Oriental Small Clawed Otter Babies

The Oriental Small-clawed Otter is found in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of China, Indonesia, India and the like. The full grown adults measure approximately 25 inches from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, can weigh up to 11 pounds, and is the smallest of all otter species. They feed on fish, frogs, crabs, crayfish and shellfish. Sadly, the oriental small-clawed otter is evaluated as “near threatened” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They live in social groups consisting of 12+ individuals.

Otters are very intelligent, curious animals. When they aren’t sleeping, they are playing, swimming or digging. Otters can juggle stones, manipulate toys, play tag and tug of war, and disassemble just about anything!

 They are mature enough to mate at two years of age and the male courts the female, which involves a lot of playing and chasing before mating. Gestation is about 63 days with a litter of four or five being normal.  The pups won’t open their eyes for 6 weeks, swim for 9 or take solid food until about 12 weeks of age. Both the male and female raise the young and are devoted parents, however the entire extended family helps raise the young, which are among the most active and playful of baby animals:

Baby Oriental Small Clawed Otter Babies at the Minnesota Zoo (that’s my daughter in the background)
 

Conservatory: a retreat from the elements

Winter Landscapes are Beautiful Too…

Deer Sighting

Last week we had a few really snowy days. Here it has just begun to snow when this deer walked through the back yard. Before I knew it she was gone, but not before I was able to grab my camera.

Masked Bandits

This past summer some friends and I were sitting at some picnic tables at a local state park. All of a sudden we heard a loud noise, like metal falling to the ground, only a few feet behind us. When I turned to look I spotted this little guy scavenging for scraps. I slowly stood up and walked over to within two feet and snapped these photos. He was completely unafraid of me. If you look closely you can see paw marks on the side of the barrel.