Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/06/why-do-otters-juggle.html
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tl;dr
Because why not?
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to practice pulling meat from shellfish, crustaceans, and mollusks
It’s more like “from shellfish (crustaceans and mollusks)”. “Shellfish” is the umbrella term for the two unrelated groups, crustaceans (which are arthropods, like insects and spiders – it’s no coincidence that lobstermen call their catch “bugs”), and mollusks. Or, more precisely, it means “all the crustaceans that live in water” (so, for example, not sowbugs a.k.a. roly-polies a.k.a. pill-bugs a.k.a. those little armadillo-looking things from the garden with all the legs) plus “the mollusks that live in water and have shells”. It’s a conceptual grouping, not a biological taxon.
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ok thanks!
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I’d say an animal variant of “nervous habit.” It’s the same motion as something they do in the water while floating and eating.
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Because they can.
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Same reason as clowns, then.
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Why do otters juggle?
Because they know it’s friggin’ adorable.
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Because they are too wobbly for the highwire act?
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While animal behaviorists have thought that the juggling is a way for the animals to practice pulling meat from crustaceans and mollusks, a task that requires fine motor skills and coordination.
I don’t think this is a sentence.
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Juggling Otter: “Oh, dear. Oh, my. What ever shall become of me.”
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I’m off to see if I can teach otters to make balloon animals form jellyfish.
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Please provide video.
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When otters develop mime skills and living-statue acts, we will know that the End Days are here.
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I’m more worried about Beaver developing biting satire.
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Someone is angling for a pedant pendant.
See what I did there? Angling?
It’s because of the shellfish thing…
I’ll see myself out.
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Answer: To get to the otter slide?
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