Gettmann's Education Approach to Otters - Nemo & His Relatives Part IV

Dr. Wolfgang Gettmann’s educational approach: 

Natural Science as part of Humanities helps change human relation to otters

Respectfully submitted and written by Béatrice Dumiche

The quest for a reasonable agreement between man and nature based on the Enlightenment’s tolerant philosophy became more obvious in the section dedicated to Germany, which could be considered Gettmann’s personal contribution to what appeared to be a clever rethinking of the Natural History Museums’ encyclopaedic mission: it was founded on the conviction that the role of natural sciences must be revised through multidisciplinary exchanges which will help them relativize their pretension to be the ruling discipline in explaining the world wholly and definitively. They must remain open to criticism, which means that they must become more accessible and revise their pretension of superior objectivity making it difficult to question their definition openly, especially if it is supported by a hermetic language. This exhibition was clearly in favor of a conception of natural sciences that encourages generating a wider common interest while continuing to refer back to the philosophical dialogue of their origins. After more than a century of positivism, it could be supposed that the human representatives for nature have gained enough maturity to recognize their own responsibility in the arrogance and carelessness which led to the misconception of progress as exclusively being the development of industry and technology, provoking the waste of natural resources and pollution.

The exhibits documented that under the threat of increasing ecological damages, the limited status otters had been given had to be questioned. Social awareness was gradually increased and a focus was placed more and more on the importance of the resolution of environmental conflicts. So, as sustainability was revealed as being vital for the generations ahead, there was an evolution from the service of short-term anthropocentric interests to the defense of nature and wildlife through education. It appeared that they became involved by mediating missions where they advocated the needs of nature, not from an authoritarian position, but instead by using the knowledge at their disposal to create sympathy and understanding while awakening curiosity for its otherness and how it works.  Stories narrating personal experiences and symbolic items associated with them became more important than scientific discourses arguing on the behalf of an abstract objectivity which could be difficult to relate to concrete situations. The otter exhibition itself is an example of this shift in viewpoint, as it would not exist if this major change had not taken place. It is an illustration of the new scientific spirit in which research cannot be separated from communication as knowledge only makes sense when it is shared and has an effect on life in its indefinitely particular forms. Beyond sharing the necessary facts, which provided important knowledge and context, the exhibits evoking otters created a spontaneous attraction which complemented the fascination generated by the educative objects like skeletons which inspired physical respect for the living animal and its power.

Gettmann’s originality was to present the exhibits through a multidisciplinary approach for which no orthodox justification existed. It risked being disregard as ‘only’ a conglomerate of otter related items, but in fact, it was an effort to break the concept of scientific ruling by classification and discrimination and reintroduce pleasure and associative creativity. His exhibition thus represented an innovation based on a critical reflection of the past, revealing the necessity of consciously restoring the primitive affinities between men and animals which arts have historically featured more than sciences. In creating a common history based on shared experiences and emotions, even if hatred and fear, they were returning to the origin of a relationship previously deconstructed by pretended scientific objectivity. Gettmann stressed the internal epistemological revolution natural sciences have gone through, mostly unnoticed, which changed their attitude towards predators. However, this attitude shift has not been heavily documented and even now it is often difficult to find social acceptance. So, while advocating in this way in favor of otters, he also supports an active epistemology with an awareness that scientific knowledge must be reintroduced into life. Visitors were relied upon to adjust and take in the information. As there were no simple explanations or solutions offered, everybody experienced the complexity of the situation. He allowed the visitor to discover for himself that there are plenty of ways to get to know about otters and that each species and individual otter gives different access to themselves because they are living creatures, just as we are. He risked criticism by adding perspective to the scientific exhibits and perhaps noticed that their presentation required a great subtlety. These formed the framework, and to be efficiently understood had to be integrated into a much larger and long established socio-cultural and historical context with an unpredictable subconscious impact. Gettmann was aware of this challenge from the moment he conceived his presentation, which underlined that natural sciences must integrate these heteroclite elements if their discourse will have a chance to be admitted by the elites not only philosophically, but to penetrate mentalities and habits it had not originally meant to reach.

So, his approach referred to history in order to show how otters became the victims of economic interests after being persecuted due to superstitions and religious prejudices. Visitors were informed of the tremendous benefits fishermen, and poachers could make from selling even just one otter pelt at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The increasing importance of money, which took over in a rural environment where ancient superstitions reinforced by clerical practices held strong throughout the centuries, was stressed. This was illustrated through one of the most curious documents, a text from a 1920 journal called Kosmos (2/p. 49), warning against otters transmitting pocks. From our present perspective, where scientific knowledge of biology is better established, this is a striking example of complete nonsense. It demonstrates that no serious knowledge can emerge as long as the characteristics of an animal are mystified by fear and imagination, states which work only by association without any discernment for objective causalities. It reveals that human reasoning is extremely vulnerable in the relationship with predators if they are perceived as the personal incarnations of uncontrollable and changing threats if not of the Evil itself.

Through pictures and texts, Gettmann displayed with some humor the contradictions of the associations the otter has been afflicted with and which mingle all kinds of dubious beliefs to justify its eradication while he underlined how they worked together with religious convictions to delay the foundation of secure knowledge based on observation and anatomic studies. The reproduction of one of the elbow rests of the Knights seats found within the Thistle Chapel of Saint Giles Cathedral of Edinburgh is a very good example of the ambiguous historical imagery of the animal. It shows an otter eating a pair of fish and the style of its depiction could be easily associated with other mythical creatures of the Middle Ages, like dragons, despite the rather realistic carving of the fish. This reveals how mysterious the otter seemed in these times, lacking in reliable biological information as it was a mammal living in the water. Due to this misunderstanding, its status from a religious perspective remained rather unclear. It was at one point allowed by the Catholic Church to be consumed as a Lenten dish as they considered it a fish, and it was eventually related to penitence. There are a series of cookbooks from the 17th and 18th centuries providing otter recipes which sometimes describe its perceived repulsive ugliness. For example one of them begins with the piece of advice, ‘First cut off the head because it is hideous’. This used prejudices based on a subjective canon of beauty to justify its consumption as an act of contrition. The humoristic point of this very striking part of the exhibition was that it also highlighted that scientific research needed to enter this strange world which seemed to be that of an obscurantism radically opposite to its own spirit with the risk of being caught up in its weirdness. An ‘otter dinner’ organized by scientists for a meeting of their society at the end of the 19th century to discover its taste reveals that ‘experiences’ might sometimes be really adventurous and off the beaten track.

Through the above examples, Gettmann created lasting impressions dwelling on the weirdness both of these opposite points of view represented in our current state of knowledge, especially in regard to what we consider ‘scientific’. He demonstrated the ways in which science itself has evolved from irrationality and through inevitable errors and positivistic excesses as it is based on facts needing to be taught, interpreted, and related to each other. He underlined that until recent questioning and criticisms by scientists themselves of the sciences’ quests for objectivity the practice was to deny that processes and conclusions were unconsciously influenced by long-held beliefs and by reliance on particular instruments and methods as they strived for absolute truth, the goal inherited from their ambition to replace the religious dogma. His collection illustrated very efficiently how long it took before the general knowledge about otters broke from superstition and concentrated on the animal itself rather than legend. It was found that the only obstacle to developing an unprejudiced viewpoint was observation, which had been lacking. It also became clear that this evolution could not have taken place if the changes in the self-definition of natural sciences had not been relayed by the better and more democratic school education developed in the second half of the 20th century, particularly after World War II when larger numbers of the population attended secondary schools.

Thus, the well-selected exhibits documented the increasing role natural sciences played in the arising of an awareness and appreciation of global environmental concerns, including the coexistence with wildlife, at last, giving otters a chance for survival. It was shown that they were correlated with an interactive pedagogy aiming to develop critical observation through practical studies which did not continue in the practice of avoiding direct contact with the animal, and which encouraged the continued involvement of the arts. Gettmann discreetly reminded visitors that drawings have been the principal way to dispatch physiological information about animals since the Renaissance and continued to play a pivotal role in school education for a very long time as technology only became preponderant in classrooms during the last twenty years. So, the most significant item for the display of this evolution was a printed panel from the 1960’s, which highlighted that natural sciences have been taught at a larger scale and have been a part of common education while it also suggests that their perspective has become more dynamic. As in traditional drawings presenting the animal’s anatomy, the local European otter was depicted on the panel objectively to draw attention to the species’ major characteristics to facilitate its identification and classification according to biologic criteria. At the same time, details of the landscape in which it lives reveal an attempt to define it not only by its physiology but also through the way it adapts to its surroundings. This signifies the emerging interests in ecologic belongings such as habitat conservation, which oriented natural sciences in a more global societal direction.

Gettmann showed that this capital mental change also transformed the function of some of the typical artifacts associated with the animal. Taxidermy otters are no longer hunting trophies, though they are still very useful as an aid in teaching the principal physical characteristics of the animal as a tool in exploring concretely what it looks like ‘for real’. The visitor could form his own opinion as some very expressive and representative examples of the otter species were featured of which he may have had no opportunity to get a three-dimensional view before. Together with the skeletons and the skulls exhibited, these punctuated the show with reference points while the information from the IOSF map gave an overview of their repartition worldwide and helped to situate them geographically.

Concrete material was offered for optical comparisons and to highlight that natural studies cannot do without these accessories, the use of which is too often criticized as they are falsely related to animal cruelty as if they were still coming from hunting or even killed for this purpose. In this way, a nice side effect of the exhibition was that it discredited a number of modern prejudices, which could do a lot of good. It reminded visitors that critique needs to be grounded by facts first and not be allowed to be abused by impressions and conjectures. The skulls of Eurasian, Asian-Short-Clawed-Otters and sea otters help figure out some aspects of their ancestry while the whole skeletons gave a realistic idea of their different sizes. The most spectacular among those exhibited was that of a giant otter as it shaped the silhouette of the largest species, which can reach two meters. It highlighted once more the efficiency of Gettmann’s choice to combine the scientific approach of his exhibition with a scenography based on some major items appealing to the visitors’ senses and captivating the imagination. They were very attractive to children, whose curiosity they excited as they became aware of how rich the subject was. They were incited to set their own priorities of what they would like to know more about: all the documentation they could find in the exhibition was an exhortation to gather their own!

Otter News would like to sincerely thank Clare Laughran for her editing of the review.

Nemo and His Relatives Now and in the Past - Review Part III

Otters in Europe: From Hunting Trophies to 

Beloved Representatives of Local Fauna

The British model

Respectfully submitted and written by Béatrice Dumiche

The exhibition was built using Gettmann’s personal collection and expanded with items from artists, art collectors, and science museums, and the primary concept was the traditions that have shaped the relationship between men and otters within Europe. There was a focus on the mental shift towards acceptance necessary in the now mostly urban and industrial society to guarantee a durable success of renaturation measures and the laws supporting them. The foundation of the exhibit was the historical perspective of the superstitions in the Middle Ages, relayed for a long time by the sciences, continuously projecting human psychology onto the animals’ behavior. Through occasionally shocking or grotesque examples, it showed that the educational work and the experimental know-how which led to the come back of the otter come back were mostly due to great personalities who cared for the animal and stood up against general opinion to plead its cause.

One showcase featured the private organizations that began the revival of the Eurasian otter in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France in the late 1970s. It highlighted the leadership of the British initiatives, particularly the determining role of Philip Wayre and his tame Asian Short Clawed Otter, Mouse. Wayre was the founder of the Otter Trust, which aimed to reintroduce the otter to Great Britain. He was able to dissolve the organization during his lifetime as he considered his goal definitively achieved. The UK Wild Otter Trust and above all the International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF), which finance otter protection projects worldwide, play important roles at different levels. The former documents otters’ presence locally and intervenes into issues originated by or attributed to them. The latter provides a wide range of information in a blog discussing new scientific and statistical facts on various topics, for example, rescue and reintroduction into the wild. The IOSF appears in this way to be essential for the transmission of a precious know-how to those who are in direct contact with otters and who are offering technical support to specialists worldwide while also offering educative tours and services.

With these examples, Gettmann stressed that the current levels of fundraising and education will not be sufficient for the conservation of otters without the addition of corporate engagement to the efforts. His collection made it clear that the attributes of contemporary fan culture are necessary to bring awareness, though most of the organizations try to preserve a certain standard and sell quality artifacts. The charitable organizations are conscious that their efforts would not have the same impact if they could not count on the open support of a community standing for their cause. All of the items sold by the UK Wild Otter Trust or the IOSF with their logo can be seen as statements both raising awareness and creating bonds between all who love otters. The range of items seems infinite and the exhibition presented some surprises, for example, chocolate otters, though cuddly stuffed toys appeared the principal way to win the children’s affections.

