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Smooth Coated Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata or Lutra perspicillata), family Mustelidae, order Carnivora, Karnataka, India

Photo by Tom Field

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Smooth-coated Otter | Anjan Lal Wildlife Photography

#photo #mustelidae #lutrinae #lutrogale #lutrogale perspicillata #smooth coated otter #anjan lal wildlife photography

Island Weirdness #59 — Terrestrial Otters & Owls

The Mediterranean island of Crete had very few predators during the Pleistocene, with most being birds of prey. And with the terrestrial carnivore niches in the ecosystem left vacant, it was a semi-aquatic mammal and an owl that ended up taking advantage of that opportunity.

Neither were large enough to threaten the dwarf elephants and hippos, and don't even seem to have habitually eaten even the smallest of the miniature giant deer. Instead these Cretan predators focused much more on the smaller land vertebrates on the island, preying on birds, shrews, rodents, amphibians, and reptiles.

Lutrogale cretensis (previously known as Isolalutra cretensis) was a close relative of the modern smooth-coated otter. It was about the same size as its living cousin, around 1m long (3'3"), but had stronger jaws and chunkier limbs.

Its skeleton shows features associated with walking and running more than swimming, and it seems that this was something of a "land otter" — still able to swim, but spending most of its time on land similar to the modern small-clawed otter.

Shellfish were likely still the main part of its diet, indicated by its crushing teeth. But it probably also regularly ate whatever small terrestrial vertebrates it could catch, since more aquatic otters are already known to prey on those types on animals when they can.

Athene cretensis was yet another weird island owl, but this time not a descendant of a Strix or Tyto species. Instead this owl was descended from the Eurasian little owl — except it had become much much larger.

It stood around 60cm tall (2'), over three times bigger than its living relative. Its legs weren't quite as long as those of the modern burrowing owl, but they were still proportionally much longer than those of little owls and show adaptations for terrestrial movement. Little owls already sometimes chase down prey on foot, and Athene cretensis was probably even more of a ground-based hunter, convergently similar to the Hawaiian stilt-owls and the Cuban terror owls.

Preserved pellets show that it ate small mammals and birds, mainly large mice.

Its wings were still quite large, and it was probably also a good flier — and may even have spread over to some of the Dodecanese islands to the east of Crete, since a wing bone closely resembling that of Athene cretensis has been found on Armathia.

Both of these predators seem to have disappeared around the end of the Pleistocene, at the same time as many of the other native Cretan species about 21,500 years ago. Much like the situation with Candiacervus, this may have been a result of a combination of a rapidly shifting climate and the presence of humans disrupting the already fragile island ecosystem.

Lutrogale perspicillata - Smooth-Coated Otter

Smooth Coated Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata or Lutra perspicillata), family Mustelidae, order Carnivora, Goa, India

Photo by Stephen Menezes

#smooth coated otter #lutrogale perspicillata #lutrogale #lutra #otter #mustelidae #carnivora #mammals #goa #india

lock screen bae vs wallpaper bae (photos by lutrogale)

#look at my kids #my beautiful prince and my grumpy son #chewie #threepio #lutrogale

You can tell a lot about someone by the music they listen to. Hit shuffle on your IPod/IPhone/iTunes/media player and write down the first 10 songs. Then pass this on to 10 people.

Up All Night - One Direction When I Come Around - Green Day It Was Written in Blood - Bring Me The Horizon Little Bird - Ed Sheeran Toes - Lights featuring Holy Fuck Don’t Stop (acoustic) - 5 Seconds of Summer What’s My Age Again - Blink 182 Menswear - The 1975 Come Together - Echosmith Sleepwalking - Bring Me The Horizon

I was tagged by street-y0uth-rising Thanks the-band-slut, lutrogale, sluttyhood, 8pineapples, warpedtoursmoshpit, killerirwin, friendswithbandefits, hemmosconda, musicxtherapy, and blowtimelow.

#the-band-slut #lutrogale #sluttyhood #8pineapples #warpedtoursmoshpit #killerirwin #frendswithbandefits #hemmosconda #musicxtherapy #blowtimelow

I just listened to Stay Outside and now I'm like why have I been ignoring this band??? Like I knew of them bc 8123 but I've just been too lazy to given them a listen.

Overall: 87/100

Following: no sorry | yes ofc | now | forever and ever

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