Oriental Small Clawed Otter
I would like to tell you that I built a hide and staked out for three days, forgoing food and water, fighting off snakes and spiders and half eaten by huge mosquitoes. But the truth is that this gem was running towards me along the path. It obviously had not spotted me, so I dropped to my knee to announce my presence, scared that it would get too close for a shot.
The otter stopped in its tracks, allowing me one shot, then vanished down the steep bank of the stream, never to be seen again. I know it is still around when I catch the occasional whiff of its pungent, fishy droppings, as I lie belly down, collecting mud-puddling butterfly shots, feeding on the rich nutrients of the excrement.
Location is Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Alongside a stream and paddy fields.
The oriental small-clawed otter , also known as the Asian small-clawed otter, is the smallest otter species in the world, weighing less than 5 kg. It lives in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh, Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
