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      <title>Otters!: Blogtown, PDX, Portland Mercury</title>
      
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      <pubDate>Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700</pubDate>
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          <title>Otters!: Blogtown, PDX, Portland Mercury</title>
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          <description>Portland's Most Awesome Weekly Newspaper. Covering Portland news, politics, music, film, and arts; plus movie times, club calendars, restaurant listings, forums, blogs, and all your Portland questions answered in Questionland PDX.</description>
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        <item>
    <title>Otter Friday! Now with Added Democracy!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/05/10/otter-friday-now-with-added-democracy</link>
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      <dc:creator>Alex Ross</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/9319685/0fc2/1368226906-tilly1.jpg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;50&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Welcome back to Otter Friday in which your hard-working and diligent Blogtown team go to extreme and sometimes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/08/a-very-special-otter-friday-zoo-field-trip-edition&quot;&gt;awesome&lt;/a&gt; lengths to bring you essential news on the world&#39;s most talented and objectively brilliant semi-aquatic mammals. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This week, we swell with pride: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The race to determine the Oregon Zoo&#39;s 2013 Mother of the Year grew heated at times but was thoroughly engaging, as keepers rallied behind their favorite animals and voters participated in record numbers. In the end, Tilly the river otter came out ahead with 47 percent of the vote, outpacing Asian elephant Rose-Tu (38 percent) and DeBrazza&#39;s monkey Brooke (15 percent).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Whilst we don&#39;t mean to take ALL the credit for this, it&#39;s highly likely that our tireless coverage of &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/04/05/omg-the-zoos-baby-otter-is-learning-to-swim&quot;&gt;Tilly&#39;s maternal brilliance&lt;/a&gt; played some part in getting her over the line. I mean, she beat an elephant and a monkey who, thanks to the lack of otter-related animated films in recent years (ever), should have been considered favorites.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the hope that there will be a vote on the sporting ability of zoo animals some time soon, here is a video of Oregon Zoo&#39;s Eddie the Otter playing basketball. Seriously.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/x7ltOmuyazA&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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    <pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 16:43:00 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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        <item>
    <title>OMG the Zoo&#39;s Baby Otter Is Learning to Swim!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/04/05/omg-the-zoos-baby-otter-is-learning-to-swim</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;del&gt;Mololla&lt;/del&gt; Mo, the Oregon Zoo&#39;s nine-week-old river otter, is &lt;em&gt;learning to swim&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;check it out&lt;/em&gt;. It&#39;s basically the best thing ever. &quot;Baby otters do not know how to swim when they&#39;re born!&quot; WHAT!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/b4ELyQQp_yU?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;(Fun fact! Mo&#39;s the son of Tilly, who you &lt;em&gt;might&lt;/em&gt; remember from when Alex Zielinski and I&#x2014;no big deal or anything&#x2014;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/08/a-very-special-otter-friday-zoo-field-trip-edition&quot;&gt;TOTALLY GOT TO HANG OUT WITH OTTERS THAT ONE TIME&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The only problem with the above video is that the music is kind of terrible. &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/GI8xrnOrftM&quot;&gt;Here&#39;s an alternate soundtrack that I&#39;m pretty sure Mo would approve of.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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    <pubDate>Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:14:32 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Don&#39;t Forget! Cross-Dress Your Pet!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/04/02/dont-forget-cross-dress-your-pet</link>
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      <dc:creator>Wm.&#x2122; Steven Humphrey</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/8937532/7111/1364934457-grabbbag-570.jpg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;170&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Submissions are due &lt;strong&gt;TOMORROW&lt;/strong&gt;, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3 by 5 pm!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:crossdresspet@portlandmercury.com&quot;&gt;Send your submissions here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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          <category>Otters!</category>
        
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    <pubDate>Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:44:41 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Don&#39;t Forget! Enter the &quot;Cross-Dress Your Pet&quot; Photo Contest!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/03/29/dont-forget-enter-the-cross-dress-your-pet-photo-contest</link>
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      <dc:creator>Wm.&#x2122; Steven Humphrey</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/8883311/6a83/1364342565-grabbbag-570.jpg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;170&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Enter here.&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:crossdresspet@portlandmercury.com&quot;&gt;crossdresspet@portlandmercury.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:59:22 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Don&#39;t Forget! Enter the &quot;Cross-Dress Your Pet&quot; Photo Contest!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/03/25/dont-forget-enter-the-cross-dress-your-pet-photo-contest</link>
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      <dc:creator>Wm.&#x2122; Steven Humphrey</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/8869487/40ab/1364244508-grabbbag-570.jpg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;170&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:crossdresspet@portlandmercury.com&quot;&gt;Enter here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:59:52 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>EMERGENCY OTTER FRIDAY</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/02/15/emergency-otter-friday</link>
    <guid isPermaLink="true">http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/02/15/emergency-otter-friday</guid>

