Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1918 — Sea Otters. [ARTICLE]

Sea Otters.

Some of the habits of the sea otter are very interesting. For example, an fitter always swims on his back, his fail serving as a rudder and his head slightly raised so that by looking over his shoulder he can shape his course. When about to dive, however, he turns oa-hia .stomach, remaining in that poslwhile under water, kbit changing again on coming to the top, writes Ed.w’ard E. Martin, in St. Nicholas. Swimming a few feet below the surface, an otter very much resembles a sailor in his oilskiqs. An amusing story is told of a tourist fisherman who, seeing one of these animals swimming in this manner, hurried ashore and related a wonderful tale about having seen a sailor man, apparently drowned, yet swimming with .all the vigor of life six or seven feet under water; and who, when he, thinking the man might be alive, rowed to his assistance, went down and stayed down. The fisherman would not believe it when told that it was probably a sea otter, and he returned immediately to his Eastern home convinced he had received a supernatural warning of some dire calamity about to happen.