There has been a lot of action on the otter cameras in the past week or so. I have four cameras all close together in the small gully on the edge of the lake and last week they recorded sixty clips of otters in one night. I haven't edited or posted all the video clips but have chosen those that show the most interesting behaviour. Here is what happened in 12 episodes over six hours.
19.34 A female otter went down the bank into the water.
21.38 About an hour later a dog otter went down the bank into the water, sniffing to see who had been down before him.
21.48 Ten minutes later the dog ran a short way up the bank calling, and returned to the water. It isn't easy to see on the video but if you look for the light reflecting from his eyes when he is in the water you may be able to see there was another otter waiting for him.
21.58 Another ten minutes later the female otter ran right up the bank into the reeds, whistling all the time, and then returned to the water. She is smaller and has a higher-pitched voice.
22.39 The female otter ran up and back down chittering, a rather different sound to the whistle.
22.40 One minute later the dog ran up and back down.
23.08 Perhaps the most interesting confrontation of the night. The dog was followed out of the water by the female who was chittering loudly. She ran back to the water but stayed close to the edge. When he approached the water she scolded him again so he retreated. He lay and waited while she swam around but eventually she swam off. Once the coast was clear he went back into the water and swam off the other way. I suspect she was encouraging his attention but playing hard to get.
00.33 The dog again went up and back down, calling.
00.40 The dog was chased up the bank by the female. She returned but he didn't.
00.42 The female went up the bank.
00.55 The female ran down the bank into the water, so quickly that she was almost missed by the bottom three cameras. She waited while the dog ran down to join her in the water. The cameras didn't see what happened next.
01.23 The female went up the bank calling.
This is the most otter activity I have seen in one night and I think is typical otter courtship behaviour. There was a lot of coming and going in the couple of nights before and after this but I didn't see two otters together on the recordings and there was no vocalising. I read in Paul Chanin's book Otters that courtship can last for four or five days so I think the female otter will now have mated with the dog. Otter gestation is about two months so if all goes well she will give birth in mid April and we might see new cubs on the cameras in autumn.
I can't tell if this is last year's mother or a new female. Female otters are sexually mature at two years of age so it won't be the yearling, although I think that may still be around. Given that last year's mother separated from her cub around the end of November I had assumed that she would already have mated around then but that may not be the case. I wish I could tell which female is which but it isn't possible on the black & white infrared videos.
Fascinating, Chris, thank you.
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