Button Nose

One of my favourite animals. I am sorry the image is so big but I wanted you to see the features really well

The otter (lutrinae) is a carnivorous aquatic or marine mammal part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, polecats, badgers, as well as others. With 13 species in 7 genera, otters have an almost worldwide distribution. The collective noun romp is used to refer to a group of otters.

Physical characteristics
Otters have a very soft underfur which is protected by their outer layer of long guard hair.This keeps them dry under water and traps a layer of air to keep them warm.

All otters have long, slim bodies and short limbs. They have webbed paws. Most have sharp claws.


Diet
Otters do not depend on their specialized fur alone for survival in the cold waters where many live: they also have very high metabolic rates and burn up energy at a profligate pace: Eurasian otters, for example, must eat 15% of their body-weight a day; sea otters, 20 to 25%, depending on the temperature. In water as warm as 10°C an otter needs to catch 100 g of fish per hour: less than that and it cannot survive. Most species hunt for 3 to 5 hours a day; nursing mothers, up to 8 hours a day.

Most otters have fish as the primary item in their diet, supplemented by frogs, crayfish and crabs; some have become expert at opening shellfish, and others will take any available small mammals or birds. This prey-dependence leaves otters very vulnerable to prey depletion.