When an animal allows you to observe him or her for a period of almost 20 minutes, it's a special thing indeed. That happened to me a few days ago when I was out paddling my canoe. I was headed downstream back to my vehicle when I saw two otters swimming upstream toward me. As soon as I saw them I let the canoe drift into the grass along the edge of the river opposite from the side the otters were on. They swam right up to an old beaver lodge which they are apparently using as their den. While one of the otters presumably went inside the den, the other one stayed outside and eventually climbed up onto the old lodge and preened itself for a good 10 to 15 minutes.
When it was done preening, it just sat there for a few more minutes basking in the warmth of the evening sun. Eventually it slid back into the water and I'm guessing went inside the den as I didn't see it again. I resumed my paddle downstream and just around the next bend I saw another otter. Or, maybe it was the same one as this one was also very tolerant and let me drift quite close before diving underwater. What a treat it was, and I feel very honored to have been allowed this time with these special creatures.
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