Pedigree and description of the otter, species and their characteristic features, advice on keeping and caring for the home, purchase and price of an otter. From time to time, every person has something that comes to mind, in truth, an obsession with having a pet. You might think that this is absolutely not surprising, but not in the era of our modernity. Today, people have come to the point that they choose their pets much more closely and carefully than cars, real estate or an outfit for the evening in honor of some very significant event. And all because the concept of "pet" has expanded beyond recognition. And if a few years ago any person expressed his surprise or admiration for a rare breed of dog, today it is quite difficult to surprise him even with a striped raccoon or some original amphibian.
Probably, among your environment there is not a single person who has not visited the zoo at least once in his life. Walking through such an amazing, but at the same time a little sad place, many people have a desire to bring some recently seen, peculiar animal to their home. And if earlier it was an almost unattainable goal, today it is not something that is quite real, but it is not at all difficult - there would be a desire and a sufficient amount of material resources.
One of these somewhat exotic pets is the otter. If you had the opportunity to contemplate this pretty miracle of nature live, then there is a high probability that you will return to your home already with a thought or even a dream, to have such an unusual animal. The thing is that such living creatures as otters have some special charm, watching her behavior, how she plays, and just the majesty and beauty of her appearance, you already begin to involuntarily become attached to this animal.
Such a living creature as an otter is quite suitable for the role of your lesser friend, but, in no case should you forget that this is a native of the wild and there are quite a few different nuances and features in its content. Therefore, before taking your savings and going in search of such a coveted comrade, it is better to get to know her better.
Home territories and origins of the otter
In 1758, the world was presented with an amazing, hitherto unknown, living creature, which received the name of an otter. But this fact remains very doubtful, since according to some sources, this beautiful creation of nature was very often tamed and kept as pets, along with cats or dogs, even during the distant Middle Ages. So there is a story about a baby otter called Neptune. Neptune first lived in the house of the famous Polish marshal, and in 1686 such an amazing friend was presented to his Majesty the king and very soon became a favorite among the entire royal family, moreover, Neptune was considered much smarter and smarter than even the smartest dogs at the king's court.
If we talk about the origin of the otter, then the people who studied it classified it into the class of mammals, the order of carnivores, the weasel family and the genus of the same name of otters.
In nature, there are about thirty different species of these cute mammals, including those that, unfortunately, did not survive to our century, depending on the specific species of animal, their natural distribution area also differs.
Description of otter species and their characteristic features
Common otter, river otter, or black otter. This is perhaps the most popular and well-known representative of all of its large family. In order to look at this eccentric, you do not have to travel too long distances, since peshnya is quite widespread almost throughout the entire territory of Russia, with the exception of only the Far North. In addition, she feels great on the lands of Europe, she does not settle only in Holland and Switzerland, Asia and even the northern part of the African continent.
He prefers to choose rivers in the territory of wooded areas as his permanent habitat, since it is there that there is rarely a shortage of fish, much less often it is possible to find it in small ponds or lakes. Sometimes the otter can also live on the sea coasts. The sign of quality when choosing a place of residence for this original representative of the weasel family is the presence of a pool in the river, washed out waters, banks with windbreaks, where it is possible to build a reliable shelter or dig a comfortable burrow. If there were no such conditions, then this eccentric can calmly settle down in a cave, having arranged there for himself a cozy place to sleep, a little resembling a nest, and in the vegetation of nearby reservoirs. In the event that an animal settles either in the water or not far from it, the entrance "door" to his house will always be under the cover of water.
The common otter belongs to those species of animals that lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle, of course, she spends most of her free time at the depth of the reservoir, since she is famous for her unsurpassed talents for swimming and diving, but she can also quite calmly walk along the river bank.
By its nature, this mammal is very persistent and hardy, during the winter cold weather, when it is a little tough with food, this daredevil resorts to nomadism, while he can easily walk through snow-covered and icy waters a distance of over 20 km per day, in search of food …
The basis of the diet of this inhabitant of the waters is fish, especially carp, pike, trout, roach and even gobies, he prefers to hunt small fish. In winter, she does not have to be very chic, so the otter easily eats a variety of frogs. In the summertime, the poreshnya can afford to diversify its daily menu a little with rodents that live near water bodies, as well as sandpipers and ducks.
River otters are not very fond of big noisy companies, even if they are their closest relatives, therefore they live mainly in splendid isolation.
The beginning of the mating season for this species of predators falls approximately at the beginning of spring, when the winter cold is already behind, but in some territories mating can last throughout the year. The mating process takes place in water. In such unusual animals as the otter, even pregnancy is not a very common phenomenon, the whole point is that during this wonderful period it is divided into two parts - latent, the duration of which is approximately 250-270 days and the gestation period itself, it is not so long and last only 58–65 days. At the end of this period, from 2 to 5 cubs are born, who still do not have the opportunity to see the world with their eyes.
Sexually mature can be considered individuals who have reached one year of age, less often, puberty is delayed up to two years.
If we talk about such a representative of the world fauna as a river otter, then one cannot but mention its delightful appearance. This is a rather large animal, the length of its beautiful body is approximately 60–95 cm, the tail process is 30–50 cm. Body weight ranges from 6 to 12 kg. The body of the cut is distinguished by very graceful and graceful flexibility, it is a little elongated and if you look at the animal close up, you get the impression that its body has a peculiar streamlined shape.
