J Scott Shannon

I'm starting to be genuinely concerned that the otter population is down to just one individual now. The last time I saw two males was July 18. Ever since then, I've only seen one, or only seen the sign of one on the dock. Judging by tooth wear, the individual I've been seeing the past few weeks is Mystery Male, not Slick, which is doubly worrisome.

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I've added a picture of myself to this journal's profile page. It was taken in August, 2003, by Shaun Walker: a photographer for our local newspaper.

 

Yesterday I once again went to the pier not expecting to see anybody, and there to my surprise was Mystery Male diving and fishing in the shallows by the beach. If I hadn't been lucky enough to see him, I wouldn't have guessed that he or any other otter was in town, though, as there was no recent scat activity at all on the dock.

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I think I've come up with my very last research finding. I was always curious whether or not the males' comings and goings were dependent on the presence of the resident territorial females. Since males and females typically avoid one another, the guys might leave from time to time just to get away from the girls. Well, now there are no girls to get away from, and instead of moving in and staying put here, the males are still coming and going as they always have - here for a few days, gone for a few more. I've kind of suspected all along that this would be the case, but until this summer, I never had the chance to test that hypothesis.

 

I had a nice relaxing otter-watching session yesterday evening. Got to see both males together for only the second time this season. Slick has grown up to be a real handsome fellow, I must say. And Mystery Male: I know I've said I'll never be able to be absolutely certain who he is, but he really could be Complainer. He definitely has "the family resemblance," and a blunt tailtip similar to Scoots, too. Anyway, it was just nice to see the males chumming around together. Almost a normal summer's evening at Trinidad. Almost...

 

Trinidad pier is owned by a local indian rancheria (reservation). Yesterday, I spoke with their person in charge of environmental protection about instituting a ban on crab traps of the kind that killed Scoots. He seemed very open to the idea. He said he would put the idea before the tribal council at their next meeting.

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No direct sightings of any of the males recently. However, I did see one on the webcam the other day. What I saw is the best evidence yet that Complainer might indeed have returned. Here is the screenshot:



"It's so far away, what can you tell from a picture like that?", you may wonder. Well, it just so happens that every otter has their favorite "spot" where they like to hang out. For some inexplicable reason, in the last 10 years, the eldest male's favored spot has been on the 3rd floating dock near the north rail, exactly where this otter was resting. First it was Ninety's spot, then when he died, Complainer assumed Ninety's throne. This by itself is not proof positive that the old male here now is Complainer, of course, but it would be very unlikely that a total stranger would, just by chance, pick the exact spot on the dock to hang out that the eldest males did in the past. So this could be Complainer. As I said before, the wear on his teeth is consistent with what I'd expect to see on a 10-year-old otter. I may never be able to know this for sure, but it's at least a hopeful sign.

Unfortunately, I see no encouraging sign in re: Slick. Slick had a special place on the dock that he used all the time, too. You can see that spot in this photo of Slick when he was a yearling:



Even as an adult, Slick has always used this hole in the dock to come up on top. The hole is at the southeast corner of the 3rd dock, just to the immediate left of the mooring rope of the boat in the top picture. What troubles me is that, since Scoots died (she used the hole, too), I have not seen any wet areas around this hole which would indicate that an otter has come up through it. Not one drop of moisture. Either Slick has totally changed his habits, or he is simply not here.