The most significant and effective practice for raising awareness was initiated by the Otter Trust, which created special souvenirs, for example, Chinese thimbles featuring otters. These keepsakes serve as a reminder that craftsmanship and memorabilia should, and does, go beyond hunting trophies. The IOSF keeps this tradition and has expanded it through cooperation with artisans like Sarah Kelly, who creates hand-stitched felted otters and otter broaches; painter Vivien Walters; and the sculptor, Laurence Broderick. The exhibit did not feature work from all of these artists as Gettmann focused more on the popularization effort from the original IOSF fundraising strategies. This included one of their adoption packs, which combined quality information with collectible figurines. Books published by the IOSF, for example, the recent Paul and Grace Yoxon’s Otters of the World, were also available. Through this, he underlined the important role the IOSF has in the dissemination of published information about otters. Further, Daniel Allen’s Otter was there as a reminder of this specific plurality the IOSF strives to guarantee while selecting books to keep their followers informed about the latest evolutions in knowledge about the species. They seemed to have immediately recognized the success of this approach when examining the relationship between the British public and otters from a socio-historical point of view, a real change in the present mentalities was revealed. It signified that otters were no longer considered enemies that must be eradicated. On the contrary, they were included in a larger study of how animals have been treated in Great Britain and what this analysis would reveal about the nation’s self-understanding. The result was that the public definitively appeared bonded with the otter as an eminent predator that now has a symbolic value.  

Gettmann did not hide his support for the British model that encourages one to consciously turn existing feelings, developed through literature, into an argument for the otters’ conservation. He showed that despite the adversity they had to face as predators, the stunning resistance they opposed to their human challengers had made them great literary characters representing the mythical power of nature and deserving individual respect. For this reason, he dedicated a special place within the exhibit to the famous British novels, Tarka the Otter and The Ring of Bright Water, which have become bestsellers and have been featured in popular movies, creating much love for their animal stars. Exhibiting many pieces of evidence of their success, he emphasized how these works, which reveal the otters’ intelligence and cuteness when they are left alone in their environment or when they interact with humans and tie deep affective bonds with them, have been a decisive factor in the changing of their image. There is no doubt that these masterpieces helped Great Britain advance in the protection and the reintroduction of otters, as the tragic destiny of their title heroes was an appeal to stop cruelty towards their real wild fellows. The exhibition did not downplay the cruelty that existed in the hunting of otters, it displayed an original trap and different etchings and drawings illustrating the brutality of otter hounds, a species bred especially for the purpose of hunting. This further highlighted the effect that the literary epics had, ensuring that no one who read them or watched the movies could be indifferent towards otters, creating a real will to find a way to cohabit with them as they appeared a part of the national heritage and moreover important to local nature’s prosperity.

The exhibition showed that romanticizing wildlife does not necessarily work against factual information, as it creates interest and leads to the questioning of human behavior in relation to the animals while also suggesting that individual courage and unconventional thinking are indispensable in fighting the prejudices too often present due to the lack of experience and knowledge. One could even say that, with the examples from Britain, in particular, Gavin Maxwell, Gettmann argued in favor of new adventures; those that challenge people less for sporting performance than for the awareness the exploration of nature brings as it challenges the presumed almightiness of mankind. While highlighting the Scottish adventurer’s role in the transformation of the otters’ image, he gave the impression that there is a dimension in the defense of predators that the traditional fundraising by charities cannot reach; the thrill of feeling at one with wildlife and discovering it through close observation and experience.

Through the above-listed mechanisms, the visitor was brought to realize that a focal difference between hunting and tracking wild otters to study their antics is the pleasure of getting in touch with them and enriching life with a new form of coexistence brought by mutual respect between wildlife and human which leads to learning from each other. He clearly stood for the discovery of the enchantment of nature, not only through the spectacular adventures that remain the privilege of exceptional explorers. He advocated for the awakening of early interest in nature from the very beginnings of childhood as it favors the curiosity and the attention that are the seeds of human intelligence as it is originally related to our survival instinct by adaptation.  That is why the secret fascination of his exhibition was that it was organized according to this knowledge transmitted by life sciences:  it appealed to each visitor to follow his own attractions to build a personal itinerary from the items or themes he found interesting and felt drawn to learn more about. It was a solicitation to further one’s own exploration of the otters’ way of life and how it has influenced people’s perception throughout history, generating the joy in discovering a rich world where intellectual information coexists with imagination. So, it was an otter exhibition relying on that which men and otters have in common: the lifelong playfulness that enables them to transform and adapt just for the pleasure of satisfying their never-ending curiosity.