    
    
      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/8481662/fa1b/1360960288-otterpup.jpg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;56&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;IT&#39;S AN OTTERMERGENCY!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tilly, one of the zoo&#x2019;s two North American river otters, gave birth to a male pup Jan. 28&#x2014;the first river otter to be born at the Oregon Zoo. The new arrival weighed just over 4 ounces at birth and has already tripled that due to his mother&#x2019;s naturally high-fat milk. Keepers have yet to decide on a name for the pup, though it is likely he will be named after a local river or waterway.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;If all goes well, zoo visitors should be able to see Tilly and her pup in the Cascade Stream and Pond section of the zoo&#x2019;s Great Northwest exhibit in a few months. (&lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://oregonzoo.org/news/2013/02/oregon-zoo-welcomes-new-baby-river-otter&quot;&gt;Via&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thanks to my official Otter Friday Copilot, Alex Zielinski, who first emailed me with this exciting news (&quot;You better Otter Friday that shit&quot;), &lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/302482935288832000&quot;&gt;then tweeted&lt;/a&gt; what we&#39;re all hoping after that goddamn baby elephant debacle: &quot;Fingers crossed that it&#39;s not under contract to a traveling circus.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;(OMG you guys how great would an otter circus be)&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:36:29 -0800</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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        <item>
    <title>The Portland Aquarium: Two Months In</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/02/15/the-portland-aquarium-two-months-in</link>
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      <dc:creator>Alex Falcone</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/8437220/ef75/1360617077-aquarium-eel.jpg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;56&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Sarah Mirk &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/12/14/portland-aquarium-opening-tomorrow-is-surprisingly-rad&quot;&gt;wrote about this when it opened&lt;/a&gt; but I&#39;d like to add my two cents. Specifically how it feels like the whole thing was built for about two cents.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I love aquariums (aquaria?) more than almost anything and this one is not without charm. Watch crabs crawl over each other and not get caught by the &lt;em&gt;Deadliest Catch&lt;/em&gt; guys! Marvel at how lion fish seem like they probably shouldn&#39;t be able to swim. Touch an iguana that doesn&#39;t belong in an aquarium, but also care you&#39;re touching it! Very exciting stuff.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The moray eel is especially cool even if I wonder whether he ought to be swimming among ruined eastern religious icons.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But they&#39;ve been open for a couple months and it already (still?) feels remarkably rundown. Not only are the kids still &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/12/21/aquarium-more-like-a-fish-petting-zoo&amp;sa=U&amp;ei=510ZUZacFqvqiwKOnIHwDA&amp;ved=0CAoQFjAB&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;usg=AFQjCNGCKeQXkgTU9gLEHHq3VcGmIPJkyA&quot;&gt;touching fish unsupervised&lt;/a&gt;, the whole thing could really use a coat of paint to feel like a place that didn&#39;t just steal a bunch of fish from a pet store and squat in a closed restaurant. More troubling is that almost half the displays don&#39;t have any kind of signage. There&#39;s room and wiring for signs, but an entire wall lacked even temporary labels for the fish.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The mural of happy sea life is on the creepy side. Here&#39;s my favorite character whom I&#39;m calling Killy The Crack Whale.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One corner near the still-absent puffins/otter display has this, a TV showing &lt;em&gt;Blue Planet&lt;/em&gt; without sound above a completely unlabeled world map.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Still it seems popular with the children who were running around it on a Sunday afternoon giving fish the flu by touching them and then wiping their wet hands on my pants. So many were packed into the tiny space that it felt extremely claustrophobic even in the 6-foot atmosphere. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I think it&#39;s still worth the trip down McLoughlin (although I wish there was a pre-puffin price), but mostly I just want it to be a little bit better. The tacky aquarium is neat&#x2014;but we&#39;re a big enough city that we could have an aquarium that doesn&#39;t feel thrown together, right?&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:59:36 -0800</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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        <item>
    <title>Portland Aquarium Opening Tomorrow is Surprisingly Rad</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/12/14/portland-aquarium-opening-tomorrow-is-surprisingly-rad</link>
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      <dc:creator>Sarah Mirk</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/7935060/048b/1355522584-picture_1.png&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;40&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;I was extremely skeptical of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://portlandaquarium.net/&quot;&gt;Portland Aquarium&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The aquarium is out on the ragged edges of the city, past Milwaukie where the streets grow wide and lined with tire stores, in a former Black Angus steakhouse that two brothers purchased in June, promising an aquarium for Portland by December. The brothers, Ammon and Vince Covino, were fresh off opening an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oregonlive.com/milwaukie/index.ssf/2012/07/idaho_brothers_eye_clackamas_c.html&quot;&gt;aquarium in Boise&lt;/a&gt; that faced massive delays and a board member charged with coral smuggling. On the grand opening day for members this week, the aquarium alerted its supporters via Facebook that a sudden emergency meant the aquarium would not actually open its doors until the late afternoon. Not a good start. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So it was with low expectations that I rolled into the parking lot of the Portland Aquarium this morning&#x2014;and found it surprisingly delightful! &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The aquarium opens to the general public tomorrow and make no mistake: This is not the Monterey Bay Aquarium or Boston&#39;s New England Aquarium. This is an aquarium built in six months in a former steak house. It has seven rooms of exhibits, two of which&#x2014;the promised homes of its star attractions, otters and puffins&#x2014;aren&#39;t done yet. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But the rooms that do exist are &lt;b&gt;full of awesome fish&lt;/b&gt;, festooned with great nautical decorations, and, unlike those fancier aquariums, &lt;b&gt;kids can touch pretty much everything&lt;/b&gt;. There is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/images/blogimages/2012/12/14/1355527114-_mg_7826.jpg&quot;&gt;an iguana that loafs all day on a speedboat&lt;/a&gt;, a tortoise that hangs out in a corner, and an amazing giant tank full of tiny sharks and bat rays where you can reach in and feel their slimy bodies slide under your fingers. In one room, kids can buy seaweed and krill for $3 and hang it over a tropical fish tank where bright species will nibble it out of their tiny palms. In another, adults and kids can go inside an aviary and be covered tiny parakeets. The final room of the aquarium has a rack of animal costumes for children, resulting in an adorable menagerie of tiny sharks bumbling around on the floor. Along the way, there&#39;s two octopi, poisonous frogs, jellyfish and other wonders. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is also the opportunity to purchase a horrifying octopus cake for any party occasion. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;All in all, I think the Portland Aquarium will feel pretty podunk to anyone over the age of 10. But it will be a magical, educational dreamworld for small children. The aquarium is just the right size and level of interactivity for curious children who will get hungry after about an hour of poking iguanas, anyway. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://portlandaquarium.net/&quot;&gt;Portland Aquarium&lt;/a&gt; is located at 16323 S.E. McLoughlin Blvd, Milwaukie. Day tickets to the aquarium are $10.95 for adults and $4.95-8.95 for kids. Also, check out Alex Falcone&#39;s post from earlier today about &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/12/14/20-fish-facts-you-may-not-know&quot;&gt;fish facts!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      </description>
      
