{"id":6598,"date":"2017-12-24T17:02:16","date_gmt":"2017-12-25T01:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/?page_id=6598"},"modified":"2017-12-24T17:02:16","modified_gmt":"2017-12-25T01:02:16","slug":"2012-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/published-writings-and-art\/salish-sea-stories-48-north-magazine\/2012-2\/","title":{"rendered":"2012 – 7 River Otters – Lucky Fisherman"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Love\u2019m or hate\u2019m \u2013 some of us wish otters grief for the mess they make under boat covers, but otters are the perfect design of both form and function. Evolution has really worked things out for this critter. An otter\u2019s head is flat so it goes through the water without pushing a wake and inconspicuous ears don\u2019t act like little funnels \u2013 and yet otters have extremely good hearing. Nostrils and ears close during submersion, but the broad nose takes in quick gulps of air as it surfaces. Along with amazing dexterity, the otter has a very delicate sense of touch for underwater feeling around for food. And those teeth? As you can see in my sketchbook, they have both large molars for crushing things like clam or crab shells, and like other relatives of the weasel-family, those wicked specialized front canines and secondary grinding carnassials teeth mean you wouldn\u2019t want to be on the receiving end. I think they\u2019re worthy of a sketchbook page.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simply the most stinky, gooey gunk I\u2019ve ever tried to wash off the deck. They hang out in most marinas and good anchorages, patrol beaches and I\u2019ve even seen a big one stroll into an art gallery in Port Townsend and check things out. And these aren\u2019t small either, ranging up to more than 30lbs and over 40\u201d long. Females are smaller, but that\u2019s still a pretty big critter. They make their homes in waterside burrows, usually with several entrances (exits) with at least one that allows the otter to exit underwater. Their predators, and good ones too. They\u2019ll eat just about anything moving that they can get their teeth on \u2013 fish, crabs, shrimp \u2013 even an occasional dock cat. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s true, but that was enough to keep our boat kitty onboard at night. I heard otters could come up below the dock and make curious little noises. When the cat leans over to check it out \u2013 wham-bam.<\/p>\n

I watched the otters recently at the Seattle Aquarium while my photographer-wife Nancy was doing a photo shoot of the new sea otter pup. They went through an amazing ballet swimming exercise that allowed me to really study how they swim.<\/p>\n

And how they sounded courting.<\/p>\n

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Love\u2019m or hate\u2019m \u2013 some of us wish otters grief for the mess they make under boat covers, but otters are the perfect design of both form and function. Evolution has really worked things out for this critter. An otter\u2019s head is flat so it goes through the water without pushing a wake and inconspicuous … Continue reading 2012 – 7 River Otters – Lucky Fisherman<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6453,"menu_order":119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6598","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6598"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6721,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6598\/revisions\/6721"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}