#lutra lutra

[podartists]

Common otter | Datering: 1829-1880 | Joseph Scholz

[snototter]

A Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) hunts fish on the riverbank in France

by Maxime Briola

[siljewolfe]

information about otters - from a japanese book on otter care

[thebeastsofindia]

Sri Lankan Otters (Lutra lutra nair), family Mustelidae, order Carnivora, Sri Lanka

Photo by Michael Barth

[weasel-war-dance]

Eurasian Otter | Alexander Perov

[namu-the-orca]

Those other marine mammals

For the UK bycatch project, I also had to illustrate some other species than the cetaceans I am so familiar with. Animals with legs and fur and nails... foreign concepts for sure. Jokes aside, it's always a challenge to illustrate a species you don't really know. I always wonder whether a seal or otter scientist would also approve of these, or if mistakes would immediately jump out to them (like they do for me with cetacean illustrations).

I don't really like how the harbour seal turned out, it looks too much like a stuffed animal to me. And the grey seal was a challenge because frankly, those males in real life look like weird muppets. So when drawing you're constantly torn between "does it look weird because I'm messing up or because I'm doing well?" haha. In the end I'm happy with it though! And the otter I'm very fond of. Such keen eyed creatures, I hope to see one in the wild some day.

[thoughtlessarse]

More than it can chew … an otter struggles after catching a giant crab in the River Coquet, Northumberland - Photograph: Linda Johnson/SWNS

click source for more Week in Wildlife photos

[ilovemuseums]

Eurasian otters