        
          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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    <pubDate>Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:32:18 -0800</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>Otter Monday! Otter Tuesday! Otter Wednesday! Otter Thursday! Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/09/24/otter-monday-otter-tuesday-otter-wednesday-otter-thursday-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/7131975/4781/1348510397-h_eddieseaotter.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;53&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yes, &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/otters/&quot;&gt;Otter Friday&lt;/a&gt; has been on a hiatus lately because, in the words of my esteemed boss, &quot;Hey, so those otter posts you and Alex keep doing are making all the other posts on Blogtown look like crap, please knock it off for a bit.&quot; So we did. HOWEVER. We have some &lt;em&gt;BREAKING OTTER NEWS&lt;/em&gt; that must be reported: It&#39;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oregonzoo.org/events/sea-otter-awareness-week&quot;&gt;Sea Otter Awareness Week&lt;/a&gt;, and the Oregon Zoo&#39;s got special sea otter stuff going on all week!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Oregon Zoo is proud to participate in Sea Otter Awareness Week from Sunday, September 23 through Saturday, September 29, 2012. This week-long event aims to educate the public about the critical role sea otters play in marine ecosystems. Our staff will host keeper talks daily at 11:30 am, paired with enrichment and/or training sessions with the sea otters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Those sea otters are Eddie and Thelma, and, as you might remember from when Alex and I went and totally got to hang out with them, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/08/a-very-special-otter-friday-zoo-field-trip-edition&quot;&gt;they are awesome&lt;/a&gt;. And the zookeepers who take care of the otters are really smart and nice! So go be aware of sea otters at the Oregon Zoo this week, and tell Eddie and Thelma hi for me and Alex. And if either of them get all up in your grille about why there hasn&#39;t been an Otter Friday for a little while just tell them to mellow out already, it&#39;ll be back sometime soon, geez.&lt;/p&gt;
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          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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    <pubDate>Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:14:32 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/08/10/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
    <guid isPermaLink="true">http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/08/10/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</guid>

    
    
