Add this to the list of things I didn’t know were possible.
Everyone knows otters are some of the most adorable creatures on the planet.
They splash around, swim super fast, play with beach balls at zoos, and are just plain old cute.
But did you know those same cute creatures are capable of taking out a gnarly, tough as hell snapping turtle?
Turns out, according to sciencing.com, river otters are actually the apex predator of their food web, feeding on fish like trout, salmon, carp, and suckers, as well as other water creatures like snails, crayfish, frogs, snakes, and yes, turtles.
Guess I’ve been underestimating these guys for years…
Well, what lead me to this information was a video from a few years back, where a person noticed some crunching sounds coming from thick weeds near the edge of a lake. When they saw an otter’s head pop up, they immediately knew what was going on and ran to their house, grabbed a camera, and raced back to the lake to capture this insane video.
We first see an otter seemingly minding its own and swimming around, but it quickly becomes clear that there’s something nearby that he doesn’t like.
It was a snapping turtle, and a pretty big one at that.
Now, if someone was to have paused the video and asked who I thought would win in a fight, it would have been a clear and fast answer of the snapping turtle. Do you see the neck and jaws on that monster?
But, as with most things, I would have been wrong, as the otter continually charges the turtle, flips it over, and eventually is able to get a hold of it and drag it across to shallower water. Once it has the turtle in place, it begins munching on its intestines, apparently a favorite of the animal we all thought was so cute just a few minutes ago.
Wild. Just wild…
Next time you see an otter, keep your distance.
We don’t need to see what else they can take out…
