100 free Otter Trivia for Kids trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This otter trivia for kids quiz is written for children aged about 7 to 12 and for the parents and teachers reading it out. It covers the things kids most want to know: why sea otters float on their backs, how they crack open shellfish with a rock, why they wrap themselves in seaweed, what a baby otter is called, where the biggest and smallest otters live, and why river otters love sliding down muddy banks. There are also questions about the storybook and TV otters: Tarka, Emmet Otter and the otters of Ring of Bright Water. Every question can be answered by a curious child who likes animals, and each answer comes with a short fun fact so nobody leaves empty-handed. There is nothing frightening in here. It suits a classroom nature lesson, an aquarium trip, a rainy afternoon or a car ride. All the answers were checked against Wikipedia and wildlife references, so grown-ups can read them out with confidence. All 100 questions are free with no sign-up. Older animal fans can move on to our main Otters trivia page or the Sea Otter quiz.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Otters belong to the same animal family as which of these?
Weasels and badgers
The family is called Mustelidae. It also includes minks, martens and the wolverine.
Q 02What is special about an otter's feet that helps it swim?
They are webbed
Otters also have long, slim bodies and thick fur that traps air, which keeps them warm and helps them float.
Q 03What is a baby otter called?
A pup
The whole family helps look after it: mum, dad and the older brothers and sisters.
Q 04How old is a baby otter when it first learns to swim?
About two months
It leaves the den for the first time at about one month, and stays with its family for around a year.
Q 05An otter's home, dug under tree roots or rocks, is called what?
A holt
A lodge is a beaver's home and a sett is a badger's. Otter holts are often tucked under the roots of riverside trees.
Q 06What do most otters eat more than anything else?
Fish
They also snack on frogs, crayfish and crabs. In chilly water an otter needs to catch about 100 grams of fish every hour just to stay warm.
Q 07Otters love to play. Which of these do they really do for fun?
Slide down mud into the water
They also like to find small stones and play with them. Scientists think they do it just for enjoyment.
Q 08Roughly how long can an otter live?
Up to 16 years
River otters in zoos can live even longer, into their twenties.
Q 09Which kind of otter has the thickest fur of any animal in the world?
Sea
Up to 150,000 hairs fit in one square centimetre. Sea otters have no blubber, so the fur is what keeps them warm.
Q 10Sea otters are one of the few mammals that use tools. What tool do they use?
A rock
They bang clams and shellfish against a rock balanced on their chest to crack them open.
Q 11Where does a sea otter keep its favourite rock and the food it collects?
In a pouch of skin under its arm
The loose pouch stretches across its chest, and most sea otters prefer to use the left one.
Q 12How does a resting sea otter avoid drifting out to sea?
It wraps up in kelp
Kelp is a huge seaweed that grows in underwater forests. Mothers wrap their pups in it too, like a seatbelt.
Q 13How does a sea otter eat its dinner?
Floating on its back
Q 21Sea otters were once hunted for their fur until only 1,000 to 2,000 were left. When did the hunting stop?
1911
There had been 150,000 to 300,000 of them across the North Pacific. They have been slowly recovering ever since.
Q 22A famous video of two sea otters holding paws was filmed in which city's aquarium?
Vancouver
It was YouTube's most popular animal video for a while and has been watched more than 22 million times.
Q 23Which ocean do sea otters live in?
The Pacific
They live along the coasts of North America and eastern Asia, mostly in sheltered spots with kelp forests.
It uses its front paws like hands to tear food apart and pop it into its mouth while lying on the water.
Q 14Sea otters love eating sea urchins. Why is that good for the underwater forests they live in?
Otherwise those spiky grazers would gobble up all the kelp
Because otters keep the urchins in check, scientists call them a keystone species: take them away and the whole kelp forest can collapse.
Q 15Eating lots of spiny shellfish can turn a sea otter's teeth and bones what colour?
Purple
The otter bites through the underside of the urchin, where the spines are shortest, and licks out the inside.
Q 16A sea otter has to eat a huge amount every day. About how much?
A quarter to a third of its own body weight
That is like a child eating around 60 hamburgers a day. It needs the energy to stay warm in cold seas.
Q 17Why can't a newborn sea otter pup dive underwater?
Its fluffy fur holds so much air it floats like a cork
Mum licks and fluffs the pup's fur for hours after it is born. It grows a grown-up coat later.
Q 18What does a sea otter pup sound like when it cries for its mother?
A seagull
Mum leaves the pup floating on the surface while she dives for food, and it cries loudly until she comes back.
Q 19A group of sea otters resting together on the water is called what?
A raft
They float together in the same-sex groups, males with males and females with females, but each otter dives for its own food.
Q 20Sea otters are the heaviest members of the weasel family. Compared with other sea mammals they are…
Some of the smallest
A big male weighs about as much as a 12-year-old child, up to 45 kilograms.
Q 24How long can a sea otter hold its breath at most?
About five minutes
Most of its dives are only about a minute long. It hunts on the seabed for clams, crabs and urchins.
Q 25Sea otters are the only sea animal that can do what with rocks?
Lift them and turn them over
They flip rocks with their front paws to find crabs and other food hiding underneath.
Q 26Which kind of otter is the longest, growing up to 1.8 metres, about as long as a tall man?
Giant
It lives in South America's rivers and is the noisiest otter, with special calls for danger, anger and comfort. The sea otter is heavier but shorter.
Q 27Along which great river do most of these extra-long South American otters live?
The Amazon
In Spanish they are sometimes called 'river wolves', and in Brazil 'water jaguars'. Families of three to eight live together.
Q 28Which kind is the tiniest, weighing no more than a pet cat?
Asian small-clawed
It weighs at most 3.5 kilograms and its paws are almost like little hands. It lives in pairs or family groups of up to 12.
Q 29North American river otters use their long whiskers for what?
Feeling for fish in dark water
They also have a see-through extra eyelid that works like swimming goggles.
Q 30What protects a river otter's eyes when it swims underwater?
A see-through inner eyelid
It is called a nictitating membrane. Because their eyes are made for seeing underwater, otters are short-sighted on land.