The limbs are relatively short, each of them has swimming membranes. As for the tail, although it is long and with well-developed muscles, it does not differ in large and abundant fluffiness, the fur growing on it is very thick, but short. Nature has painted this living creature very gracefully - the upper side of the body is presented in dark brown shades, the bottom is lighter, even with a slight silvery sheen. The texture of the otter's wool is very delicate and soft, in addition, the expression "like water off a duck's back" very accurately characterizes this miracle of nature, since its fur never gets wet.
Asian or eastern clawless otter. This representative of the otter genus differs from all its other relatives in the smallest size. The small body of this mammal is also elongated, with short legs, while the forelimbs are slightly shorter than the hind ones. Due to the fact that the body of this otter is relatively short, it looks much thicker than that of its other relatives.
Her head is wide, flat with a slightly rounded muzzle, on which round, high-set eyes flaunt. The visual organs are located very close to each other, thanks to this, her muzzle is very pretty. The ears are small and also not devoid of peculiarities - during diving, the auditory openings are closed with a rhinestone with a kind of membranes.
This Asian beauty is distinguished from other subspecies of otters by the structure of the paws. The forelegs are somewhat brush-like and are only partially provided with swimming membranes. The eastern otter uses its fingers to hold on to its prey.
The color of this pretty predator is not uniform, most of the fur coat is painted in dark brown colors, but the throat, chin and cheeks are presented in a beautiful beige and cream color scheme.
In length, this living creation of nature grows no more than 60 cm, the length of the caudal process varies from 22 to 35 cm. The body weight is approximately 2.5–5.5 kg.
These delightful representatives of the world fauna revere Indonesia, the southern part of China, India, the Philippines and some other territories of Asia as their Fatherland. In their native lands, clawless otters settle near mangrove, less often freshwater swamps.
Watching this oriental predator on its territory is truly spectacular. By their nature, they are very funny and friendly creatures, and while otters are not busy looking for food or directly eating, they usually play, both with each other and by themselves. In addition, on a clear sunny day, animals can simply lie and sunbathe, comfortably sitting on the stones near the reservoir.
Since these animals have almost no claws, they are able to dig a hole only in very soft soil, if there is none, then they settle down in the houses of other animals.
These animals have a very peculiar way of obtaining food, usually they carefully look for their lunch, probing every centimeter of the bottom, just like a raccoon does. The diet of the eastern predator consists of various amphibians, lobsters, molluscs, snails, crabs and other small inhabitants of water bodies. Before starting a meal, the otter must break its prey into small pieces, only then can it send it into its mouth.
Keeping an otter at home
No matter how cute and funny this fluffy comrade may seem to you, keeping him in your home is a very troublesome and responsible business. To begin with, it should be noted that buying this animal is only worth it if you live in a private house with your own yard, since an otter in an apartment is unlikely to bring you much pleasure. Although this animal is well tamed, it can even be taught to relieve itself in a tray with filler, but the waste products of this pet have such an unpleasant smell that no matter how often you clean up after it, “amber” in the apartment cannot be avoided. So it is better to allocate a personal rather spacious aviary to the otter.
Your new friend's personal house must have a pool, the size of which can allow your pet not only to plunge into the water, but also to swim a little. Near such an artificial reservoir, it is necessary to make a place where the animal could dry up after swimming; as the latter, a large box with some hygroscopic filler in the form of dry sand, peat, sawdust or just dry dust of trees is well suited.
It is very important for the comfort of your pet otter to have a shelter in which this companion will rest. Such a bedroom should be made of dense materials, its size should correspond to the maximum parameters of your friend's body, it is impossible for the walls of such a house to restrict the movement of the animal. It is good to line the bottom of the shelter with something dry and soft, for example, hay or sawdust.
But among other things, perhaps the most important condition for the happy existence of this exotic at home is a properly selected diet for your otter. At home, this native of the wild must be fed a little differently than in his usual conditions. So most of the weekly menu of a domestic predator is meat, the rest is fish. It is optimal to feed your comrade with low-fat meats, the fish on the menu should be both herbivorous and predatory, in addition, you can offer him eggs, milk, butter, as well as amphibians, which you can buy on the market without much difficulty and cost. On average, the weight of an otter's daily lunch should not be less than 800-1000 grams.
Do not forget to feed your original pupil with special vitamin and mineral complexes from time to time, as a constant source of calcium, you can put small pieces of chalk in the pet's aviary, or add crushed eggshells to the food.
In no case, do not forget about vaccines, usually these animals are vaccinated against the same diseases as dogs. With some effort and attention, you will end up with a very playful, fun and funny friend who will look forward to your return home with the utmost care and comfort for your original foster child. And soon your friends and acquaintances will come to visit you more often in order to be able to admire this truly miracle of nature.
Purchase of an animal, price of an otter
Buying any pet is a responsible business, and if it concerns a native of open nature, then you need to show maximum attention and patience, otherwise you risk spending your money not at all as planned. If you have found a suitable animal, do not hesitate to ask the seller for all the documents you are interested in, which would indicate the origin of the animal and carefully check their authenticity, because in front of you there may be an animal that was forcibly torn out of the wild by poachers, and the documents are not so difficult fake. Firstly, such a pet can be infected with many diseases, and secondly, they are much more difficult to adapt to the conditions of captivity, and most importantly, that you will make your irreparable contribution to the destruction of the otter population on the planet, they already suffer a lot because of their valuable fur, which are sewn into fur coats, and they are the most mercilessly killed.
The average cost of such a cute four-legged friend as a river otter ranges from 70,000 to 300,000 rubles, as for an Asian otter, the price of such a small animal starts from 210,000 rubles.
What an otter looks like, see the following video:
