fun facts about otters ‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡ ִֶָ🦦.

ever since genshin has released neuvillette i've been the biggest fan of him! people keep associating him with otters and saying hes secretely an otter (which is sooo cute) so i wanted to research a bit about otters because i find them really cute!! (specifically river otters since theyre my fav)

: ̗̀➛ asian small-clawed otters are more sociable than european small-clawed otters, which is why these types of otters are more likely to show up in zoos. while asian otters sleep at night, european otters are night owls. they also spend most of their time alone (except for mating season), which the asian ones dont.

: ̗̀➛ 🌊 otters dont get cold because of their incredibly dense fur. they actually have the thickest fur on the planet! each square inch of their fur can hold up to 600,000 to 1,000,000 hair follicles. they rely on their dense, water-resistant fur to keep warm. this way the skin of an otter always stays clean!! river otters have a little less hair than sea otter but they still have dry skin at all times nontheless.

: ̗̀➛ european ones live in flat rivers or lakes, though these places are getting rarer. in germany (where i live)  they've been under protection since 1968 because of the danger of going extinct. they are one of the most endangered mammals in germany. otters nearly became extinct a century ago. it took environmentalists a lot of effort for them to survive.

: ̗̀➛ otter fathers are absent fathers. they do not participate in their babys upbringing. instead, otter mothers raise their young for the first eight months.

: ̗̀➛ otter pups are born with their eyes closed. As a result, they cannot swim within the first month of life. their mother grooms them and blows air into their fur to keep them afloat because the water is too dense for them to swim at first. the mother also spends 14 hours a day looking for food. they wrap their pups in kelp as an anchor while hunting to keep them together. apparently it causes female otters to become ill :-(

: ̗̀➛ 🐚 river otters eat fish, snails and sometimes even frogs while sea otters eat sea urchins, crabs, mussels and clams (which they crack open with ROCKS!!)

: ̗̀➛ otters can hold their breath underwater for up to 7-8 minutes!!

: ̗̀➛ 🪵 some otters sleep holding hands!! mother and pup sea otters sometimes hold hands while floating on their backs to prevent them being seperated. they also sleep with long strands of kelp wrapped around them like a blanket. the kelp keeps them from floating away into the open ocean