Terrific Thursday Tails: Otter

In this week’s series, we take a break from the weird and the wonderful to feature our (unofficial) Corporate Services mascot, the otter!

Why the otter? Because … we are OTT-ers. Over The Top! Also, it’s too cute.

Otters are carnivorous animals, feasting on fish as the main staple of their diet. They’re usually very furry as a way of keeping warm as they do not rely on body fat to do so.

In some communities once upon a time, otters were bred to aid fisherman by chasing fish into nets due to their flexibility in the water.

Interestingly enough, otters feature heavily in folklore as totem animals and are even used to call for rainclouds.

Praying otter by Tambako The Jaguar I Flickr

In Japanese folklore, otters are said to shapeshift into beautiful women to charm men before killing them. Why? I have no idea, but they’re known for being cunning animals.

And my favourite fun fact about sea otters – they hold hands while sleeping! They do this to ensure that they don’t drift too far away from each other while they snooze. Heck, sometimes they wrap their pups in seaweed to ensure the same thing.

Leadership lesson

Leaders must recognise the importance of building and maintaining relationships, including going the extra mile to ensure their followers don’t drift away – even if it means guiding them by holding their hands!

So yes. Official company mascot?