Everyone knows otters are some of the cutest creatures on the planet, but I was pretty shocked at just how vicious these guys can be when they get hungry.
When you see these guys in zoos, they’re typically splashing around, playing with beach balls, and darting back and forth to the amazement of the crowd, but what we don’t get to see behind that glass wall is the other side of the otter.
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 even turtles.
This information got me to go on a search for otters in action and I found this video from a few years back which starts when someone heard some crunching noises coming from a patch of 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.
At first, it appears the otter is just minding its own business, 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…
Put some respect on the river otter’s name.
