J Scott Shannon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
otterfamily) wrote2007-10-05 04:17 am
otterfamily) wrote2007-10-05 04:17 am
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It's a boy
It took me all summer, but it's finally confirmed - Mother's pup is a male. I'd been hoping it'd be a female, of course, but that's alright. At least there's a competent young mother otter residing along this stretch of coast again. I'm certain she'll produce many daughters here in the years to come.
Now to come up with a name for the not-so-little boy. I want to give him a handle that refers to his enormous size, but the most logical name - "Giant" - is already taken (he was Little Mama's littermate brother). I would also like to come up with a name that isn't lame, like most I've chosen over the years. ;-) Anybody got any suggestions?
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I also saw something yesterday I've never seen before. A harbor seal touched Mother's tail with his nose while she was eating on a rock. Normally skittsy Mother wasn't fazed by the contact at all, which suggests to me that it's happened before; I just wasn't here to note it. I've seen otters initiate contact with seals many times in the past, but I can't remember a seal making an initial overture before. Anyway, right after that, the pup saw the seal and he dove in to play with the pinniped! I have seen that happen before, but only a tiny handful of times. I guess the kid's just desperate for playmates; he being an "only child," after all.
And when Mother and pup were done, they went up into a den I call "Flower Crag." F/c was one of the otters' principal dens during the '80s and early '90s, but it was essentially abandoned after the debacle of 1992. Little Mama never used it for her family over the years. Interesting that this new mother has apparently re-discovered it on her own. Or maybe not on her own, as a few minutes after Mo+1 went up into the brush, a third otter - putatively Slick - ran up the path and joined them inside. I'm sure it was Slick who "taught" Mother about his den at the Girls' Crag, so I guess it's reasonable to assume he tipped her off about Flower Crag, too.
Now to come up with a name for the not-so-little boy. I want to give him a handle that refers to his enormous size, but the most logical name - "Giant" - is already taken (he was Little Mama's littermate brother). I would also like to come up with a name that isn't lame, like most I've chosen over the years. ;-) Anybody got any suggestions?
----------
I also saw something yesterday I've never seen before. A harbor seal touched Mother's tail with his nose while she was eating on a rock. Normally skittsy Mother wasn't fazed by the contact at all, which suggests to me that it's happened before; I just wasn't here to note it. I've seen otters initiate contact with seals many times in the past, but I can't remember a seal making an initial overture before. Anyway, right after that, the pup saw the seal and he dove in to play with the pinniped! I have seen that happen before, but only a tiny handful of times. I guess the kid's just desperate for playmates; he being an "only child," after all.
And when Mother and pup were done, they went up into a den I call "Flower Crag." F/c was one of the otters' principal dens during the '80s and early '90s, but it was essentially abandoned after the debacle of 1992. Little Mama never used it for her family over the years. Interesting that this new mother has apparently re-discovered it on her own. Or maybe not on her own, as a few minutes after Mo+1 went up into the brush, a third otter - putatively Slick - ran up the path and joined them inside. I'm sure it was Slick who "taught" Mother about his den at the Girls' Crag, so I guess it's reasonable to assume he tipped her off about Flower Crag, too.