There is an animal that is cute in every move. The scene of asking for dried fish in the aquarium can make people feel cute. It is rated as the fifth most adorable animal in the world by the international news network. It is a sea otter, but it also has another unknown side.

There is an animal that is cute in every move. The scene of asking for dried fish in the aquarium can make people feel cute. It is rated as the fifth most adorable animal in the world by the international news network. It is sea otter , but it also has another unknown side.

says sea otters are a cute animal, and I believe no one will object, because they have too many cute behaviors that are known to people. For example, they often have furry little hands rubbing their little faces, and when they are "shy", they will also cover their eyes with both hands. When sleeping, they will lie on the water like humans, and often hold their companions' hands. Wild sea otters will wrap seaweed around their bodies and pillow them under their heads, using it as a quilt and pillow. These behaviors of sea otters are so anthropomorphic. With their cute appearance, how can they not make people's hearts cute?

Facts Shanghai Otter's behavior is not to pretend to be cute, but there is another reason.

What we see as sea otters rub their faces and covering their eyes is actually just that they are cleaning the dirt on their faces. However, sea otters clean the dirt not for beauty, but because once too much dirt is stained on their hair, it will affect the waterproof effect. Once the cold sea water seeps into the skin through the hair, it is unbearable. Otter always lie on the water with hands in hand and sleeps on the water surface, not because they are so friendly. They do this to avoid being washed away by the water after they fall asleep. This is like a chain of iron chains, it is much more stable to be connected together. As for using seaweed as a quilt and a pillow, it is the same. If you are wrapped in seaweed, it is not so easy to be washed away by the waves.

It can be seen that the cuteness of sea otters is actually the result of artificial definition, and in nature, sea otters have another unknown side.

According to statistics, every year during the breeding and mating season of sea otters, about 11% of female sea otters die of reproduction, and the culprit of the tragedy is male sea otters. This is a surprising thing, because such things usually only happen in human society. In the animal world, the killings are often males, such as mantis and some types of spiders, both of which have "husband-killing". Why? The reason is very simple, because in the animal world, reproductive rights are in the hands of females. After mating is completed, the male's reproduction task is over, and the next thing will be completed independently by females, so males can die, but females cannot, otherwise this species will be difficult to continue.

Since that's the case, why is sea otter an exception?

We have said that in nature, most of the right to reproduction is in the hands of females, so when the breeding season comes, males must be as willing to attract females as much as possible. Only by standing out from the competition with other males can they have the right to breed offspring. This competition will even evolve into a life-and-death struggle between males in some species. But sea otters are different from them. Male sea otters do not need to obtain the consent of the opposite sex. After the breeding season arrives, male sea otters will force mating with female sea otters, and this behavior is not limited to a single female. Male sea otters will have relationships with each female sea otter it encounters. For female sea otters, the reproduction process is not only involuntary, but also full of pain.

The penis bone of a male sea otter is very long, probably one-tenth of its body length.

Generally speaking, an adult male sea otter has a body length of about 150 cm, which means that their penis bones will be as long as 15 cm. It would be fine if it was just growing, but the penis bones of the sea otter still had a clear curved curve, which made the female sea otter very painful during the reproduction and wanted to escape. In order to prevent the female from escaping, the male sea otter will hold the female's head and bite the other's nose. The male sea otters in the breeding season are extremely excited and never know how to control their strength. In addition, the reproduction process is extremely long and usually lasts for several hours, so the damage caused to the female is in all aspects.Some females drowned during reproduction, some of them had their noses bitten off, and some of their reproductive organs were devastatingly damaged.

For wild animals without antibiotics, these injuries are undoubtedly fatal, so as many as 11% of female sea otters die during the breeding season every year.

So why do male sea otters have such organs that are not conducive to ethnic breeding? In fact, it is not only sea otters that have similar organs. Many cats also have barbs on their tines, which makes female cats extremely painful during their reproduction. Male cats usually bite the female cat's neck to prevent them from escaping. The reason why cats have barbs is that this can stimulate female cats to ovulate during reproduction. From this, it is inferred that the reproductive organs of sea otters may also have similar functions, but they will suffer from female sea otters. Fortunately, the breeding cycle of sea otters is relatively long, and they only breed once every five years, and the pregnancy period lasts as long as 9 to 10 months.