Surfin' Shetland Otters

November 17, 2015 5:05 AM

Surfin' Shetland Otters! That is all.
posted by Flitcraft (26 comments total)

This otter be good ...
posted by oheso at 5:14 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

It otterly is.

Faced with this craft work, I hope the mods don't enforce an otter ban.
posted by Devonian at 5:14 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Lovely pics, thanks Flitcraft.
posted by biffa at 5:27 AM on November 17, 2015

I honestly don't give a dam about all of these otter puns.
posted by Fizz at 5:33 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Beavery sure you do mean otters, not that otter aquatic mammal.

I'll stop now.

Promise.
posted by Devonian at 5:58 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Squee.
posted by spinturtle at 6:06 AM on November 17, 2015

So cute! First one, then an otter!
posted by Floydd at 6:07 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Nice marmot.

But seriously, nice tiny water panther photo collection.
posted by GrapeApiary at 6:12 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

i want them to be my friends
posted by Kitteh at 6:20 AM on November 17, 2015

They're sort of cute.

But also mean-looking. I mean, look at the intense stares in those whiskery little faces. "Fuck with me at your peril" they seem to say.
posted by Thistledown at 6:38 AM on November 17, 2015

Omg omg omg omg OMGOMGOMGOMG.

I need to go there. NEED.

I'm sure it's fine if I abandon all my responsibilities and just go, right?
posted by cooker girl at 6:42 AM on November 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

They went to Sears and got a picture taken for their Christmas card already.
posted by benito.strauss at 7:09 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

They went to Sears and got a picture taken for their Christmas card already.

"It's freezing cold, wet, and lots of raw fish to eat, wish you were here"
posted by greenhornet at 7:54 AM on November 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

This is great.

My dog is a breed that's supposed to have an "otter face," and sometimes it's hard to see because he's a VICIOUS TERRIER and otters are cute little doofs like this, but seeing these ACTION OTTERS really brings it out.

Hard to capture the otter essence in static photos but hey who needs an excuse to look at pictures of a cute dog?
posted by phunniemee at 8:16 AM on November 17, 2015

This is like the Saw franchise, but for fish. Stay in school. kids!
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:44 AM on November 17, 2015

I am dying to go on an otter photo safari now.
posted by Lemmy Caution at 8:49 AM on November 17, 2015

Huh, I did not know there were sea otters in Scotland. Very cool.
posted by tavella at 9:26 AM on November 17, 2015

I need to make a website for the Central California sea otters. Call it "Otter California".
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:31 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I get my otter fix at The Daily Otter

Also, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a live otter cam. There are several feeding and play sessions every day.
posted by rustcrumb at 9:38 AM on November 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

♫ If everybody had an oooootteeeer... across the U.S.AAAAAAA. ♫
posted by echocollate at 9:51 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I went for a job interview in Shetland once, many years ago. It was a fascinating place, and indeed the only interview I've ever had to catch a plane to attend. Being so remote, the interviewees were hosted in a hotel in Lerwick and taken on various trips round the island prior to interview, to give us a good feel for the place and its unique isolation. I recall we drove past Sullom Voe, which is where the big oil terminal was and where otters were known to hang out. We didn't see any otters but I am to this day delighted to note that it was the only place I've ever visited that had a triangular road warning sign like this.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 12:56 PM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ooh - these are otterly wonderful - even if a tad fishy.
posted by leslies at 4:45 PM on November 17, 2015

Is everything on that island a bit magical?

I mean, we have:

Shetland Ponies
Shetland Sheepdogs
and, now,
Shetland Otters
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 8:06 PM on November 17, 2015

It's several islands, actually. One of my favourite places in Scotland. (Even saw some otters there, but they were way off in the distance.)
posted by rory at 6:24 AM on November 18, 2015

I've lost the link, but while flipping around pages about Shetland otters earlier, I learned that they are thought to be introduced, but possibly as far back as Viking times. And that they are not in fact sea otters, but classic European otters. However, since nearly all the appropriate Shetland food resources are in the ocean, they've adapted. They still need fresh water to bathe in, but perhaps in an non-human mediated future they would have adapted to a true sea otter. Islands are great for speciation that way.
posted by tavella at 10:45 AM on November 18, 2015

Update - now there's a book about them, and something I didn't know, in the local dialect they're known as draatsi - hence this newspaper article: Daring draatsi makes its claim on salmon boat about an otter which boarded a fishing vessel and nicked a fish. They all seemed quite amused about it, so the headline couldn't be 'Drat that draatsi!'
posted by Flitcraft at 10:44 AM on December 11, 2015