Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
March 6, 2018
Otter Armpits
- as seen by -
Payden Sra
Sea otters have flaps of skin under each of their forearms—yes, otter armpits.
These flaps give otters a convenient place to stash various things to eat as well as a place to store tools such as rocks. They use them like pockets in the wild to hold the food and tools they find until they can get to the surface to eat.
Our sea otters at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Aquarium also stick clam, crab, shrimp, and squid in their armpits. They even know a behavior called “put em up!” in which they lift their paws to show us what they have stored.
Nikon D5
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Kristyn Swartzentrube
September 13, 2020 at 4:01 pm
I was curious if you ever considered changing the page layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
WCS Wild View
September 21, 2020 at 5:05 pm
Thanks for your comments. We are glad you like reading our posts.