The physical impression first given by a Blakiston’s Fish Owl is that of a small bear (“small” relative to the size of a bear, that is) with wings. Standing more than two feet high, with a wingspan exceeding six feet, and a body mass that not only looks proportionally larger than other owls due to their shaggy plumage but actually is, these massive owls of the far eastern portion of Asia are the largest of any living owl species.
At last count, there are thirteen living species of otter on the planet. Many of us will no doubt be already familiar with the charismatically playful North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis), the wide-ranging Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra), and dangerously adorable Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris). However of all thirteen, the largest – as well as one of the most in danger of someday lowering the total species count to twelve – is the enormous and very appropriately named Giant River Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis).
In honor of Superb Owl Sunday 2019, I can’t think of a more appropriate new book to bring to everyone’s attention than James Duncan’s lavishly illustrated “Owls of the World.”
In The Owl That Fell from the Sky, Dr. Brian Gill, Curator of Land Vertebrates at Aukland’s War Memorial Museum recounts some of the astonishing histories of fifteen specimens presently housed in some of New Zealand’s finest natural history collections.