      <dc:creator>Alex Zielinski</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Welcome back to Otter Friday, the most anticipated weekly event in Blogtown history, in which Erik Henriksen and I share the wonders of the otter world with our lovely followers. And other people who stumble upon this by some wonderful accident. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This week&#39;s theme?&lt;strong&gt; OTTERS BEING NOISY!&lt;/strong&gt; Turns out, otters are super loud when they want to be. I know it sounds annoying, but it actually is mind-blowingly adorable. Because, otters. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Turn up your speakers &#x2014; especially if you&#39;re in a quiet work environment or riding the MAX home and everyone is already annoyed at you. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;169&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/ekvlVe9VuCI&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;225&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/DXvDLmCfYdU&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;300&quot; height=&quot;169&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/0nwGIh9kRBA&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:44:44 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/08/03/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Welcome back to Otter Friday, Blogtown&#39;s finest feature, in which Alex Zielinski and I carefully curate a selection of otter videos. We are guided by a single, clear purpose: ALL OTTERS, ALL THE TIME.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This week&#39;s theme? OTTERS TOUCHING THEIR FACES!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/ap2mhgldYS4?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/7Ry_SZIIb-8?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/NDFUXfKd5y0?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:14:28 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/07/27/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;A week or two ago the &lt;em&gt;Mercury&lt;/em&gt; received an email from a reader. So that&#39;s fine, I guess... so far. But then: the email&#39;s bullshit subject line? &quot;Otters are vicious.&quot; And then there was a link to &lt;em&gt;this&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fangs pierced Leah Prudhomme&#39;s legs as she swam across the deep, dark rum-colored northern Minnesota lake. It could be anything, she thought&#x2014;muskrats, beavers, maybe a muskie. But it didn&#39;t let up.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the middle of Island Lake near Duluth, the triathlete struggled as the animal sunk its needle-sharp teeth into her legs, feet and back, leaving 25 bite marks, some 2 inches deep.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;It just kept coming after me,&quot; said Prudhomme, 33, of Anoka. &quot;You never knew where it was going to bite next.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In between peppering her with puncture marks, the animal&#39;s head popped up a few feet away. That&#39;s when Prudhomme noticed its distinctive long tapered tail, small beady eyes and gray head. An otter. (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startribune.com/local/north/162482036.html&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Via&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I bet right now you&#39;re thinking what Alex Zielinski and I thought when we read that dispicable piece of yellow journalism: &quot;What the fuck is a muskie?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;The muskellunge (&lt;em&gt;Esox masquinongy&lt;/em&gt;), also known as muskelunge, muscallonge, milliganong, or maskinonge (and often abbreviated &quot;muskie&quot; or &quot;musky&quot;), is a species of large, relatively uncommon freshwater fish of North America. The muskellunge is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. The common name comes from the Ojibwa word &lt;em&gt;maashkinoozhe&lt;/em&gt;, meaning &quot;ugly pike.&quot; (&lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskellunge&quot;&gt;Via&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;AND NOW you&#39;re probably thinking what Alex and I thought next: OBVIOUSLY it was not really an otter that attacked the unfortunate, and sadly mistaken, Leah Prudhomme. Otters are the adorable sweethearts of the oceans and/or rivers. With this in mind, Alex and I decided the best way to counter such filthy, deplorable libel would be to let the otters speak for themselves.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/jyMIhP07vdI?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/tQ_Krei6EKw?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/ddm5bbeqHVA?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;THE DEFENSE RESTS! NO MORE QUESTIONS, YOUR HONOR! PERMISSION TO TREAT THIS WITNESS AS HOSTILE! YES THEY DESERVE TO DIE AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:59:52 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/07/13/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/6471630/dfbd/1342134583-screen_shot_2012-07-12_at_4.02.46_pm.png&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;6&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Welcome back to Otter Friday, the only thing that matters in your otherwise pathetic life! It&#39;s when Alex Zielinski and I find neat otter videos... and then show them to you so that you might feel a tiny bit less awful about your crippling loneliness!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Alex and I hope you&#39;re prepared for this week&#39;s Otter Friday, because the theme is...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LET US VOYAGE TO THE OUTER LIMITS OF IMAGINATION... &lt;em&gt;WITH OTTERS!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First... &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;An otter who has fallen to the Dark Side!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Then...&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;Adventures in Otter Space: Part 3!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finally...&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;em&gt;A terrifying vision of the bleak futurescape to come&#x2014;when craven genesplicers craft cruel experiments in decrepit aquariums! The ungodly abominations they create: hybrid horrors who sneer and spit in the face of Mother Nature! Who scheme and slaughter until they rule all of what was once known as &quot;Planet Earth&quot;! Who imprison simpering, weak-willed humans&#x2014;condemning their former masters to brutal lives of subterranean slavery!