Recently, a "cute" cute animal quickly became popular with a photo. In the photo, a small otter (tǎ) is seen with its head hanging low, its eyes closed, and its palms pressed together, looking like a "prayer". This "cute" to "explosive" animal is the Asian little clawed otter.
Do you know? The small clawed otter is the smallest species of otter in the world. They are widely distributed, and they are found in Asia, Europe, and Africa. They prefer to inhabit mountains, streams, rivers and lakes. If you want to "bump into" them, try your luck at lakes, rivers, and streams with slow water depths, clear water, and abundant fish.
The small-clawed otter is a particularly clean animal and has high requirements for the quality and environment of the water, so they are extremely sensitive to environmental changes in rivers. They've even become indicators of the aquatic environment! Whether or not you can find the figure of the small claw otter in a body of water has become one of the ways to evaluate the quality of water. Unfortunately, due to human overhunting and environmental damage, the number of these little cute people is declining sharply. In China, the small-clawed otter has been included in the List of Wildlife under National Key Conservation.
When it comes to the specialty of the small claw otter, it is swimming. Their bodies are streamlined, with a soft body and a thick tail that reduces resistance to movement in the water. When swimming, their forelimbs are close to the body, and their hind limbs and tails are pushed by water, and their bodies are undulating in waves. They swim fast and tumble freely. Mischievous they often turn their bodies in the water like "rollers", roll up the sediment at the bottom of the water or the small fish in the water, and jump on the surface of the water like dolphins in emergencies.
In addition to swimming, diving is also their strength. Small-clawed otters can swim in the water for twenty or thirty minutes. Their eyes have a transparent membrane, and the nostrils and ear canals have small round flaps, which can close the nostrils and ear holes on their own when diving, and only the nostrils need to be exposed to the water to breathe.
Small-clawed otters are very sensitive to hearing, sight, and smell, and when swimming close to the water, they are accustomed to exposing their heads, backs, and tails. Sometimes lying on your back, floating on the surface of the water and following the waves; sometimes you stand up by treading water, exposing your head and neck to the water, and doing the action of watching the distance. When they climb up to land and walk, they like to crawl forward with their stomachs against the ground, or jump and walk intermittently, which is simply a "selling cute" master! They spend their days at the water's edge, jumping into the water for a swim, going ashore to play with stones, and never seem to know what tiredness is.
The so-called "otter" of the so-called art is bold, because of its superb water playing skills, coupled with its natural waterproof fur and sharp claws, the small claw otter has trained its fishing skills. Even after a full meal, they still enjoy fishing in the groundwater.
Small-clawed otters prefer to lie out at night, and during the day they like to hide in their burrows and rest, and at night they come out en masse to forage for food. They often wait for an opportunity to move on the shore, and as soon as a swimming fish approaches, they immediately jump into the water. The sensitive whiskers allow them to perceive the position of their prey, even in dark water. When they swim, they drag the bitten fish to the shore and eat with their families. If you get big fish, you will eat meat and discard bones, and if you eat small fish, you will swallow all the bone and flesh. Sometimes when you see a bird stopping on the shore, they will sneak up from the water, and then bite the bird and then eat it slowly.
Small-clawed otters have large, pointed teeth, and in addition to fish, "shrimp soldiers and crab generals" are also their delicacies. They chew these delicacies to smithereens with their big teeth, but this is only a rudimentary "foodie." Some small-clawed otters "cook" themselves: they put the shellfish in the sun and "cook" them so that they heat and open automatically.
The small-clawed otter eats food equivalent to 15% and 25% of its body weight every day, and is a veritable "big stomach king". To get enough food, they spend 5 hours a day foraging.
The little claw otter adheres to "monogamy." They like several families to come together to form a large family. Each family has about 12 15 members living together. When territory is violated, they fight back together.
In the zoo in Beijing, there are 6 small clawed otters, a couple of small clawed otters and 4 baby otters. They don't have to run around for food and live a carefree life every day.
Otter Dad and Otter Mom fell in love in 2011. At that time, they came to Beijing from Yunnan and Sichuan respectively. In 2015, they had baby otters. Otter dads and otter moms take good care of their babies. The baby otter doesn't open its eyes until a month old. For about 50 days, the mother otter will take the cubs out of the nest. When a baby otter is 3 months old, it is already equivalent to the age of human primary school. The "first lesson" that otter mothers teach their babies is to teach them to eat fish on their own. Later, the mother otter also taught her skills to improve her swimming skills and catch fish in the water.
Otter mothers are very patient when educating their children. For example, during the "swimming lesson," when we saw the cubs who were afraid of water standing on the shore cowering, the otter mother urged and demonstrated, and finally even carried the timid cubs on their backs and drove them into the water to let them slowly adapt to the life in the water. Today, the four small clawed otters have reached adulthood and have become "internet celebrities" in the zoo, "circle fans" a large number of tourists.
Seeing this, do you also want to get up close and personal with these little cuteness? Go to the zoo and see them! But remember, don't feed them, and don't make loud noises to scare them, so that they can grow healthier!