[MR] otter/sea otter (fwd)

[Craig Levin]

Sveva:

<snip>

> I know nothing about their heraldic images, but they were known in
> Russia, so they are not only a New World creature. The Russians called
> them sea beavers (bobri morski), and they were also confused with seals
> by some cultures, so maybe some other information could be found under
> their alternate names.

The Age of Discovery is something of a specialty of mine, and so
I did a little digging around. It would appear that the
exploration of Asiatic Russia was one of the last phases of the
Age of Discovery, sometime in the mid-1600's. Also, according to
that Alaskan website, the first skins sent to Europe were shipped
out in the 1700's, which makes things even less likely.

This isn't to say that sea otters aren't nifty beasties, but just
that I think one would have a hard time justifying their use in
period-style heraldry. "Regular" otters would be just dandy
charges, and I'd be happy to help with the paperwork.

Pedro