According to the French Revolutionary Calendar, today is the Day of the Otter. Here are 10 things you may not know about otters:
- Otters belong to the Mustelidae family, which means they are related to weasels, martens, minks, polecats, Badgers, honey badgers and wolverines.
- The old English word for an otter (otor or oter) comes from the same root as the word for Water.
- An otter can stay underwater for about eight minutes. They can close off their nostrils and ears while they are underwater.
- They have a very high rate of metabolism. A meal will take just an hour to get through an otter's digestive system. Their high metabolism means they must eat 15% of their body weight each day, and Sea otters 20 to 25%, that's 100 g (3.5 oz) of fish per hour. Consequently, otters will spend five to eight hours a day hunting.
- When they are not hunting, they like to play. They have been observed making and using waterslides, and playing with stones.
- An otter's den is called a holt or couch.
- Male otters are called dogs, females are called bitches, and their offspring are called pups. Collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp or, when in water, raft. Their droppings are known as spraints and are said to smell of musky mown hay to rotting fish.
- In Bangladesh, fishermen have domesticated otters which they use to chase fish into their nets.
- The Oriental small-clawed otter is the smallest otter species and the giant otter and sea otter are the largest.
- In Korea, it is said to be very unlucky to see an otter. Anyone who sees one will attract 'rain clouds' for the rest of their lives.
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