Spotted-necked Otter (8) vs. Tayra (9)

Sleek & slender, the Spotted-necked Otter (Hydrictis maculicollis, previously Lutra) has brown and white splotching on their throat and upper chest, with the rest of their coat various browns from reddish to chocolate. About the size of a medium-small dog, the Tayra (Eira barbara) is a long-legged, long-necked weasel with a robust head and bushy tail. Tayra has a brown body, with a lighter color on its head, and a diamond-shaped patch on its throat.

In KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Spotted-necked Otter naps, curled into an adorable ball, resting peacefully in a hole between two large tree roots at the base of a tree alongside the river home of his social group. Otter's grumbly tumbly awakens him for another round of fishing. Otter emerges from the hole, spin-twist-stretching. At the base of the tree, Otter rolls onto his back, in the dappled sunshine below the branched tree canopy, reaching his toes above him, splaying out his fully webbed feet, tipped with sharp, half-inch claws. 

Meanwhile, in Brazil, Tayra, most active in daytime, prowls the forest canopy for fruit and prey in Lauraceas State Park in this Atlantic forest biodiversity hotspot. Tayra will readily attack vulnerable sloths or monkeys to slake his hunger.  A twig snaps on the forest floor beneath the hoof of a young, grey brocket deer directly below Tayra's branch on the tree. Tayra stealthily positions to ambush attack the brocket deer... and DROPS... right through the #MMMagic transportal...TAYRA LANDS DIRECTLY ONTO SPOTTED-NECKED OTTER!

BOTH MUSTELIDS ARE NOW UNINTENTIONALLY IN A DEADLY BATTLE, AS OTTER AND TAYRA IMMEDIATELY ATTACK THE OTHER!! Normally such near-evenly matched mustelids would avoid a battle- too much risk of serious injury! Indeed, otters are adapted to avoid competition by fishing waterways not typically used by other mustelids in their environments.

Spotted-necked Otter has an extra 3lbs in body weight and 2 inches in body length on the Tayra! Spotted-necked Otter bites down on Tayra's shoulder, thickly muscled from climbing trees. Tayra bites down on Spotted-necked Otter's shoulder, strong from holding down big fish for flesh-ripping bite-eating! 

LOCKED IN, TOOTH AND CLAW, TORSO-TWISTING OTTER ROLLS WITH TAYRA INTO THE RIVER! TAYRA SLAPS OUT WITH ONLY PARTIALLY WEBBED TOES SO MUCH BETTER ADAPTED TO LAND & TREE! Panicked, Tayra's relatively long legs reach, reach, reach, slipping in the silty, slippery mud at river's edge!

Underwater, Otter bites Tayra's back feet! TAYRA'S FRONT LEGS CONNECT WITH A TREE ROOT OF THE TANGLED BANK and TAYRA HAULS OUT OF THE WATER!!! TAYRA flees into the forest, far from his mustelid foe so well-adapted for an aquatic encounter. SPOTTED-NECKED OTTER DEFEATS TAYRA!