WOLVES OF THE RIVER! Also known as River Otters. These are something of a rare sight in South Florida. This was the first wild one I had ever laid eyes on. I saw one run across the bank into some bushes so I ran up and heard the mauling and biting and screeching. These animals are fast, pack hunting, and merciless. It was undoubtedly a male due to the fact that I only found it because it was mauling another wild otter over the riverbank. It ran right out in front of me with half of its right ear torn off and all bloody and wet with chunks of fur missing from his body which you can see in the photo. He went back to fight the other otter in the bushes, lost that fight and then bolted. River Otters are semi-aquatic mammals specialized for finding and capturing prey in the water. On their snout they have many long, stiff whiskers. These very sensitive tactile hairs are used for locating prey underwater. Otters have a long muscular tail, short legs and thickly oiled fur. So they are basically the perfect river predator. Using specialized muscles, small rounded ears and nostrils close when the otter is underwater. I was prone on a rubble path while taking this photo with my canon T5 with a standard lens.