Even Otters Can Have Bad Love Affairs

[jeannie]

Yesterday, Calvinator and I saw two otters at the CP Zoo who seemed to have a really bad relationship. One was sleeping on the ground, while the other was swimming around the pond. Every time the one in the pond would get out of the water and approach the other one, it would open its mouth and hiss at it. We watched this happen over and over, until the one in the water decided to sneak up out of the water and pounce on the one at rest. Next thing we knew they were in the air in a ball, fighting. It was horrible. They were running all over the place, like that, as the crowd watched in fear, then they pulled apart, and both cowered into hiding places.

When we left the zoo, I talked to one of the security guards and told him about it. He said it was a male and a female, but I responded that it didn't look like mating - it looked pretty serious. He said he'd let the caretakers know and got on his walkie talkie.

I felt bad for both of them, actually. It was so clear they didn't like each other, and they were stuck with each other. I guess they're a bad match. Can you imagine spending your life with somebody of the opposite sex that you don't like? I'd be hissing too

[Hamsters82]

Aww...poor Otters! I hope they do something about it. I was reading in an IDA magazine yesterday (In Defense of Animals) and they were saying how cruel zoos can be sometimes (I read on the Elephants).

Otters are cool, smart, funny, cute little creatures aren't they?!!

[jeannie]

They're adorable. I hope these two will be okay. I'm sure they will check them for injuries - there must have been some after that fight - and hopefully they will figure out a solution to the problem.

[Die Fledermaus]

Jeannie said:

Can you imagine spending your life with somebody of the opposite sex that you don't like?

Yea, it's called marriage - something neither one of us will be partaking of.

Reminds me of a line from "The Simpsons" (so many things do!). Homer, age 10 in this flashback, saw two monkeys apparently fighting. . . "Zookeeper, zookeeper!! They're killing each other!!". To which the zookeeper whispered, "They're having sex". ;D I guess some like it rough.

Saw at the Bronx Zoo (ever get there?) a display where a gibbon and her youngster were in the same enclosure as a tapir and a male peacock. The punkish youngster liked to try to tease the bird who then chased it back to the mother. I thought it very odd they were together, and said so to the keepers.

A problem with all enclosures is they end up "steel cage death matches", a la the WWE, since one can not run off. They should be moved, however.

You want to see fighting? Try the baboon habitat at the Bronx Zoo - constant yelling, screaming, and fighting, sort of like a NYC public school. .

I will check out the otters when I get up there for my annual Spring peregrination in a week or so, and report back.

[jeannie]

Hey, speak for yourself - I may get married, under the right circumstances

Yeah, you'll have to let us know how the otters are doing when you return. That did not look like the normal mating ritual...

[rasputin]

I intend to wait getting married for a few years yet -- and since I have not yet met her, I must assume my future bride does as well.

[Die Fledermaus]

There is a big Kleinfeld bridal gowns store near me whenever you want to consider what to wear.
for the bride
(I am so tempted to paste your head on some of those, but I won't!).

The place actually is always PACKED with females, and across the street is "Sposabella" (need I translate?), a large store catering to the nubile brides and their legions of bridesmaids.

I never realized the fancy old-fashioned wedding was still so popular.

Marriage. . . then there is divorce rates - 50%? I know of more people miserable after marriage than happy from it.

Now I have a Mendelssohn tune bouncing around in my head I won't be able to get rid of. . . The Wedding March, which for obvious reasons reminds me of Puck. dah dah dahdah; dah DAH dadah. . .

I will look, and ask about, the otters, when I get there this later month.