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  • - [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)

- [Man] What's up little otter? What's up little otter?

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