The Otters’ Tale. Simon Cooper

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      Mion’s job, if his life may be described in such terms, is that of a grand overseer, protector and inseminator. Whereas Kuschta could cover her territory in a day if pressed, Mion ranged far and wide, taking as much as a week to cover his. It might be tempting to describe the four or five females that lived under his purview as his harem, but that gives a lie to his active involvement, suggesting that Kuschta and her gender are supplicants. They aren’t.

      As the grand overseer, Mion had been aware of Kuschta from almost the very first day she arrived in the Wallop Valley, but chose to give her a wide berth, allowing her the freedom to mark out a home of her own. Two years her senior, he knew the valley better, confident of travelling further from the water than she was. With short cuts across fields at the junctions and bends of the river, he was able to dip in and out of her life unnoticed. Kuschta was too young for mating, so Mion was content to view her from afar until the time was right.

      Like Kuschta, Mion tried to avoid conflict and interaction with other otters, but as the alpha male it was not always that simple. In truth, at somewhere between four and five years old, Mion was past his prime. Not in his dotage exactly, he had maybe one good year left, so, for now at least, young males mostly passed on and through the valley without challenging his authority. But it would not always be like that. There would come a time when Mion would have to fight for his dominance. For all their complex avoidance strategies, there is no way that otters are able to circumvent the Darwinian certainty of the survival of the fittest. There is some debate as to how much male otters fight. It is clear that they do fight, but nobody is exactly sure whether when two come head to head it comes down to a contest, or whether that is the choice of last resort. What is clear, however, is that it is simply not possible for two mature males to exist in harmony. One must give way to the other. The results will range from a mild confrontation to mortal injury.