The German Otter-Zentrum  

It is not surprising that, in the large section dedicated to Germany, Gettmann illustrated the ways in which the British model has influenced the conservation initiatives in his own country and convinced him that advocacy in favor of otters requires more than factual education. It requires real and fictitious ‘heroes’ to originate identification, acceptance, and maybe even love for an animal which had virtually disappeared or at least was almost invisible. That is why he focused on the necessity of creating the institutional conditions to support the otter’s come back, while at the same time suggesting that this will not be enough. He indicated that his personal collection of artwork and crafts, collected over many years, reflected his attempt to accompany this effort from the beginning as he had been searching for the tracks of a tradition which, as in Britain, could help remind people that the otter has always been active in their culture.

Thus, part of his presentation was focussed on the fundamental role of the Otter-Zentrum in Hankensbüttel which was initiated by Claus Reuther in 1979 as the major achievement of the non-profit association “Aktion Fischotterschutz e. V.” and which opened in 1988. Different documents cast light on the specificity of this institution which allies education and research and tries to solve practical cohabitation problems between otters and men in order to discourage illegal hunting under the pretext of the damage they still cause. Since its foundation the educative work of the Centre has been based on a biological approach, taking into account the whole mustelid family in order to change their image as a whole.

The aim of the Centre was to highlight that studying the animals’ behavior scientifically would provide reasonable working solutions against complaints of nuisance. The hope was to convince people not to resort to traditional removal methods which not only were often cruel, but which were likely to be far less efficient as they were motivated by the spirit of revenge and anger, not by practical thinking. The idea was that the demonization of their behavior encouraged people’s will to eradicate them and cut off the possibility for dialogue encouraging the realization that these predators have their own place in the eco-system, unbalanced by human activity. Proposing simple solutions based on scientific research and information to avoid conflict, the Centre appeared to play an important activist role in the protection of animals not yet endangered but that have been considered nuisances and therefore were on the path to endangerment. Thanks to this they acquired notoriety beyond their regional borders.

The Centre’s most important educational project has been a large park dedicated to otters, its creation mostly due to their protection at the European level thanks to the Bern Convention. They are exhibited with most of their parented species, for example, martens, polecats, and even stoats. This is an attempt to transform their image by displaying a deeper and more lasting perspective, showing them as an example of the failure of a wildlife policy that took into account only human interests and used nuisance as a valid argument against a species. Otter hounds are even shown at the exhibit, to spread the awareness that a dog breed was reared specifically to hunt otters, so particularly fierce had they been considered. This casts light upon the characteristics of a species leading to the development of unilateral activities due to what, at these times and in this cultural context, was the most suitable. At the same time, the visitor is invited to realize how priorities have changed and how conservation became essential as sciences uncovered that the otters’ preservation was more useful, even to human agriculture and fishery than their elimination.

Guided tours with feedings explain the antics of each mustelid in its natural environment and the possible issues they face in a modern society, which restrains their habitat. In this way, the Centre tries to raise awareness for the necessity of creating adapted living conditions both in the wild and under human care to preserve spaces where otters and similarly endangered species can return to a normal life and thrive again. For that reason, in a non-public area behind the scenes, some otters are kept for breeding and the Otter-Zentrum lends animals to other facilities to help to spread knowledge while setting new standards to ameliorate its conservation ex-situ. For the same purpose, they publish a journal, the Otterpost, providing information to their donors and others with interest in their comprehensive conservation activities consisting of zoological and applied research.

Gettmann’s exhibit allowed one to get the whole picture of the subjects the Centre tackles: it was not only the brochures edited to give advice to people bothered by otter raids. A small part of the fence, designed and patented by the zoologist of the Otter-Zentrum, Dr. Hans-Heinrich Krüger, and his team, was also presented along with its technical description. The juxtaposition of text documents and a variety of tangible items helped promote the understanding that it is up to men to organize coexistence with wildlife and that it must be considered not according to man’s exclusive profit, but as part of a wider eco-system into which all activities and species have a place. It underlined the deep change in mentalities scientific research has generated in our relation to nature as the knowledge we acquired about predators made us interpret their behavior differently, without anthropomorphic judgments. It became clear that the predation the otter is accused of can no longer be condemned as irrational lust for destruction innate to wild beasts making them appear dangerous, if not evil, to their detractors. Their behavior can be explained by science, which uncovers that they are part of biological evolution that can be influenced to a certain extent, as our own, by our way of life. Thus, the Otter-Zentrum demonstrated that the progress in natural sciences and their larger social recognition were determining for improved wildlife conservation from which otters gained practical benefit thanks to the restoration of their habitat, and also benefitted from an improved image as men were obliged to re-think former negative convictions presented as irrefutable truth for centuries.

