An Otter Thing Trivia Quiz

Answer: spraint

Spraint is the name given to otter dung. Spraint is known for having various aromatic smells, and is not as offensive as most animal feces. It also usually contains the remains of animals eaten by the otter, such as fish bones. Otter spraint varies from species to species, and it is one way an otter uses to mark territory. Scientists use evidence of otter spraint, and other secretions, like anal jelly, as a way of tracking otter activity in an area and monitoring otter populations.

Answer: swim

River otter pups are not born knowing how to swim. When they are about two months old, they are taught to swim by their mothers. The mother otter will grab the fur on the back of their necks with her mouth and drag them through the water. She will also teach them to dive by dragging them under the water, forcing them to stay down since they are naturally buoyant.

The pups begin by doggy paddling as mom drags them, but they eventually learn to swim on their own and become faster.

Answer: Japan

The Japanese word for river otter is "kawauso". The "kawauso" folklore stories vary by region, but several of them tell tales of otters turning into beautiful women. In some of the darker versions, the otters that shapeshift into women lure men in order to kill and eat them.

One Ainu legend tells of how, in the process of making mankind, God had to return to Heaven and left instructions with a nearby otter for the deity that would come and finish his work. While waiting, the otter became so distracted with playing and fishing that he forgot to pass on the message. This is the reason why man is imperfect. Also, the legend says that the otter was cursed with a bad memory as punishment for his mistake.

Answer: Female sea otters will act as surrogate mothers and raise them.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sea Otter Program began when the aquarium opened in 1984, and its mission was revitalized in 1998. They first placed an abandoned sea otter pup with a female sea otter in the aquarium in 2001. It just so happened that a female otter named Toola gave birth to a stillborn pup the same day they found the abandoned pup.

They decided to see what would happen if they gave the pup to the mother otter who lost her baby. The otter immediately began to mother the baby otter! Since then, the program continues to have their resident sea otter mothers raise rescued sea otter pups.

They begin releasing the pups into the wild at around six months old and monitor them to make sure they are thriving. If the pup does not seem to be doing well, they recapture it and let it grow a bit more before re-releasing it. Toola, the first sea otter at Monterey Bay Aquarium to serve as a surrogate mother, died in 2012 after raising a total of thirteen pups during her stay at the aquarium!

Answer: watch

There are several different names given to groups of otters, including family, romp, lodge, raft, and bevy. Romp is more commonly used to refer to groups of otters on land and is reflective of their playful behavior, while raft is used to refer to groups of otters on water, usually for sea otters.

Answer: River otters only eat fish, but sea otters eat a variety of small animals.

Although fish is the primary food for river otters, like sea otters, they will also eat other small animals, like mollusks, insect, birds, crustaceans, and frogs. Unlike sea otters, river otters do not float on their backs. Sea otters float on their backs to sleep while they float on kelp to keep from floating out to sea.

They have also been known to hold paws while sleeping so as not to float away from each other. Sea otters tails are short and flat, and they are somewhat awkward on land, whereas river otters are comfortable in and out of water. Since sea otters spend most of their time at sea, they only give birth to one pup at a time, but on very rare occasions they give birth to twins.

In this case, they will abandon one of the pups. River otters, on the other hand, spend lots of time of land, and give birth to their pups in their holts, which allows them to have more than one pup at a time. Additionally, sea otters tend to be much larger than river otters and are the heaviest of the otter species.

Answer: sea otter

Sea otters do not have blubber, so they rely on their thick fur to keep them warm and they have about one million strands of fur per square inch. They have a thick layer of underfur, which is covered by longer guard hairs which keep the underfur dry.

The guard hairs have to be carefully groomed in order for them to maintain their ability to repel water. Baby otters cannot groom themselves, so mother otters do this for them for several hours a day.

Answer: sea urchins

Sea otters are important to the balance of the ecosystem of the ocean. They use kelp to float on while they sleep, but the kelp forests are also home to other marine animals. Kelp forests are also important for their absorption of CO2 through photosynthesis. Sea otters help protect these kelp forests by eating the sea urchins that like to eat kelp.

When there are no otters around, the sea urchins are capable of wiping out entire kelp forests. When otters are near, the urchins will hide from them and feed on scraps of kelp.

Answer: African clawless otter

The African clawless otter is sometimes called a groot otter or a Cape clawless otter. Its name comes from the fact that it doesn't have claws. Also, it doesn't have as much webbing as other species of otters. It is a freshwater otter and is the second largest species of river otter, after the giant river otter. African clawless otters are chestnut colored with white facial markings.

They live in sub-Saharan Africa and are mostly found near water in lowland forests and savannah. Unlike many species of otter, which reach sexual maturity between two and three years of age, the African clawless otter reaches sexual maturity at about one year old. Additionally, they tend to be solitary although they will sometimes live in small family groups, but with each member having its own space within the territory.

Answer: giant otter

Some otter species tend to be more solitary, while others are more social. The giant otter is among the most social of all species, and they tend to live in large family groups which can be multi-generational and complex. While early studies of giant river otter vocalizations identified nine distinct vocalizations, some research has now identified up to 22 different sounds produced by adult giant otters.

Some of the different sounds they make include growls, snorts, whistles, hums, squeaks, and coos.