Photo of the Day #693: A pile of otters

That is cool. I've never seen anything like it.

I love those dang otters. I lived for a summer in a remote coastal wilderness cabin (an old trailer actually) beneath which the river otters had a den. When the sun raised the temp to a relatively warm level the scent was all but overpowering, but later we got used to it and came to associate it with our home, as well as watching their antics. Once while exploring the shorelines around our funky smelling trailer via kayak we spotted what we though was some strange fish floundering around on a mud flat, as we got closer we realized it was two river otters engaged in what one would presume is the very process by which they would be making more otters. They sure seemed to be enjoying themselves; very active, very intertwined, chattering in a low sound sorta like laughter and completely oblivious to our kayaks until we got about 10 feet away at which time they took off up above the high tide line and into the tall grass of the shorline like a pair of rocket powered slinkeys in fur.

Cool photo.

Not to anthropomorphize too much but they sure seem to be enjoying themselves.

Thanks.

Pile? Piles are so static. That is a scrum of otters.

Collectively river otters are called either: a family, a bevy or a romp. Looks like a romp to me.
Interestingly, sea otters are called a raft, though who knows maybe river otters form rafts too. I know that sea otters do, having kayaked among them and heard their mid-day chorus of harmonius chatter and mewing that sounded as much like singing as what coyotes do sometimes. They do like to form groups and single otters tended to be males seeking territory. The thought was that if they found enough food they'd let their fellow colonists know..so I guess collectively they are "colonists and colonies" at times too.
This according to a shrewdness of apes I once met.