Your Otter Should Know Trivia Quiz

Answer: sea otters and maritime otters

Sea otters, which include the California sea otter, are found along the Pacific coast of North America, while marine otters are found along the coast of Chile and southern Argentina. The other six are, of course, river otters.

Answer: giant otter

The giant otter is also sometimes referred to as the water dog (perro de agua). They are very social and can often be found in large groups.

Answer: Their right lung is 19% larger than their left.

Maybe this makes them more streamlined, what with the heart on the left side. They have very small ears, which they can close, along with their nostrils, while swimming underwater.

Answer: Loki

The penalty paid by the Aesir in compensation for Otter's death becomes the Rhinegold of Richard Wagner's Nibelung Trilogy. This is a story in Norse and Teutonic culture. Fafnir was Otter's brother, and he became a dragon who owned the hoard of gold, which was taken by Sigurd (Siegfried), who killed Fafnir. Loki is involved in all sorts of mischief among the Aesir, or Norse gods.

Answer: pups

Otter young can also be called kits or whelp. They are raised by their mothers, as male otters do not share in the raising of the young. Mothers teach hunting and social skills, and the pups head out on their own when Mom takes on her next brood.

Answer: kelp forest

Rather than being a forest of trees, the kelp forest is an underwater forest of giant kelp, a seaweed. The kelp provides protection from predators as well as some food supply, such as snails and other organisms which attach themselves to the kelp. Mother sea otters have also been known to wrap their young in kelp while off acquiring food.

Answer: raft

Collective nouns for river otters include family, romp, lodge, and bevy.

Answer: Lontra canadensis

Enhydra lutris is the sea otter. Lutra sumatrana is the hairy-nosed otter of Asia and Indonesia. Aonyx cinerea is another Asian species called the Oriental small-clawed otter.

Answer: the weasel family

Beavers are rodents, the second-largest of rodents, as a matter of fact. Opossums are marsupials, like kangaroos and koalas. The mongoose is from the family Herpestidae, which includes meerkats and a wide variety of other mongooses. The weasel family also includes the mink and wolverine, as well as badgers, ferrets, and polecats, but not skunks (family Mephitidae).

Answer: Tarka

The novel ends with a life-or-death struggle between Tarka the Otter and Deadlock, a member of a pack of dogs used by hunters who have been pursuing Tarka in much of the book.