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Educational otter materials
Hi otters, as some of you might have heard at the congress, Carol Bennetto from the Otter Specialist Group launched a fantastic little website where she hosts a bunch of educational material about otters for kids and adults. However she needs some help creating new material, as well as translating and distributing the existing stuff.
Maybe we can help out and make some material of our own? I'm sure we have quite a few otters with the necessary skills here... people need to know about otters, after all.
https://ottered.com/
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I agree, that's definitely worth mentioning. IMO it's good to keep it short and sweet and get the point across. Why don't we both think about it and write something up? Maybe we can make it into a graphic, too.
Sounds like a plan, I'll write something up tonight
Hey, did we ever finish something?
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Reviving this topic. This little idea came to me, what if you made something where you could learn about alll the different genera, the subfamilies of otter species and what makes them similar to each other and different from the rest? See all the connections... and stuff
^ starting with Aonyx here, sorry if it doesn't look super clean, I punched it into my phone with my fingers
Hey, I really like this Poster! And yes, great idea.
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With all that dense fur you might think otters will overheat quickly in the summer heat wave. What do otters do to cool off?
Otters are pretty well adapted to the cold due to their dense fur, but they can actually use the same fur to stay cool in summer! they'll apparently trap air pockets in there so the hot air doesn't reach the skin so easily. And of course there's the getting in the water! Nothing beats going for a swim to cool off.
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Otters are very smart. They use available Materials to block off the heat of the sun. Like Otis is demonstrating it in this picture.
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I wonder whether otters can use leaves like fans. Considering how much they play with leaves they probably figured out already.
Also, these rocks look kinda like an otter
> Also, these rocks look kinda like an otterYou know, what makes this even funnier? Lotta and Otis had babies, their names are Piper and Pebble!
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if all the 14 otter species were lined up in a race, who would cross the finish line first? imagine there's a land section and a water section (please consult the bean)
the smooth coated otter's smoothness probably means less air resistance and friction and they're fast predators underwater.
giant otters are bigger so they can go a further distance in one stride. but also they carry more weight
Eurasian otters and North American river otters are pretty athletic with how much they can migrate in a day, though i don't know if it would help them win a race
on the other hand sea otters probably wouldn't do well, being the slowest on land and essentially pure foragers so they have no reason to be super quick anyway
same with Aonyx which mainly chill and eat crabs.
it would be awesome to have some actual numbers on this (how fast different otters can run or swim) but a quick google search didn't get me far. maybe some of you guys know more
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and what if the otters could ride bicycles?
you could probably teach an otter to ride a bicycle (though it may not like it at first)
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I might be into otters lots, maybe an unreasonable amount. But there's a problem i have is, what are some things I can do about it?
Most people have things they're interested in they can just do every weekend. otterwatching it's possible but not straightforward and otters aren't around everywhere. I know about otter spotting and that might be fun but don't know how rewarding it is regularly.
I'm usually just scrolling photos and browsing here and occasionally visiting zoo otters. So, I just wanted to hear some thoughts on this, what do you guys do for fun? Where do you channel your interest in ottery?
That's a great question, and I know how you feel, here's a few suggestions.
- Otter arts, do any kind of art with otters as the muse. I really like drawing simple cartoony otters for example, but it could apply to most artforms.
- Engage in otter studies, or otter-adjacent studies like river health, etc. I've read quite a few good books about otters, which is a good place to start. Perhaps the roles of otters in other cultures.
- Create tools for other otter enthusiasts, like this wonderful website. Or otherwise engage in nature conservation yourself (easier said than done ofc.)
Or, find hobbies that are otter adjacent, like hiking and camping (ideally by rivers or lakes)
Hope this helps :]
Have you tried Scuba-Diving? You love semi-aquatic mammals- just become one yourself!
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>I really like drawing simple cartoony otters for exampleI tried it
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I can get into that.
Those are some neat ideas too, so it comes down to art, books and other media, doing what you can to help otters and spendig time in nature in places where otters might hang out at. Looks like there's lots of ways to have fun with otts as you'd expect
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Ottercine: Otter Movie Night
What?
A stream event where we meet and watch otters and other things together. Documentaries, short videos, whatever you like - everyone can add something!
When?
On the last Sunday of every month at 8pm UTC.
Where?
Here: https://cytu.be/r/ottercine
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Its ottercinne again! I found the below and it seems like a nice one about lots of different otters, but i was kinda wondering if we could perhaps watch on the tracks of the wild otter again? That was my first ottercine and I've been feelin nostalgic lately. We can always watch both, or save it for another time if theres too much to fit into one night. See you tonight!
Inside the Secret Life of Otters - Amazing Family Bonds & Survival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hpftcHE5s0
On the Tracks of the Wild Otter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvIneE_fcHM
Good find like always ! I'd be down to rewatch on the tracks of the wild otter too, otter films never get old
>Rescued by local fishermen as a baby and raised by giant otter expert Carolina Vargas, this is the story of a young giant otter's journey to adulthood.
Sadly I can't make Ottercine this month :( A friend of mine just got surgery last week and I've been spending all my free time taking care of them. I hope everyone has a great time though!
Aw, all the best to you and your friend.
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Welcome!
Please say hello in this thread when you're visiting otterchat.
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hello!! I'm here from AllChan!!
Hello and welcome!
A place like no otter.
hi
Hello!
Have you heard of Splash, the Search-and-Rescue Otter?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FngfdggVZbU
He´s an Asian-Small-Clawed Otter, trained in searching for human remains in low-visibility, under water conditions. There were some successful missions, where he located missing people and murder weapons. He´s really getting the bad guys behind bars! What are your thoughts on this?
That's so cool.!
When I heard ASCO i thought it would be in Malaysia or something, but no! it's in Florida.
it could be a genuinely good idea, as everyone knows otters are super talented especially under water. especially if they can actually rescue people and find stuff
Wow that's really cool! Thanks for sharing, otters seem very well suited to the work.
Sometimes otters end up in places where you wouldn't expect them.
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What!? Where is this? Please tell me more :O
Apparently, there is (or was) a small population around Oxford after some of them escaped from captivity, and they were quite successful. I found an article about it here
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/asian-otters-thrive-in-chilly-oxford-river-1346844.html
1996I would certainly be impressed if that population has survived.
It's interesting if they did manage to adapt to the return of Eurasian otters, since they do share parts of the range in Asia and their diets are not the same. I wonder if anyone has studied them in the last 30 years.
Since it´s a small, isolated population, they certainly would get problems with inbreeding. So, yeah, certainly a short lived phenomenon, yet still remarkable.
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Welcome!
This site may still have issues. Please be patient while I figure everything out.
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Wb, good having you here
Good news otters ARE real but we gotta keep em real iykwim
Is it too hard? Protip it's always 2 correct ones
Thanks, Ottmin! I really love this site!
It is a challenge at first, but it's a good one :]
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I hope you're all having a good weekend. There's now the option to put an email with your account, so if you ever lose your password you can recover it.
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Where do you guys find good sources of otter photos (especially for public domain/free ones)?
Flickr is a good one, but I was wondering if you know about any others...
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https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=otter&title=Special%3AMediaSearch&type=image&haslicense=unrestricted
has good hodge podge. Some historic pics and high quality ones like this snackulating otts
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