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Let us begin.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/CxUexnG6uKk?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/UrFF1QHxxiI?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/GK_aZ8UzTf8?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:14:04 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/07/06/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Welcome back to Otter Friday, the only thing of any worth whatsoever on the entire internet! Otter Friday is when Alex Zielinski and I spend &lt;em&gt;an entire week&lt;/em&gt; combing YouTube for the finest otter-related videos... and then we give them to you!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This week&#39;s Otter Friday theme is FENWAY, THE GREATEST OTTER IN THE GALAXY. All three videos star Fenway, the greatest otter in the galaxy! For real, he&#39;s the best. We researched it pretty thoroughly. I was going to be Fenway&#39;s hype man and hype him up for you guys, but he doesn&#39;t really need it. And when I asked Alex if she had anything she wanted to tell you about Fenway, she somehow squinted &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; rolled her eyes &lt;em&gt;at the same time&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;No,&quot; she said. &quot;I think Fenway speaks for himself.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/3y4dSWINnI8?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/gYzG05IKRY8?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/NB9dW7zoWjU?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:29:45 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday*!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/29/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;It&#39;s the day we&#39;ve all been waiting for all week long&#x2014;Otter Friday! Now who&#39;s ready to look at some adorable otters?! That&#39;s what I thought! Bring out the otters!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/PJnn-wMPU9w?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/X7uw5HLMuP0?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/78ghXGR_47M?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;*&lt;small&gt;PLEASE NOTE: This week&#39;s Otter Friday does not feature any otters. Instead it features jerboas. Do not panic. Our regularly scheduled, otter-centric Otter Friday will return next Otter Friday. See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:59:26 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/22/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Welcome back to Otter Friday, the best thing on the internet! It is when Alex Zielinski and I find great videos of otters... and then share them with you!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Fun fact! The Wu-Tang Clan&#39;s classic &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/27zhsc_O508&quot;&gt;Wu-Tang Clan Ain&#39;t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit&lt;/a&gt;&quot; was originally titled &quot;River Otters Ain&#39;t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit.&quot; Unfortunately, their label asked the group to change the song&#39;s title and lyrics&#x2014;a concession that, in his final interview, Ol&#39; Dirty Bastard noted was his &quot;biggest regret.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In memoriam of O.D.B., this week&#39;s Otter Friday theme is &quot;River otters ain&#39;t nuthing ta fuck wit.&quot; In the following videos, we shall see river otters teach this important lesson to a lion and a crocodile. Then we shall see river otters taking a well-earned break and enjoying the whimsical, carefree delights of river otter life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/40Kd1ka2FMA?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/qli1Hb6cNeU?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/C7HRO-ch31g?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:59:08 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/15/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Welcome back to Otter Friday, your only reason for getting out of bed this morning!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There&#39;s no way we&#39;re topping &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/08/a-very-special-otter-friday-zoo-field-trip-edition&quot;&gt;last week&#39;s expedition to see real live otters&lt;/a&gt;... but you know what?&lt;em&gt; It&#39;s almost Father&#39;s Day!&lt;/em&gt; And you know who&#39;s the &lt;em&gt;best&lt;/em&gt; father in all the animal kingdom? Simon the Asian Small-Clawed River Otter! For real! He even has an award to prove it! Simon is the greatest.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/WU2a4fjsGIM?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/76CM96b8e_Q?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/3t-xUaqY6rE?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Okay so before anybody obnoxious gets all, &quot;Whaaa, Simon wasn&#39;t even in that last video, whaaa, how do we know there were even any dad otters at &lt;em&gt;all&lt;/em&gt; in that last video, whaaa, Simon would never let his otter pups get that fat,&quot; please be aware that the last video was chosen because of&#x2014;PLOT TWIST!&#x2014;a &lt;em&gt;human&lt;/em&gt; dad! From the video&#39;s description:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;I visited the London Zoo with my father and just before closing time we came across these otters begging for food. They&#39;re my father&#39;s favorite animals, so it was a great day for him.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See? That&#39;s great! Fathers: &lt;em&gt;Whether you&#39;re an otter or a limey, ya gotta love &#39;em!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
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          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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    <pubDate>Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:44:46 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>A Very Special Otter Friday: ZOO FIELD TRIP EDITION!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/08/a-very-special-otter-friday-zoo-field-trip-edition</link>
