Otters holding hands

After New Year's Eve had been recovered from (a process that involved pancakes and lots of Super Mario Bros) we headed to the famous Kaiyukan Aquarium (still in Osaka), whose star attractions are two giant whale sharks, who glided slowly around the main tank accompanied by schools of fish groupies (pictured)...


And a selection of otters, both sea and river varieties.


What's the difference, I hear you ask? Well, aside from the obvious habitat disparities, the sea otters are about three times the size of the river guys. Here's a helpful chart, including the rare species Lutra Mirabela.


The aquarium also had these semi-aquatic rodents called capybaras, the largest rodent in the world. Japan is obsessed with them and they draw a crowd. Remember this post from way back last September? The fat, brown, squishy thing I won was a capybara! Kawaii!