You will notice a third otter swimming toward the playful pair. That's their mother. In this case she didn't join in the fun. But two days later I saw a another mother and her one pup engage in a brief, wild, and I think celebratory play. They had just had a good day fishing, which I had been watching for the past hour. Click here to take a look I've never seen such furious snapping of the tail. Though furious is not the right word, since these otters are obviously celebrating.

So, with those two clips I hope I've restored the reputation of otters. As they show, an otter is faster than a beaver and more agile in the water. Otters could easily make life miserable for a beaver.

One night I saw just that. Perhaps you recall the video clip in which one otter flew out of the pond as it was fishing with its mates. Later that night those same otters, there were four of them, were confronted by the boss beaver of that pond. Take a look at that: page34