Dyadic Interspecific Interaction Between a Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) and a Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra)

This paper documents an opportunistic observation of a dyadic interaction between a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) and a Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) within the southern remit of Aith Voe, Shetland, Scotland, United Kingdom, on 2 April 2022. The interaction occurred both on and within ~10 m of Aith Pier, a man-made public pier consisting mainly of rock armour (i.e., human-placed rock to protect shoreline structures), which juts northeast into the sheltered waters of Aith Voe (Figure 1). During the described encounter, the tide was rising (Low: 0615 h, 0.38 m; High: 1234 h, 2.18 m), and there was light southwesterly wind (4.5 km/h; Beaufort State 1). The interaction was recorded by an unmanned aerial system (UAS) (Mavic3, DJI Fly, Firmware, Version 1.5.10), which was launched at 0746 h from Aith Pier (60.286496, -1.3751324). The UAS collected 3 min 18 s of aerial video footage (the Supplementary Video for this paper is available in the “Supplemental Material” section of the Aquatic Mammals website: https://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=147).