months.
Both parents carry food for the young and both appear devoted to them.
As soon as they are allowed to romp or sleep in the sunshine they are
under the ever-watchful eye of one of the parents. Woe to the
accidental intruder who comes too close. A hawk or owl is warned off
with far-reaching snarls and hisses. If high water, landslides, or the
near presence of man threatens the youngsters they are carried one at
a time to a far-off den.
The hide-and-seek play appears to be the favourite one of the cubs,
kits, or pups, as they are variously called. They may hide behind
mother, behind a log, or beneath the water.
The otter has a powerful, crushing bite and jaws that hang on like a
vise. A tug-of-war between two youngsters, each with teeth set in the
opposite ends of a stick, probably is a good kind of preparation for
the future. They may singly or sometimes two at a time ride on
mother’s back as she swims about low in the water. When they are a
little older mother slips from under them, much to their fright and
excitement. She thus forces them to learn to swim. Though most habits
are likely instinctive they are trained in swimming.
The otter’s two or two-and-a-half foot body is carried on four short
legs which have webbed and clawed feet. One weighs from fifteen to
twenty-five pounds. Clad in a coat of fur and a sheet of fat he enjoys
the icy streams in winter. He also enjoys life in the summer. Though
with habits of his own he has ways of the weasel and of the sea otter.
He sends forth a variety of sounds and calls. He whistles a signal or
chirps with contentment; he hisses and he bristles up and snarls; he
sniffs and gives forth growls of many kinds.
His active brain, eternal alertness, keen senses, and agile body gave
him a rare equipment in the struggle for existence. He is in this
struggle commonly a conqueror. “Yes,” said a lazy but observing
trapper one evening by my campfire, “the otter has more peculiarities
than any other animal of the wilderness. Concealed under his one skin
are three or four kinds of animals.” And this I found him. Doubtless
there are many interesting unrecorded and unseen customs concerning
this inscrutable and half-mysterious animal.
Possibly the otter heads the list in highly developed play habit.
Sometimes numbers gather in advance to prepare a place on which to
play. The otter slide rivals the beaver dam when wild folks’ ways are
discussed. It is interesting that this capable animal with a wide
range of efficient versatility should be the one that appears to give
the most regular attention to play.