Playful

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Wild otter (Lutra lutra), Loch Eil, Scotland: photo by Sheila Rogers, 22 May 2013

Very few species of animal habitually play after they are adult; they are concerned with eating, sleeping, or procreating, or with the means to one or other of these ends.  But otters are one of the few exceptions to this rule; right through their lives they spend much of their time in play that does not even require a partner.  In the wild state they will play alone for hours with any convenient floating object in the water, pulling it down to let it bob up again, or throwing it with a jerk of the head so that it lands with a splash and becomes a quarry to be pursued.  No doubt in their holts they lie on their backs and play, too, as my otters have, with small objects that they can roll between their paws and pass from palm to palm, for at Camusfeàrna all the sea holts contain a profusion of small shells and round stones that can only have been carried in for toys.

Mij would spend hours shuffling a rubber ball around the room like a four-footed soccer player using all four feet to dribble the ball, and he could also throw it, with a powerful flick of the neck, to a surprising height and distance.  These games he would play either by himself or with me, but the really steady play of an otter, the time-filling play born of a sense of well-being and a full stomach, seems to me to be when the otter lies on its back and juggles small objects between its paws.  This they do with an extraordinary concentrated absorption and dexterity, as though a conjuror were trying to perfect some trick, as though in this play there were some goal that the human observer could not guess.  Later, marbles became Mij's favourite toys for this pastime -- for pastime it is, without any anthropomorphizing -- and he would lie on his back rolling two or more of them up and down his wide, flat belly without dropping one to the floor, or, with forepaws upstretched, rolling them between his palms for minutes on end.

Gavin Maxwell (1914-1969): from Ring of Bright Water, 1960

Wild otters (Lutra lutra), mother and cub, Isle of Mull, Scotland: photo by Margaret J. Walker, 26 June 2008
 

Washing Off. Wild otter (Lutra lutra), preening after a crab supper, Shetland: photo by glidergoth, 23 February 2012
 

Shetland Otter cubs, playfighting and exploring in a rock pool while adults are off fishing in rough seas. At times they were as close as 6 feet away, but carried on playing while I took pictures: photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie.), 16 January 2011

Shetland Otter with cub -- 1. These two always managed to stay just a bit too far out of reach, hence these are pretty big crops. Nice to see them though, lots of playing and splashing around: photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie.), 6 May 2011

Shetland Otter with cub -- 2. Playing and splashing around. (Mainland Shetland): photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie.), 6 May 2011

A trio of Shetland Otters. A grim day, windy and rainy, but great for spotting Otters! This family three were having a great time play-fighting and trying to fit the odd bit of food in too. Taken on Mainland Shetland: photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie.), 23 May 2011

Otter family fun, Shetland: photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie.), 23 May 2011

Otter and cub rolling around in the grass before heading back to sea (mainland Shetland): photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie), 19 March 2011

Otter and cub rolling around in the grass before heading back to sea (mainland Shetland): photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie), 19 March 2011
 

Contented otter, Shetland: photo by John Moncrieff (Crieffie.), 24 May 2011

Sandaig Bay, Scotland. ("Camusfearna" in Gavin Maxwell's book Ring of Bright Water and the final resting place of Maxwell and one of his otters): photo by Peter Ashby (Pegash), 1 November 2005

for Duncan Jones