The German example, with its stronger focus on research and tightly structured education, put this aspect into the foreground according to the intellectual traditions of the country oriented towards applied sciences. This appears to be its specific contribution to the reviving interest in otters in Western Europe from the 1980’s. It leaves no doubt that superstitions must be fought by direct contact and concrete learning and that it would be vain to try to create effective bonds between men and otters without a solid foundation of knowledge and research from the experimental sciences. It demonstrates that the success of the western economic and social model is reminiscent of the Enlightenment and the personal responsibility linked with scientific progress that was esteemed during the period. The postulation that conservation efforts cannot be separated from self-reflection applies more than ever to our relationship with nature as it cannot be misused to justify the unilateral exploitation of its resources. The demands of the 20th century have gone against these fundamental maxims erected to limit science to serve a civilisation based on human intelligence and welfare, and it can be considered an honour to German post-World War II institutions that they have been able to return to the sciences and find their own way while playing a fundamental role in awakening an awareness of the challenges facing ecology. Moreover, the example of the Otter-Zentrum shed a light on the way in which the German postwar society has been able to overcome conflicts when common interests are at stake. The initiative was started by hunting guards and is still managed by them. Their concept is simply based on the practical idea that wildlife conservation cannot be a success if it does not include all interested participants in a constructive dialogue allying education and the search for solutions respecting the ancient human activities of a fishery and the hunting of game in the same way that the wildlife must be respected.  So, while they were conscious of the necessary evolution of their own role, they created the public acceptance for it, using their competencies to advocate for ecological assets, as they are necessary for the common survival of men and the nature they feed on.

Otter News would like to thank Clare Laughran for her editing of the review.

Advocating for otter conservation: a global project with local realizations - Review Part II

The Otter is a Cunning and Evil Beast - Review
Nemo and his relatives now and in the past

Respectfully submitted to Otter News and written by Béatrice Dumiche

Photo courtesy Wolfgang Gettmann

The role of the IUCN for global awareness of otters

          

The exhibition, which had a restricted space of 130 square meters across three rooms, was based on an ambitious scientific concept but there was also pleasure in simply walking around and stopping at the particular exhibits one found appealing: visitors were invited to collect knowledge opportunistically, like the otters, the tracks of whom we follow through Wolfgang Gettmann’s scenography. Many basic facts about the biology of otters were provided but it was always emphasized that while it is important to learn and understand these facts, it is far more complex to relate it to practical experience, particularly in our modern world's reality where remaining in touch with wildlife has become the exception. It was necessary to find a presentation that would reach attendee’s imaginations: it combined factual data with some striking significant items and documents showing the ways in which the prejudices against otters fit into an obsolete conception of nature where superstitions ruled and led to the intensive hunting of the animal due to a mixture of religious beliefs and economic interests. Moreover, the real challenge was to provide alternative imagery showing biologic criteria and opposing statements previously reinforced by scientifically unjustified affiliations to other species relying on superficial resemblances, such as squirrels. The exhibition defined the common traits of the thirteen presently known otter species on the basis of comparative knowledge resulting from critical observation. It explained their adaptation to different environments and the ecological issues which caused their vulnerable near threatened or endangered IUCN status.

Photo courtesy Wolfgang Gettmann

This approach demystified the cliché of the otter as a beast as it presented them as they truly are: it described them from a scientific perspective and situated each species in the geographic context of their natural habitat. This brought awareness to the way in which their image has been manipulated for decades via popularization campaigns at a national and international level indicating that there has been an evolution in the way we consider them, and wildlife as a whole, thanks to the work of the United Nations. Independent information validated by multidisciplinary scientific institutions has progressively replaced the confusion created by mythical descriptions which were mostly conveying local legends and fictitious representations influenced by ignorance and fear. Many examples of publications by specialists who are members of the IUCN specialist group illustrate the progress accomplished through concrete investigations in situ providing accurate data for initiating conservationist action and educational missions worldwide. The most striking sign of this fundamental evolution in the animal’s image is the difference in the media used to raise awareness because, instead of hazardous imagery through popular arts, the scientific popularization appeals to artists who were commissioned officially to create pictures promoting their protection.

