Today we are going to talk about one of the most violent, ruthless predators I have ever spoken about on this show.

They are sophisticated, intelligent, killing machines.

Not only do they kill their food, they kill each other.

They drown their own.

They practice thievery and kidnapping and extortion. They're also adorable,

and super playful. They are the sea otter in Hydro-Lutris. I'm Mackin. This is Species.

Hey, welcome to the show. This episode has been requested by multiple listeners now. I believe

Azure Locker was the first, so shout out to her and her dad, Richard. I'm really excited to share it

with everyone. I also have really big news. I finally finished making the website, speciespodcast.com.

When you get a chance, open up a laptop or phone. Check it out. You can see photos of the animals and other cool stuff, and while you're there, if you want, you can donate to the show. I love making this show for you guys. I don't want to put it behind a paywall or start talking about Mailchimp or something. I want it to belong to you, but it does take a lot of time and a little money. Even a dollar a week from anyone would be huge.

Anything you want to do, really help out.

Anyway, thank you so much for even thinking about donating.

Thank you so much for listening.

Thank you, Eric and the animals for playing me in.

And now, without further ado, I present to you the sea otter.

Animals aren't as simple as we might like them to be. In researching for this episode, I expected to learn about a cute, clever animal, and I did, as you'll see, this creature is

both adorable and insanely smart, but they also have a tormented history, and they live a rather violent lifestyle.

They can be both unbelievably cruel to one another and unbelievably affectionate.

It's complicated.

Let's start with how cute they are because I think that's what we're all ready to hear about.

Sea otters are ridiculously

adorable. They've got big noses, white fluffy faces, constant smiles, little ears, big, gentle

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