Otters in May and June

Since mothers are secluded with their pups in May, when I walk around the beaver ponds then I expect to enjoy everything else, and not see otters. But in May 2000 the water level in the river was high and the amount of water coursing down from the beaver ponds was copious. That allowed a run of bullheads up the little creeks that drain the ponds

Needless to say otters were attracted. In the early afternoon of May 7, I walked down to the Lost Swamp Pond and saw two otters on shore, right in front of me. I forgot to press the record button and by the time I did only one otter was still on shore, leaning up on a tree trunk, looking for the other otter, I presume.

After swimming together, where I couldn't quite see them, they headed back to where I was. However, only one otter came on shore and then both of them were on my case.

So these were obviously not mothers with pups, and not touring male otters claiming territory. Who were they?

As mammals go otters are pretty big, so when I get close to one, I have trouble judging its age. I've seen baby otters climb logs like that, but rarely an adult. So I think this otter is just one year old, too young to worry about mating yet and not bold enough to go off alone, so it stays with its siblings in the territory where it was raised. Recall that in 1999, the otter mother in these parts had two pups. Needless to say, this is just speculation. The only thing I knew for sure was that two otters were together.

In general I hate making categorical statements about animals, especially statements that cramp their individuality and creativity. However, I also hate shy experts who refuse to characterize an animal under observation for fear of being proven wrong. That attitude denies animals their individuality and stultifies our imagination which is so important to take into the wilderness so that we can began to learn from animals. The pattern of my otter observations seemed to be set by how the otters raise pups. The mother seemed to stay with her pups from April when they were born to January or February. So I could easily divide otters into two groups: mother and her pups, and single otters, might be the father, might not. But what was I seeing when I saw four otters together in the spring when I expect groups of otters to be a mother and a pup?

Here is a video clip of four otters that I saw around the South Bay marsh at dawn on June 24, 2003.

There is a discrepancy in size. One otter for sure looks smaller. But that can't be a pup -- a three month old otter is not that capable. There is also no playing. This group of otters seems to be all business. Indeed they seem to have a plan, a coordinated tour of the shallow bay in search of fish. They even go into the marsh. So who are they? Fortunately there are people who know more about otters than I do. My friend in California Scott Shannon has watched several generations of otters and thanks to a seasonal fishing industry he is able to get close to and recognize each of the otters he watches. He suggests that otter segregate themselves by sex. Females often join related mothers raising pups, or form a group with other females. But more recognizable is the gang of otter guys, since they range farther and never bother with raising pups. Check out Scott's website. So, on that June dawn, I think I saw a group of four males. And I have seen them since, sometimes four, sometimes three, and heard reports about them from others.

Now back to the two otters. Ten days later on May 17, I saw two otters in the same pond fishing together, and then I saw another otter join them. Who was that?

That was one of my most memorable evenings of swamp watching. I won the triple crown: muskrats, beavers and otters all active, all in the same pond. The video clip below briefly shows a lone otter, then a beaver and a muskrat.

 

Meanwhile, I was seeing action far across the pond, too far away to try to video. I assumed it was the otter I had seen swim over in that direction. Then the activity over there resolved itself into three otters swimming toward me. So I assume the lone otter I just saw joined up with the two otters I saw on May 7. What happened to mutual avoidance by otters, their great respect for the territory of other otters? These three otters came to the same spot between the tree trunks where I saw the two otters on May 7, and it is hard to imagine three otters more happy. The video clip below is a less edited version of the three otters together. I think we can see that one otter is a bit larger than the other two, and that otter breaks the way for the other two, and never dives, while the other two do. Since these otters aren't fishing, perhaps the smaller otter dive and swim under water so they can keep up with the larger otter. That Montana study of otters found that yearlings could be up to four inches smaller than adults females but they could be just as big. They were always smaller than adult males. Take a look at the video.

Clearly the three otters are related. But while judging by size we could be seeing two yearlings with their father, the three certainly look just like a mother and her pups as they snuggle and groom between the fallen logs. Did their mother take a break from her care of her current litter to reunite with her now year old pups born in 1999? There are problems with that theory. As we will see, otter mothers can have a difficult time separating from her pups in January and February. Why would she want those two one year olds with her when she then had three pups born in April 2000 to raise? On the next page I'll show the debut those pups made in my video record in July. That video shows that the mother had a helper.

Let's use our imagination to the extreme. Could the mother have been looking for these one year old pups, hoping to recruit one of them or perhaps both to help her raise her new litter? On the next page I'll turn to the major theme of the Otter Video Book: how otter mothers raise their pups. But before we leave the video above, I should comment on that happens at 5:58 mark. A beaver swims in front of the otters. The beaver doesn't turn its head. The otters look rather excited and keep trying to get a safe look at the beaver as it slowly swims away. You may have noticed that when the three otters were together between the trunks, one propped itself up on a log and looked out in the pond. This time it probably wasn't looking for another otter, because its two companions were right behind it. Perhaps it was looking out for beavers, and perhaps that's why the large otter swam with her head up. We'll see otters and beavers together throughout this Otter Video Book and in time I'll try to assess how they relate to each other. But now: how otters raise their pups. Turn the page to see: Page 5

Here is a rough guide to the video clips: contents page in the Video Book.

By Bob Arnebeck mailto: arnebeck@localnet.com