Gettmann had the idea to use the principal symbols of these campaigns – stamps and coins ‒ to structure his exhibition as they combine biology and aesthetics with the notion of collectible valuables and underline how precious the featured animals are viewed to be as they have been selected to represent the national or even the natural world heritage. His incredibly large personal collections testify to the increasing interest in otters and that knowledge about them has been spread thanks to international awareness programs favoring scientific exchanges while augmenting their popularity through these symbols. Many stamps were displayed from the countries native to the different otter species, illustrating their distribution across the four continents they inhabit – they are absent from Oceania and the Antarctic ‒ with their specific characteristics mentioned on large panels providing more detailed information.

It seems that otters have become an international concern as several stamps have been issued for nature preservation actions not only at a local level but also in coordination with the United Nations through IUCN. Those preservation campaigns have played a determining role in bringing awareness to scientific standards. One set of stamps depicts, for example, the natural family, the mustelids, within their larger ecosystem. Seeing this allowed one to consider their existence in the context of larger natural interdependencies. It illustrated that globalization of conservation efforts can exist if local initiatives are supported through a multidisciplinary dialogue that backs them scientifically and symbolically, if not financially. It highlighted that education has many forms and that it is always possible to promote a cause if there is a will to do so. The exhibition revealed that some small countries, not among the wealthiest in the world, have done a lot to raise attention to their local species with special editions of stamps and coins which may also have been used to raise funds for specific ecological projects.

The precious role of individual local initiatives

Public resources alone can not generally finance endangered species programs like those dedicated to otter conservation. Their success depends on donations and volunteer involvement through charities that work to protect the otters directly at their habitats. Some organizations have played a determining role, for instance in Africa and in South America where they spread the knowledge about the role of otters in our ecological system, focussing especially on education in schools so that children, in turn, could teach their parents and convince them that it was necessary to protect the animals. Thus, many books and documents on exhibit educated on initiatives such as Rita Chapman’s in the Democratic Republic of Congo with her famous otter ambassador Mazu, which she reared and successfully returned to the wild after its mother had been killed. The team around her did a great job advocating for the protection of the Congo clawless otter, educating the inhabitants of the local village while acquiring precious practical knowledge of how to rear this endangered species. These competencies led them to become recognized rehabilitation professionals for rescue cases in the Congo and beyond its borders.

The “Proyecto Lontra felina" in Peru, supported by the Aquazoo and the Zoo Nuremberg, took the path of defending the cause of the marine otter, an animal that had remained mostly unnoticed as it stays primarily in rock holes and in the sea. The economic development of the country is now threatening this species, which is the smallest marine mammal native to the region. Coastal tourism is destroying its habitat and the maritime fishery has increased, using nets which are life threatening for the animals. A Peruvian/German biologist, Dr. Juan Valquì, who is studying specimen in situ, has launched a fundraising campaign with the primary goal of educating children. Valquì plans for the construction of a museum dedicated to the conservation of marine otters, which have long lived along the coast of Peru, and their importance for the preservation of the natural balance in the area. The goal of his project is to show that re-establishing the link between the local population and the original fauna of regions risking over-exploitation of their natural resources is more than an ecological necessity. It is also a cultural act to preserve local identity. The fundraising campaign was founded as an effort to demonstrate that money should not be the only entity of value and that natural heritage is priceless and must be defended to keep self-appreciation in the context of a globally ruling economy. It showed that scientific conservation projects must also appeal to cultural values to create a lasting impression and invert the dynamic of short-term exploitation of natural resources. One of the local biologists sewed 500 felt otter key rings which held great symbolism as they represented a personal act of a local citizen defending area wildlife and thus giving it a concrete cultural meaning beyond the potentially intangible idea of the conservational goal. She highlighted through artisan work, in the style of the country’s craftsmanship and made with local supplies, that the protection of the native otter population is as important to cultural tradition as the protection of local arts and creative skills. These handmade key rings were an immense success both locally and abroad.

