Okay, last night I mentioned there was more to the River Otter story. A couple of days after I had noticed the mother with an injury, I was doing an unrelated survey and spotted one of the pups. I was curious about whether the mom was alright, so I decided to watch for a little while to see if she showed up.
I stayed out of sight, and didn't know it at the time, but it was time for the otter pup to take a "gravel bath" and then a nap. I've seen this behavior before (but not very often) and it's fun to watch — lots of rolling around and sliding through a patch of sand and gravel:
Afterwards the pup found a sheltered spot and curled up for a nap. A little bit later, out of the corner of my eye I noticed the second pup approaching from a distance. Here's a photo when it got closer to the first pup:
Over the years I've learned that young River Otters like to be close to each other, and the next scene made me laugh. The second otter didn't lie down right next the first, it walked up on top of its sibling and sat down. Ooof!
Later it shifted slightly and did some grooming:
Well, I'm sure you're wondering if mom showed up. I didn't see her during this initial observation, but I swung by one more time later in the day and briefly spotted her in the distance. And then about a week or so later I heard about another sighting of her and the two pups. So far it seems like she is doing okay and raising healthy pups despite her injury.
2 comments:
Fascinating observations! I am so moved by the siblings napping right on each other. So cute.
Hi, Michael!
Yes! So fun! They seem to like to stay in contact with each other, except when there's a fish of interest to both of them, and then a bit of competitive spirit appears!
:) Jackie
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