Mother otter teaches baby to swim. (EWISOTT)

April 6, 2013 6:12 PM

Mother otter teaches baby to swim.
posted by HuronBob (28 comments total)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Otters are dicks.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:21 PM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Water cats.
posted by InsanePenguin at 6:21 PM on April 6, 2013

That otter pose at the 2:00 minute mark is so damned noble looking that it belongs on some kind of bank note.

Also, aawwwwww.....
posted by benito.strauss at 6:22 PM on April 6, 2013

There was just an explosion of squee in our house and Mrs A now wants a baby otter. Stat.
posted by arcticseal at 6:23 PM on April 6, 2013

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Otters are dicks.

Those are sea otters. Twice the teeth and half the cute as river otters.
posted by fshgrl at 6:28 PM on April 6, 2013

River otters are the ones that figured out how to hunt and kill pelicans. Call them cute, it doesn't make them any less ruthless predators.
posted by baf at 6:34 PM on April 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

Still a cute video - and I needed that today so thanks!
posted by leslies at 6:37 PM on April 6, 2013

Wow, I didn't know that baby otters were only the size of a whole thing of candy beans!
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 6:37 PM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

This post is relevant to my interests.
posted by otters walk among us at 6:42 PM on April 6, 2013 [16 favorites]

Call them cute, it doesn't make them any less ruthless predators.

Considering 1) They are predators, and 2) They are predatory animals, declaring them ruthless seems like a pretty pointless tautology.

Of course they don't have compassion or pity for their prey. They're OTTERS.

By virtue of the fact that they exist as predators, they must have evolved to kill. By virtue of the fact that they are animals, they are incapable of pity.

Call the grass comfy, it doesn't make it any less of a sedentary photosynthesizer!

Fucking lazy grass.
posted by blackfly at 6:47 PM on April 6, 2013 [12 favorites]

We don't have compassion or pity for our prey, either. But we do have recipes.
posted by carping demon at 6:53 PM on April 6, 2013 [6 favorites]

By virtue of the fact that they exist as predators, they must have evolved to kill. By virtue of the fact that they are animals, they are incapable of pity.

And what are you, a microwave oven?
posted by Sys Rq at 6:54 PM on April 6, 2013 [8 favorites]

Strangely enough, this is exactly how my mother taught me to swim. It didn't end well.
posted by Naberius at 6:55 PM on April 6, 2013

Seriously. Kids floppin' around not doing anything? Grab them by the neck and DRAG them along, into the water, out of the water, UNDER the water... look at the expression on that baby otter. "Meh." Nothing more. Momma otters are saints and it is ME saying it. Cruel? Bosh. GET A JOB AND GET OFF MY LAWN KID.
posted by The otter lady at 7:05 PM on April 6, 2013 [5 favorites]

Fucking lazy grass.

That had best not be a rule 34 reference. No, sir, graminerasty is not OK with me.
posted by ambrosen at 7:07 PM on April 6, 2013

baf: "River otters are the ones that figured out how to hunt and kill pelicans. Call them cute, it doesn't make them any less ruthless predators."

If they hunted and killed canadian geese, I'd call them national heroes (a goose chased me into my workplace the other day).
posted by boo_radley at 7:33 PM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'll just leave this here.
posted by pxe2000 at 8:06 PM on April 6, 2013 [13 favorites]

"a goose chased me into my workplace the other day."
I would buy this novel.
posted by lenny70 at 8:07 PM on April 6, 2013

previously
You WILL learn how swim.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:13 PM on April 6, 2013

Blackfly is eager to argue with me, but at the same time agrees with everything I said about otter personalities. Looks like I somehow touched a nerve, although I'm not sure how.

Considering 1) They are predators, and 2) They are predatory animals, declaring them ruthless seems like a pretty pointless tautology.

Even if you take "predator" to necessarily imply "ruthless", which I'm not entirely sure I do, surely you aren't asking me to believe that using an adjective for emphasis is somehow objectionable. If it is, what do you make of the phrase "pointless tautology"?
posted by baf at 8:25 PM on April 6, 2013

Pxe2000, I can't favourite that link enough.
posted by arcticseal at 9:17 PM on April 6, 2013

"2000 grams?" "a handful of jelly beans?" I couldn't spend much time around that person.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 12:34 AM on April 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

That's how I was taught to swim. It wasn't all peace and love in the sixties, you know.
posted by Decani at 3:04 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Well, ruthless just means "devoid of ruth", or more precisely devoid of reuthe - pity or compassion. Otters probably don't feel a lot of pity or compassion for the things they eat, but then, neither do humans. And baby humans are cute, even though humans have worked out how to murder each other and blow stuff up.

In conclusion, Macbeth was a man of contrasts, and otter pups are adorbs.
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:50 AM on April 7, 2013

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Otters are dicks.


Those are sea otters. Twice the teeth and half the cute as river otters.

I'm sorry, fshgrl. Having grown up where sighting sea otters was a normal thing, I believe you may have been exposed to a dastardly disinformation campaign.

Sea otters are wonderful and cute and I will pull the hair of anyone who says different.
posted by mistersquid at 8:27 AM on April 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

Sea otter pups are hella fluffy.
posted by running order squabble fest at 8:31 AM on April 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

Cute? Yarrg! Without the narration, that looks like nothing but otter infanticide. Poor baby otter. Bad momma! Bad!
posted by sexyrobot at 9:59 AM on April 7, 2013

After all that exertion, that pup's going to need a nap.
posted by homunculus at 12:51 PM on April 7, 2013 [3 favorites]