Thread by @AdamRutherford

Apparently, it's Sea Otter Awareness Week.

<cracks knuckles>

ht @bex_tweets

I have garnered something of a reputation for being an Otter Hater. This is not true. I see that otters frequently, do things that are unbearably cute, but my righteous ire is directed specifically at Sea Otters #NotAllOtters

So, one last time*

* not contractually binding.

In 2010, male sea otters were observed repeatedly and
successfully attempting forced copulations on females, sometimes drowning them in the process.

At other times their copulations caused injuries (such as perforated abdomens and vaginas) so severe that the females subsequently died.

The males were then seen copulating with the carcasses for several days, until the act became untenable due to erm decomposition. They did this not
only with otters of the same species, but also with harbour seals.

This behaviour is difficult to explain from an evolutionary point of view. The cost to the female is ultimate, and the male
does not benefit either: a dead female will not conceive. This is compounded by this act being perpetrated on a different species.

Maybe they are just bastards. I don't know.

Nature is ‘red in tooth and claw’, as Alfred, Lord Tennyson
wrote in the poem In Memoriam A.H.H. It's a rubbish poem btw, no-one ever reads the rest of it.

I expect he wasn’t referencing sea otters, but pre-Darwin, considering the apparent callousness of nature. Nature is not cruel, it is simply indifferent, and really doesn't care what you think.

This is all in The Book of Humans, a book which I loved though it was not as popular as some of my others. I think Big Otter was suppressing it.
#BigOtter

amazon.co.uk/Book-Humans-Hi…

Anyway, that's my #OtterVibePolice duties for the day. Someone let me know when it's Bottlenose Dolphin Awareness week, and I'll shill another 3 copies in exchange for some dolphin truthbombs. WAKE UP OTTER SHEEPLE.