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      <dc:creator>Alex Zielinski</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/imager/b/toc/6204433/2fb4/1339137152-photo_4.jpg&quot; width=&quot;75&quot; height=&quot;56&quot; /&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Greetings, loyal Otter Friday readers! &lt;em&gt;Mercury&lt;/em&gt; Otter Correspondents Alex and Erik here! &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/01/welcome-back-to-otter-friday&quot;&gt;We promised you last week&lt;/a&gt; that this week&#39;s post would be something of splendor. And &lt;em&gt;of course &lt;/em&gt;we didn&#39;t let you down. Did you guess what we had in store? &lt;em&gt;Doubtful&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;... &lt;em&gt;Unless&lt;/em&gt;, that is, you guessed we&#39;d be going on a special, behind-the-scenes visit to the otters at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.oregonzoo.org/&quot;&gt;Oregon Zoo&lt;/a&gt;! Because that&#39;s &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; what we did!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A few weeks back, the zoo started promoting our weekly Otter Friday post on &lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/#!/OregonZoo&quot;&gt;their Twitter feed&lt;/a&gt;. Intrigued and flattered by their flirtatious interest, we politely asked them if, perhaps, sometime, we might be able to come visit their river and sea otters. Not only did we get an invite, but we were taken on a fantastic V.I.P. tour of both the river and sea otter habitats... &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; we got to talk to friendly zookeepers! Yes. That&#39;s what &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; did on &lt;em&gt;our&lt;/em&gt; Monday afternoon. What did &lt;em&gt;you&lt;/em&gt; do on &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; Monday afternoon? A bunch of bullshit, probably. Meanwhile, our Monday (we called it &quot;Otter Monday&quot;!) was the single best day of both of our lives.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And we&#39;d like to share it with you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;center&gt;SEA OTTERS&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This was our first stop.  Jenny DeGroot, the zoo&#39;s marine life zookeeper and sea otter lead (a title that she has earned, while the rest of us shall merely strive for it our entire lives) introduced us to the zoo&#39;s two aging sea otters, Eddie and Thelma. This is Thelma:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
          &lt;p&gt;Here&#39;s what we learned out sea otters:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; They get fed six times a day&#x2014;so to keep things interesting, DeGroot sometimes puts their food inside giant empty water bottles, where they mix it in with ice and then throw it into the water. Then the otters have to figure out how to chase down the jug and extract the food from it. You might think this would be torture, but Thelma &lt;em&gt;had it dialed in&lt;/em&gt;, and knew &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; how to get her food out. She had super dextrous otter hands, BTW.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Sea otters have &lt;em&gt;a million hairs per square inch&lt;/em&gt;. Their coats are so dense that their skin &lt;em&gt;never even gets wet&lt;/em&gt;. They are also bigger and fatter than river otters... but their heads are the same size! Adorable! Sea otters, we love you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Otter birth control exists! But it also expires :(  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tells zoos not to breed their sea otters, as there are already too many orphaned baby sea otters in existence. So Thelma and Eddie were hooked up with a type of implanted birth control a while back. But then&#x2014;surprise!&#x2014;Thelma got pregnant anyway! Luckily, a Georgia zoo took in their baby, Oz. &quot;This is the zoo&#39;s way of showing that no contraceptive is foolproof!&quot; said Amy Cutting, the animal curator for the zoo&#39;s North America section.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Here&#39;s a good quote to keep on hand for future reference:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&quot;Sea otters just look silly on land.&quot; &#x2014;&lt;em&gt;Amy Cutting&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Everything happens in slow motion when you see a sea otter in real life. The first time we entered the back of the exhibit and saw Eddie blissfully floating on his back in his holding pool, adorably rubbing his face with his tiny paws, everything got &lt;em&gt;extremely real&lt;/em&gt;. And it only got better.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Speaking of Eddie: Male sea otters are very territorial. While he&#39;s mellowed out in his old age, Eddie kept his eye on us the entire time, and we were told to stay a few feet back from the chain-link fence that bordered Eddie&#39;s pool. Erik was intimidated beyond words. (This is why there are no pictures of Eddie.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; There are two different kinds of sea otters: Northern sea otters and southern sea otters. Northern sea otters, which live along the coasts of Washington and Alaska, are about 10-15 pounds heavier/fatter than southern sea otters, which live along the California coast. The Oregon coast is tragically bereft of sea otters: After having been hunted to extinction for their pelts along Oregon&#39;s coasts in 1906, Oregon&#39;s sea otter population has never permanently reestablished. Sometimes sea otters will visit Oregon, but they usually only stay a few days. Good job ruining everything, Oregonians of the late 1800s and early 1900s.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Even in captivity, sea otters are hardened sea warriors. Thelma and Eddie were both raised in captivity after being abandoned in the wild at very young age&#x2014;meaning they had little interaction with their mothers. But they still have instinctual knowledge when it comes to cracking open sea urchins on rocks and diving deep in their exhibit pools. Also, Thelma has one lung and she doesn&#39;t even care.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Sea otters swim on their backs while river otters swim on their bellies. Now you know.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Here&#39;s something kind of amazing and/or gross: Sea otters&#39; skin is about as loose on their bodies as a sweatshirt is on a human. That means &lt;em&gt;sea otters can turn 180 degrees within their skin&lt;/em&gt;. Moving on!