The otter

📖 In short

The otter is a cheerful animal that loves water! It has a long, bendy body, thick brown fur and webbed feet. It lives near rivers, lakes and seas, and spends most of its time swimming, diving and playing.

🤩 Did you know?

An otter stays underwater for 3 or 4 minutes.
An otter is between 1 and 1.5 meters long with its tail.
Baby otters can't swim until they're several months old, and their mother teaches them.
It weighs between 4.5 and 15 kilograms.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Swimmer and diver

An otter swims by moving its body and strong tail, and dives underwater for several minutes to catch fish, frogs and crabs. It closes its ears and nose underwater.

🔍 Very warm fur

Otter fur is one of the thickest in the world, trapping air so its skin stays dry and warm even in cold water.

💡 A playful animal

Otters love to play, sliding down muddy riverbanks or snow into the water, and playing with little pebbles.

🎯 The sea otter

The sea otter floats on its back in the ocean, puts a stone on its belly and cracks shellfish on it to eat what's inside. And when it sleeps, it holds hands with its partner so they don't drift apart!