They are smart, fearsome, and irresistibly cute.
Are these mustelids overpowered and how different are they?
You will find out in the 24th episode of YouTube’ favorite show: Animal Battle.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you our two competitors:
The Sea Otter Versus
The Giant Otter Also, stick until the end of the video because
you will vote the winner of this battle and you will also find out who is the winner of
the previous Animal Battle between the Great White Shark and the Saltwater Crocodile.
Let’s do it!
I am Mario and this is Animal Battle!
So how exactly are we going to find out which otter species is better?
As always we are going to compare the two based on the 6 sacred characteristics:
Agility, Attack, Defense, Intelligence, Bonus Skill and Survival.
So being more powerful doesn’t necessarily make one a better animal.
Before going to their stats we need to be able to differentiate the two otter species.
Giant otters live in the rivers of South America and have very short fur whilst Sea otters
are found in the Pacific Ocean, have longer fur and lighter-colored heads.
Of course, they have a lot more differences like locomotion, social structure, and hunting
preferences but we will talk about those when we will look over their stats.
That being said, let’s start with Agility.
While most mustelids like wolverines, honey badgers and weasels decided to live alongside
larger and more powerful carnivores, otters specialized in living in the water where they
would have fewer competitors and would have the chance to become apex predators.
For swimming, they have webbed feet and powerful tails.
Sea otters can reach speeds of up to 9 km/h in water which is quite decent but giant otters
are even faster, reaching speeds of up to 14.4 km/h in water.
Giant otters are also adapted to running on land reaching an impressive speed of 47 km/h.
Sea otters are quite clumsy on land and move slowly, but that is because they are better
adapted to spending the majority of their life in water.
You can usually see them floating on their backs because they are very buoyant due to
their large lung capacity and the air trapped in their fur.
Even sea otter pups can naturally float but most of the time mothers carry them on their
belly.
That is objectively cute; we need a cuteometer.
Also, sea otters can hold their breath for up to 5 minutes underwater and giant otters
can dive for 6-8 minutes.
Let’s see their stats.
They have fairly high agility stats, giant otters being better here because they can
reach higher speeds both in water and on land.
Moving on to bonus skills.
And these otters have pretty high bonus skill stats.
Both the sea otter and the giant otter have highly sensitive whiskers which can track
the changes in water pressure and currents.
Also, they can close their nose and ears when they dive.
Giant otters have acute hearing, an excellent sense of smell and good vision above water,
but it is not that good in the water.
They have short and dense fur which is also water repellent.
Sea Otters have mediocre sight and rely more on their excellent sense of smell.
Unlike other marine mammals, they don’t have a layer of blubber to keep their bodies
warm but have thick and dense fur.
In fact, it is the densest fur in the Animal Kingdom and it repels the water so well that
their skin is dry.
That is why sea otters need to take care of their fur and they often need to groom it
and blow air into it.
And it looks really cute.
Furthermore, sea otters have a loose pouch of skin under their forearms and use it to
store food which they bring to the surface and they also keep their favorite rock in
there.
What do they have a rock for?
You will find out later.
All of these bonuses are already great, but perhaps the biggest bonus skill of otters
is their social structure.
Giant otters are highly social living in large family groups with 2-20 members.
These groups have a dominant breeding pair and their members share different roles.
It is an important bonus skill because living in groups giant otters are more powerful against
predators and have a higher chance of survival.
Sea otters are not that social though being able to live and forage independently.
Still, when they rest they can hold hands with other sea otters to prevent drifting
which looks so damn cute.
In this way, they can form single-sex groups called rafts.
These rafts can consist of 10-100 sea otters and the largest one ever seen contained over
2000 hand holding otters!
I guess the cuteometer is broken at this point.
But we shall see their bonus skill stats.
They have really high bonus skill stats, giant otters being slightly better here because
they form complex family groups which is a great deal for their attack and defense stats.
But before we talk about attack and defense we still need to look at their Intelligence.
They are really smart and not just because they are predators.
Giant otters can be trained and learn tricks easily.
