#American river otter

[keskeaa]

Olive the otter got a revamped outfit too!

[jojoseames]

Skulltober day 26: American river otter

Ink, 7 x 5 inches JoJo Seames, 2023

[mammalidentifier]

Well, that’s length-wise rather than height-wise, but yes! That would be the giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), fellow countrymen of mine!

In fact, saying they’re 170 cm (5’7”) from head to tail is lowballing it a little. Some individuals as long as 180 cm (5’11”) have been recorded! Which is longer than I am tall 😔

You might have noticed that giant otters have a bit of a big cat-like look about themselves. That’s the origin of their name in Brazilian Portuguese, ariranha, which is a term from the Tupi-Guarani language and means “river jaguar”. And, just like ground jaguars, giant otters are apex predators as well: they mainly eat fish, but will hunt anything from snakes, turtles and even small caimans if given the opportunity!

Besides their size, giant otters have other traits that set them apart from their smaller cousins. For one, unlike most mustelids, they’re social animals who live in familial groups of up to twenty individuals, which whom they communicate constantly through a variety of different noises. Also, unlike other species of otter, whose tails are thick at the base and pointy at the end, giant otters’ tails also start out with a thick base, but they end up flat, which helps propel them through the water. The interesting thing about it, however, it’s that it’s not flat in an horizontal way, like the tails of other semiaquatic mammals such as beavers and platypuses. It’s flat vertically, not unlike the tail of a newt!

Source of the 2nd image: @resgateariranha on Instagram

[coywolfcollections]

Mustelids! (Prints available here)

[moomeecore]

a love letter to weasels ❤️🩷

[animalphotorefs]

Help me decide what animal photos should be added to the free image reference repository next!

This will usually be a perk for Patreon supporters, but to start the website off right I decided to make a public poll. All of these species will be added to the repository eventually, so this poll is for what you want to see right away.

Feast your eyes upon the options:

[helmip]

original Godzilla always looked like an otter to me :)

(text on the upper left reads "kaiju" and the bottom text reads "Gojira")

[kitthefoxkin]

self indulgent north american river otter nonhuman moodboard with themes of rivers and creeks!

[adam-trademark]

Kool Kidz Chronicles #2

(March 16, 2024)

[antiqueanimals]

Otter and Teal, Sallie Middleton. Wildlife in North Carolina. November 1982.

Internet Archive

[keskeaa]

The gangs all here

[vixymix101]

Bonding by the bonfire

[vuelode-irbis]

The love given to the first piece inspired me to do another one with more flags!

ID: a digital drawing that features seven members of the Mustelidae family, colored with the palettes of different pride flags. From left to right and top to bottom: a wolverine with the theme of the intersex pride flag, behind it, there are purple and yellow circles; a chinese ferret-badger with the genderqueer pride flag colors, and some sparkly onomatopoeias in the same colors; a black-footed ferret colored with the genderfluid pride flag, a heart in blue, pink and white and a line with the flag colors besides it; a river otter with the aroace pride flag colors, as well as exclamation onomatopoeias; a steppe polecat in the demiboy pride flag colors, a crown and a heart over his head; a striped polecat colored with the demigirl pride colors, which also has a little crown and a heart around; lastly, an american badger colored in the queer flag, and holding a little one. End ID.

[amber-tortoiseshell]

Phylogenetic weasel tournament

Family: Mustelidae

Subfamily: Lutrinae

Genus: Lontra, Hydrictis, Lutra, Lutrogale, Aonyx, Enhydra

pictures: 1, 2, 3-4, 5, 6

[moomeecore]

river otterz!!!

[andradrawsstuff]

Finally got back to my drawing tablet so here’s Otto 🦦

He’s a Dr Blowhole henchman I came up with bc I thought it would have been cool to see more villains

Some stuff I thought of

He’s an unhinged North American river otter with slight murderous intent

Fun fact, otters can be pretty sadistic and kill for the thrill so I think it would fit his character (also going for the classic scary dreamworks villain style oop)

Otters are also pretty strong and they’re hunters, so I think it would be pretty neat to have his fighting style be all claws and teeth rather than kick and punch, which is what the penguins are used to

So he’d be one of the first villains that can put up a proper fight against them and give em a good ol’ scare, since they never rlly had a villain that outmatched them before (would create some great internal conflict for the little guys, especially for Skipper who’s mr always wins)

Since Marlene is also an otter I feel like she could put up a good fight against him bc she’d have a similar fighting style (although she’d be reluctant to hurt anyone but I mean she’d defo do it when someone’s trying to ctrl alt delete her friends, especially late-show Marlene who joins them on missions more frequently and starts taking after them a bit)

Also notice their contrasting colour palettes, it’s on purpose haha I love character design

Uhhh that’s it for now I think lmao