- [Man] What's up little
otter? What's up little otter?
Little otter. Oh it wants
to get back up here.
Holy s***!
(yelling)
(otter squealing)
- [Narrator] Otters: so
soft, cuddly, adorable,
but underneath all that
cuteness, there's a dark side
(dramatic music)
This is The Dark Side
of Otters in 6 Minutes.
Ready? Go.
- My business sometimes the cuter the
animal is, the more dangerous it is.
- [Narrator] And that seems
to be the case for otters.
Take it from Dave Lueck, who runs a humane
nuisance/wildlife trapping
business in Florida.
- [Dave] As cute as they
are, they can be like,
3 feet of muscle. All they
do is swim all day long
for the most part, they have
razor sharp claws, teeth.
When you do see those things
in the wild, you want to
keep it at a distance, so
I always cringe when I see
people trying to get
really close to an otter
that's in the water to
get pictures. It's like,
yeah you kinda want to stay
your distance. People, they
just, they look at them
and just because they're so
cute on those videos,
and they really are cute,
especially baby ones if you
get them. They have this
really high pitch squeal.
(squeals)
You know I love otters,
but you can't be like oh, I
love them! I'm not going to hurt it!
I mean, it's a wild animal,
it's nature can be brutal
sometimes. It might even just be playing
and it can take your finger off.
- [Narrator] Otters may be
much stronger, and faster
than they look.
- [Dave] I often tell
people the animal I'm
most scared of that I
deal with is an otter.
You'd be surprised how strong
they are for their size.
Those things are just swimming
and eating and chasing
fish, they're long and
slender, very muscular.
Otters, I mean, they can get
up to almost 3 foot long,
here in Florida, 20 pounds, though
I've had one who was 25 pounds.
- [Narrator] In other parts
of the world, otters can
grow up to 99 pounds.
Otters are also extremely
intelligent.
- They tend to forge
together cooperatively, they
will actually swim down
rivers in these V shapes and
round up fish together.
- [Dave] Otters can use
sustained attacks, like I
said, they are smart, they
can keep coming back, and
come back, they can kind
of, you know, think out the
situation and what's the
best way to go at you.
- [Narrator] Otters, whether territorial
or rabid, may also attack family pets.
- [Dave] Otter probably had
just moved into that area
so it probably sees that
dog as a threat. Smaller
dogs are the ones that
are going to get killed,
they possibly could be seen
as prey. They will go after
ducks and things like that.
Bigger dog's going to have
a better chance against an
otter, especially if it's
on land, but it's usually
right on the edge of the water.
Most things aren't going
to have a chance against
an otter in the water, including a person.
- [Narrator] In states like
Florida, humans have pushed
deeper into the otter's natural habitat,
and otters have pushed back.
- [Dave] Past year, locally, a lady in
her kayak got attacked but
why they did it, maybe she
was kayaking right by
that den, and the mom
was just protecting her babies there.
There have been, you know,
reports of rabid otters
attacking people. In
Sarasota, there was an elderly
gentleman walking down the
road, and a rabid otter
knocked him to the ground
and was just going at him,
and there was a 911 call
of it. I remember they
played it on the news.
It's horrific, finally
they did get it off him, he
was hitting it with shovels
and stuff like that, and
I think he ended up in the emergency room.
- [Narrator] Those aren't even
the most disturbing stories
about these adorably
dangerous creatures. Otters
sometimes engage in such
astonishingly perverse acts
it almost sounds like it must be a joke.
- My husband told me that
otters rape baby seals.
(laughter)
He wanted to ruin otters
for you! He had to look up
that fact! It's true by the way.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Comedian Michelle
Wolf is right. It's true.
We're ruining otters for you,
and sadly it's based on actual
research. According to a study
published in the Scientific
Journal Aquatic Mammals,
instances of male otters engaged
in forced copulation with
juvenile Pacific Harbor seals,
were reported at least 19 times
in Monterey Bay, California
between 2000 and 2002. The accounts are
graphic, and unfortunately
not an uncommon occurrence.
Before intercourse in one case,
the otter gripped the seal's
head with its forepaws and
bit it on the nose. The otter
held the seal pups head
underwater, the seal pup did
not survive the encounter.
- [Dave] Nature's very
brutal, raping of the other
species by otter, there's
probably a reason why they're
doing that.
- [Narrator] The studies'
authors theorize that this
behavior was the result
of the dominance hierarchy
of otters, and an increase
in the number of males
relative to females,
which can lead to scarcity
for mating.
- [Dave] Everything in wildlife
is just eat or be eaten,
you know, every second of the day is
'what can I do to
survive' or not get eaten.
So otters are just doing
what otter does, they don't,
you know, have to go to otter
court or anything like that
and explain their actions.
Anything goes in wildlife,
and there's usually a reason
behind everything they're doing.
- [Narrator] How can otters
be so cute and so dangerous
at the same time? Well
the real answer is that's
just nature. If we're shocked
to learn about the dark
side of otters, or other
wild animals, it's likely
because we were imposing our
own human morality onto nature.
- [Dave] A lot of people
with otters, they try to
anthropomorphize them, it's
just projecting human traits
on them, but people just, you know,
don't realize they are
wild animals. It's not that
that's just some evil
otter that's going out.
- [Narrator] And that includes
projecting how adorable
they are. But don't worry,
you can still love otters,
but if you see an otter
and want to share a video
of it's cute little
face, remember you might
not want to get too close.
(yelling)
(ending music)
