This interesting animal differs in many important respects from the Common Otter, and in all such points shows an approximation to the structure of the Seals. It is a large animal, about three feet long, not counting the tail, which is about a foot more. Its fur is dark brown, both on the upper and lower surfaces, and presents a frosted or silvered appearance, owing to the fact that the long stiff hairs, which differ greatly from those of the under-fur, are grey or colourless at the tip. The head is very short, the snout naked; the eyes extremely small, and placed low down on the sides of the head, and the whiskers are short, but stout and stiff, and mostly directed downwards; altogether there is something very Seal-like about the face. The fore-limbs and feet are small, the paws rather Cat-like in their rounded form, and the claws are quite hidden by the hair. The hind feet, on the other hand, are flat and expanded, being no less than six inches long by four broad, and webbed like a Duck’s feet, or a Seal’s flippers; they differ, however, from the Seal’s, in the fact that the toes increase in length from the inner to the outer side; both above and below they are covered with dense fur, which quite hides the short, stout claws. The skull is, both in its cranial and facial portions, much shorter in comparison with its width than in the ordinary Otters; its base is extremely broad, and both upper and lower jaws bear on each side only eight teeth, so that there are altogether thirty-two teeth, or four less than in the Common Otter.[193] This diminution in number is brought about, as will be seen from the formula below, by reducing the upper premolars from four to three, and the lower incisors from three to two on each side. The form of the grinders differs altogether from what we have found, not only in the Mustelidæ, but in all the Land Carnivores. Their grinding surfaces present no sharp cusps, or jagged cutting edges, as in most Carnivorous forms; neither are they provided with numerous small tubercles and ridges, as in the Bears; but the surface of each is raised into a small number of rounded eminences, reminding one of the “roches moutonnées” of a glacial district, or, as Dr. Coues remarks, differing from the teeth of ordinary Carnivores, as water-worn pebbles differ from fresh-chipped angular pieces of rock.
UNDER VIEW OF SKULL OF SEA OTTER. (After Coues.)
The Sea Otter is found in the North Pacific, chiefly in the regions of Kamstchatka and Alaska, and extends as far south as California.
Like the Seal, the Sea Otter is gregarious, being often found “in bands numbering from fifty up to hundreds. When in rapid movement, they make alternate undulating leaps out of the water, plunging again as do Seals and Porpoises. When in a state of quietude, they are much of the time on their backs. They are frequently seen in this posture, with the hind flippers extended, as if catching the breeze to sail or drift before it. They live on Clams, as well as Crabs and other species of Crustacea; sometimes small fish. When the Otter descends and brings up any article of food, it instantly resumes its habitual attitude on the back to devour it. On sunny days, when looking, it sometimes shades its eyes with one fore paw, much in the same manner as a person does with the hand.”[194] This curious habit, as we have seen, is adopted also by the Glutton. The supine position is so habitual that the females actually sleep in the water on their backs, with the young ones clasped between their fore paws. While in this position, too, the Otter will toss a piece of sea-weed backwards and forwards from paw to paw, like a ball, and the mother play with her offspring for hours together.
The fur is very valuable, and the animal is consequently hunted regularly; so regularly, that there is every possibility of the species becoming speedily extinct unless some check is put upon the chase. For taking some action in the matter, there is the further reason that the natives of the Aleutian Isles, the chief resort of the animal, are dependent on its hunting for their subsistence, and it has been shown that the people have diminished in numbers coincidently with the Otters.
“There are four principal methods of capturing the Sea Otter, namely, by surf-shooting, by spearing-surrounds, by clubbing, and by nets.”
FEMALE SEA OTTER SWIMMING ON HER BACK WITH YOUNG IN HER ARMS. (After Steller.)
“The surf-shooting is the common method, but has only been in vogue among the natives a short time. The young men have nearly all been supplied with rifles, with which they patrol the shores of the island and inlets, and whenever a Sea Otter’s head is seen in the surf, a thousand yards out even, they fire, the great distance and the noise of the surf preventing the Sea Otter from taking alarm until it is hit; and in nine times out of ten, when it is hit in the head, which is all that is exposed, the shot is fatal, and the hunter waits until the surf brings his quarry in, if it is too rough for him to venture out in his ‘bidarkie.’ This shooting is kept up now the whole year round.