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;center&gt;RIVER OTTERS&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Julie Christie, senior keeper of the zoo&#39;s North America exhibits, gave us an up-close look at the zoo&#39;s two young, frisky river otters&#x2014;Tilly and B.C. (&quot;B.C.&quot;, FYI, is short for &quot;Buttercup,&quot; despite the fact B.C. is a male. We did not ask the potentially sensitive question as to why a male river otter was named &quot;Buttercup.&quot;) &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here&#39;s what we learned about river otters:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; River otters destroy everything. That&#39;s why they can&#39;t have nice things. Except sometimes they get clumps of grass, which Julie gives to them to play with. They promptly destroyed said clumps of grass, dragging them into the water and then tearing them apart. River otters: THEY DESTROY EVERYTHING.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; River otters move extremely quickly. Here&#39;s how we decided to split labor for our trip to the zoo: Alex, a hardened, razor-sharp news reporter, would interview the zookeepers and take notes; Erik, a halfwit who watches movies for a living, would gawk and take pictures. Alex did a fine job with her duties, while Erik failed spectacularly at getting even a single in-focus photo of the river otters. In his defense, and again: &lt;em&gt;River otters move extremely quickly&lt;/em&gt;. And it wasn&#39;t for lack of trying: Erik took like 4,000 pictures, it&#39;s just that most of them turned out like this:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Compared to sea otters, river otters are smaller, more svelte, and &lt;em&gt;way&lt;/em&gt; more friendly with humans and with each other. They sleep at the same time and play together all day long&#x2014;and somehow don&#39;t get sick of each other! Christie said she was actually worried that Tilly and B.C. spend &lt;em&gt;too&lt;/em&gt; much time together; she&#39;s planning to separate them more and more over time, despite the threats this brings to their adorability status.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; That &quot;more svelte&quot; part? Unlike sea otters&#39; million hairs per square inch, river otters only have 60,000 hairs per square inch. That&#39;s like Robin Williams compared to Justin Bieber! If they were otters.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; And speaking of friendliness, river otters are actually encouraged to breed in captivity. And it&#39;s apparently &lt;em&gt;horrifying&lt;/em&gt; to watch. &quot;It&#39;s pretty intense. We were worried that B.C. was going to drown Tilly at some points, but she was okay with it,&quot; said Christie. The pair mated in the spring to the joy&#x2014;and terror&#x2014;of zoo visitors. &quot;Some parents told their kids that they were just playing. Others hurried them off,&quot; said Cutting. &quot;There&#39;s definitely a certain population of visitors who like that stuff, though.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022;  &quot;A certain population of visitors who like that stuff.&quot; Weird.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; On that note: Tilly MAY have adorable river otter babies in October! We will keep you updated!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; River otters are extremely playful. Goldfish, Zamboni ice shavings, makeshift otter dens, floating platforms, dumb clumps of grass&#x2014;you name it, and river otters will make it their new favorite thing. At one point Christie dumped a bucketful of live goldfish into the river otters&#39; pond, at which point Tilly and B.C. quickly, skillfully, and gracefully hunted down each and every last one, &lt;em&gt;swallowing them whole&lt;/em&gt; like &lt;em&gt;heartless goldfish slayers&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Both river otters kept coming up to say hi and they kept getting super close to us!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Tilly likes to chase her tail sometimes. She catches it! And then chews on it!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&#x2022; Okay, so Eddie and Thelma were totally great and all, and we love them, but they kind of didn&#39;t care&#x2014;like, &lt;em&gt;at all&lt;/em&gt;&#x2014;about Otter Friday. The river otters, though? They were &lt;em&gt;so excited&lt;/em&gt; they were going to be on Blogtown!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Which brings us, alas, to the end of this very special edition of Otter Friday. Big thanks to Amy Cutting, Jenny DeGroot, Julie Christie, Danielle Kulczyk, and Hova Najarian at the Oregon Zoo for having us and putting up with our dumb questions and incessant &quot;&lt;em&gt;Awwwwww&lt;/em&gt;!&quot; noises. And thanks to Thelma for being so photogenic, B.C. and Tilly for being so stoked to hang out with us, and Eddie for not attacking us even though he could smell our fear.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday! (Which, after this week, will probably be a slight disappointment. But it will still be the best thing on the internet.)&lt;/p&gt;
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    <pubDate>Fri, 08 Jun 2012 10:14:34 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/06/01/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Every Friday, Alex Zielinski and I &lt;em&gt;make your goddamn week&lt;/em&gt; with Otter Friday! You&#39;re welcome! This week&#39;s theme: baby otters learning to swim!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/V3ouzt_4q_I?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/QpTqV6LPl8c?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/x733gqMtXRI?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday... which, just as a heads up, will be a VERY SPECIAL OTTER FRIDAY. We aren&#39;t going to let the &lt;del&gt;cat&lt;/del&gt; otter out of the bag by telling you &lt;em&gt;why&lt;/em&gt; it&#39;s going to be a Very Special Otter Friday, but trust us... &lt;em&gt;it will be&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
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          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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      5
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    <pubDate>Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:44:40 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/25/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
    <guid isPermaLink="true">http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/25/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</guid>

