Under threat from overfishing, pollution, fur-trapping and other human-induced hazards, these remarkable beasts cling on in niche environments.
One of the most perfect, for them and for nature film-makers like Charlie Hamilton-James, are the spring-fed rivers of Florida, stuffed with food and clear enough for extensive filming.
Charlie knows otters well, he even adopted a cub called Grace in 2007 and made a splendid TV series about it.
He was the first to admit however that observing these reclusive, elusive creatures was tricky.
Florida offered the opportunity for him to see the creatures as never before, up close, in clear water and at length.
They get under your skin in ways it’s hard to understand. On land they look sweet and furry, in the water, they glide as gracefully as fish.
At a refuge where three orphans were being prepared for release into the wild, head otter-warden Mark was struggling with his twin urges to love the creatures and to do the best thing for them. He imitated a mother otter’s soothing calls to calm them, he fed them chopped up fish and formula milk.
Later, he taught them to swim and hunt. The latter seems to come naturally but swimming, oddly, is something baby otters have to be nudged into learning.
Mark refused to give these orphans names. Doing that would encourage him to bond with them and if they bonded back they’d have no chance in the wild.
From the creatures’ extraordinary heat-trapping fur to their all-terrain design and their commendable team spirit, this film abounded in otter-based insights. It also told us something important about people, though. Naming is caring.
In the Romany spoken by British gypsies a hedgehog’s name is “pal of the bor”, or “brother of the hedge”. Naturalist Steve Backshall swapped the jungles and mountains for suburban Surrey where other folk have strong brotherly feelings towards the spiky creatures, too.
Meet The Hedgehogs (Channel 5) provided a surprising chance to meet Queen guitarist Brian May, whose home turf Windlesham has become Britain’s first hedgehog-friendly village. It would be fair to say that, from his PhD in astrophysics to his collection of early photographs and his self-built guitars, May is a man of many talents. He’s also adept at using his fame to help causes, such as our increasingly endangered brother of the hedge.
Threats include slug pellets, people giving them milk (poisonous!) and lawnmowers. Given that the hedgehog has been around since the sabre-toothed tiger, it seems unjust they should be wiped out because people want tidy lawns. It reminded us to treasure, not just the wildlife in our gardens but the people who devote so much to it.
Take Elaine of Lincolnshire, whose house had become a refuge for hedgehogs. She couldn’t explain why she liked them and admitted they gave no affection back.
If it seems like we live in a dog-eat-dog world, watch people like Elaine, getting up every two hours to feed an orphan hedgehog, or Monique, rubbing coconut oil into one who’d lost his spines. We humans are naturally wonderful too.
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