They are not only motivated by the food reward but also by being praised.
Sea otters are surprisingly intelligent.
They can play basketball, know how to stack cups and are some of the few animals to use
tools in the wild.
Remember that rock that they keep in their pouches?
Well, sea otters use it as a hammer to crack open animals with hard shells.
They can also use larger stones as anvils putting them on their bellies.
They also use kelp to prevent drifting while sleeping or to keep their pups still while
mothers go in search of food.
Moreover, they can trap crabs in kelp to keep looking for more food.
So their intelligence stats are… really high.
Sea otters are slightly better here due to their rare ability to use tools.
It is time to go to their attack and defense stats.
Sea otters are actually the largest otter species, males reaching lengths of up to 1.5
m and weighing up to 45 kg.
Giant otters are not as heavy but are longer than sea otters, males reaching up to 1.7
m in length and weighing up to 32 kg.
That makes them the longest mustelid species.
One characteristic that they have in common with other mustelids like weasels, honey badgers
and wolverines is how fearsome they are.
Giant otters are apex predators feeding almost exclusively on fish, but may also eat crabs,
turtles, snakes like anacondas and small caimans.
They hunt fish individually but when the prey is larger the group will hunt together using
their numbers as an advantage.
They have sharp claws and are very territorial.
Giant otters have a high metabolic rate and need to eat a lot every day.
But sea otters have an even higher metabolic rate because they need to stay warm in the
cold ocean waters.
That is why they need to eat more than a quarter of their own body weights in food daily.
They usually forage for food being the only marine animals capable of lifting and turning
over rocks.
That is how they find sea urchins, clams and mussels, other species of mollusks and crustaceans.
They can eat anything from crabs to giant octopuses and use their front paws with retractable
claws to catch fish.
After they collect food in their pouches they go to the surface and use their favorite rocks
to open clams and mussels.
What about predators?
Well, sea otters are not that safe in the ocean because there are a lot of large predators
like orcas, sea lions, and great white sharks.
They can also be killed by bears or coyotes on land and their pups might be killed by
eagles.
Giant otters live in a more favorable habitat.
There are fewer large predators in rivers and even though caimans, cougars, jaguars,
and anacondas might kill solitary otters sometimes, living in groups they become the stronger
predators.
A group of giant otters might overpower a caiman or anaconda and can scare of jaguars.
Let’s see their stats.
They have very high attack stats for their size.
Giant otters are better at defense because they have fewer predators and can overpower
larger animals in groups.
And lastly, let’s talk about their survival stats because there is no sense in having
high stats if the species is going extinct.
Both of these otter species are classified as endangered species, but there is a big
difference in their population number.
While there are about 107 000 sea otters in the wild the estimated number of giant otters
is below 5000 individuals.
Sea otters will usually have only one pup which will have a life expectancy of up to
23 years in the wild and up to 29 in captivity and giant otters can have 1-5 pups which are
going to have a lifespan of up to 8 years in the wild and 17 in captivity.
Sadly, people hunt these amazing animals for their fur and their population is still decreasing.
That being said, let’s see their final stats.
They have high agility, attack, bonus skill, and intelligence stats and have a real chance
of competing for the title the “Best Animal in the World”.
But only one of them can compete further and that is the winner of this battle.
And you can choose the winner voting in the poll right there and feel free to share your
precious opinions in the comments down below.
I will announce the winner in the next episode so subscribe to M from aniMals not to miss
it and because you will help Spike achieve his goal of beating both pew die pie and t-series.
[Dong] Now is the time to announce the winner of the last Animal Battle between the Great
White Shark and the Saltwater Crocodile.
So, after counting all the votes, the winner is… the Saltwater Crocodile- a really powerful
and deadly animal.
If you wanted the Great white to win don’t be upset because here, on M from aniMals we
love and respect all animals.
So, once again, don’t forget to vote the winner of this episode’s battle in the top
right corner.
And if you like what I make consider supporting me on patreon to fill up that patreon list
with your name.
Respect animals!