True Wild Life | Otter | The otter is a small mammal that lives both in water and on land. There are 13 known species of otter that inhabit areas all around the world. The otter mainly eats aquatic animals such as plankton and fish, but the otter also hunts small amphibians, birds and occasionally small mammals.
The sea otter from North America have been tracked journeying as far as southern Japan. The sea otter has also been known to grow to more than 1 meter long.
Otters have a thick coat of fur which enables the otter to be warm in near freezing waters. There is also a series of thin hairs under the otters fur that help to trap air and keep the otter warm.
The female otter tends to give birth to a few cubs in early spring in burrows in the river bank, where the baby otters are looked after until they are between 4 and 10 months old and ready to fend for themselves.