    
    
      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Otter Friday just surpassed Google to be the biggest thing on the internet! It is a cool Blogtown series in which Alex Zielinski and I find great videos of otters and put them up here so the whole world can enjoy them. This week&#39;s theme: &lt;em&gt;Nobody puts otters in the corner.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/e1Jvrmzav3g?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/DXvDLmCfYdU?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/X-9God9za5M?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;[ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Rss.xml?id=comments&amp;amp;oid=6144785&quot;&gt;Subscribe to the comments on this story&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;
      </description>
      
        
          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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      3
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    <pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2012 12:44:08 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/18/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
    <guid isPermaLink="true">http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/18/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</guid>

    
    
      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Otter Friday has the potential to bring about world peace! It is a cool Blogtown series in which Alex Zielinski and I find neat otter videos. This week&#39;s Otter Friday theme: OTTERS... PLAYING THE PIANO?!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;410&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/D6_6qg_iUyY?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;410&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/XnYq-cAKtS8?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;[ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Rss.xml?id=comments&amp;amp;oid=6104417&quot;&gt;Subscribe to the comments on this story&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;
      </description>
      
        
          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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      http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/18/welcome-back-to-otter-friday?show=comments#readerComments
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      0
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    <pubDate>Fri, 18 May 2012 09:59:06 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/11/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
    <guid isPermaLink="true">http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/11/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</guid>

    
    
      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Otter Friday is the best thing on the internet! It is when Alex Zielinski and I find cool otter videos and share them with you! This week&#39;s theme: OTTERS OF THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;410&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/EqVWoGrj2M4?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/aetcPgwlOl0?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/fePUhmFJXBc?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;[ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Rss.xml?id=comments&amp;amp;oid=6070826&quot;&gt;Subscribe to the comments on this story&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;
      </description>
      
        
          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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      5
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    <pubDate>Fri, 11 May 2012 10:59:56 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/04/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
    <guid isPermaLink="true">http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/05/04/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</guid>

    
    
      <dc:creator>Alex Zielinski</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Have no fear, faithful Otter Friday fans, I&#39;ve taken over the post while Erik is away. This week&#39;s theme is talented otters!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also, thanks to the folks at the Oregon Zoo for giving Otter Friday a&lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/#!/OregonZoo/status/198469461265747968&quot;&gt; tweet shout-out!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;369&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/ulnaEvuU_To&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;284&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/p2cQUGiv7qs&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;369&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/3AKDiEdSPbE&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;[ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Rss.xml?id=comments&amp;amp;oid=6043579&quot;&gt;Subscribe to the comments on this story&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;
      </description>
      
        
          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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      2
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    <pubDate>Fri, 04 May 2012 11:59:26 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/04/27/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
    <guid isPermaLink="true">http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/04/27/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</guid>

    
    
      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Otter Friday is a cool Blogtown series where I post videos of otters!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Alex Zielinski likes otters too, she helps!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here are the otter videos we like this week! They are snow-related! Winter is coming, otters!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;410&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/mF6ijhSrbBQ?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/kFgE2PDCIZY?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/51UQghBtLuM?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;[ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Rss.xml?id=comments&amp;amp;oid=6009346&quot;&gt;Subscribe to the comments on this story&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;
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          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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      8
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    <pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:57:22 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
  </item>
      
        <item>
    <title>Welcome Back to Otter Friday!</title>
    <link>http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2012/04/20/welcome-back-to-otter-friday</link>
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      <dc:creator>Erik Henriksen</dc:creator>
    

    
      <description>
        
        
        &lt;p&gt;Otter Friday is a cool Blogtown series where I post videos of otters!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Alex Zielinski found some of these otter videos! She thinks otters are neat too!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;410&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/da1tRDhXG0g?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/1NQqOiGTUWw?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;560&quot; height=&quot;410&quot; src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/qJjeG4ZFn6E?rel=0&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;See you next Otter Friday!&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;[ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Rss.xml?id=comments&amp;amp;oid=5959903&quot;&gt;Subscribe to the comments on this story&lt;/a&gt; ]&lt;/p&gt;
      </description>
      
        
          <category>Otters!</category>
        
      
    
    

    
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      6
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    <pubDate>Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:14:39 -0700</pubDate>
    <source url="http://www.portlandmercury.com">Portland Mercury</source>
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