Photo courtesy Wolfgang Gettmann

Gettmann’s exhibit juxtaposed different items and documents, illustrating that each of them – even the tiniest – have their importance in a human context. Global evolution generates many inequalities and requires specifically adapted conservatory solutions for each of the different otter species and ‒ possibly more importantly – cultural discernment and tact. Gettmann invited the visitor to browse around as though in an ancient cabinet of curiosities or “wunderkammer". Throughout the exhibition, he transmitted his rich personal experience in the preservation of otters’ lives through a mosaic of initiatives adapting to a wide variety of situations and interests as they relied on local acceptance in the areas they were aiming to affect. He made it clear that the close link between education and affection is motivation for more than just a serene cohabitation with otters: it is part of defining a modern cultural identity structuring the plurality with the tolerance inherited from the great epochs for the development of philosophy and natural sciences: the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Thus, his exhibition was a bet on the future using the resources of human civilization from the past: it expressed his conviction that mankind is capable of finding its way back symbolically to a spiritual community with respect for predatory animals and where a consciously accepted cohabitation replaces the existential fight for hunting grounds of pre-industrial civilizations.

While showing that otters’ preservation is a challenge for natural and ecological sciences, Gettmann transmitted the idea that it cannot succeed without first acknowledging our mythical relation to nature, then readjusting with knowledge gained from scientific observation and experimentation over the last three centuries. There is no false nostalgia or misled idealism in his approach: he attempted to show that it is indispensable for the global balance of our eco-system and our personal psychic well-being to overcome the artificial gap, present since the Enlightenment era, between reason and affection which has led to the predominance of humans using science to justify the exploitation of natural resources.  It stressed that common sense and much human and scientific understanding are required in order to advocate for landscape renaturation in favor of the otter against the representatives of the multiple lobbies defending immediate human interests, considered the unquestionable priority for centuries. Gettmann argued that the animal’s come-back and its conservation in situ will only be successful if the reality of the issues it generates are not denied. There must be action taken by wildlife experts at a local level to give practical advice in the case of conflict or concern. This will aid in avoiding the resurgence of ancient prejudices that could counteract education efforts requiring consistency to be effective.

Photo courtesy Wolfgang Gettmann

The North American success in saving sea otters

While individual initiatives are well-meaning and helpful on a small-scale, they are not enough to change opinions in favor of a predator on a larger scale. Money and lobbying are indispensable in the fight for the protection of endangered species and for their conservation to be enforced by law. The conservation efforts in South America, where research on marine otters is at beginning stages and where there are not yet relevant zoo exhibits or reproduction programs, contrast greatly with North American programs. There have been the tremendous joint effort of private foundations and aquariums in collaboration with the local and national authorities to conserve the North American sea otter population, previously almost eradicated due to intensive fur hunting and the fishing industry.  Although Gettmann’s exhibition was primarily focused on Europe, the showcase dedicated to North American sea otters as a conservation success story helped display the economic power behind it. This gave an idea of the synergy of advertising and pedagogical strategies required to spread information on a large scale, which is necessary to make this issue a general concern.
The display on sea otter conservation efforts in North America could have been extended to offer a larger and more detailed survey of the actions taken, which have led to quick and widespread positive change. The confirmation of the role sea otters play as a key species in the conservation of kelp forests, feeding on the urchins that threaten them, has led to a wider understanding of the importance of eco-diversity. The exhibit overall did not detail the sea otter's precarious situation resulting from their vulnerability to environmental disasters like oil spills or eco-systemic disorders such as the increase in shark attacks, which keeps them an endangered species.

Most of the display seemed to be personal souvenirs gathered by Gettmann from international events dedicated to sea otters, organized by American aquariums. When compared with the European exhibits the exemplarity of their conception of forward-thinking communication and strategies in fundraising and disseminating information is clear. However, the items gave no indication of the more complex interferences between research and field experiences, though perhaps those concepts are difficult to document in the form of an engaging exhibit. It is appreciable that these exceptional conservation successes were presented through core materials demonstrating that well-reflected action and the collaboration between public and private institutions are able to give determining impulses which, beyond the rescue of a species, generate a whole new sector of eco-tourism and further research of oceanic resources.

Gettmann wearing a treasured t-shirt

Otter News would like to thank Clare Laughran for her editing of the review.

The Otter is a Cunning and Evil Beast - Review Part I

Nemo and his relatives now and in the past

Respectfully submitted to Otter News by Béatrice Dumiche

Fighting prejudices while revising the history of natural sciences according to the spirit of Wilhelm Fabry

From October 30, 2015 to March 6, 2016, the Wilhelm-Fabry-Museum in Hilden, a suburb of Dusseldorf, the capital of North-Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) presented a multidisciplinary program dedicated exclusively to the otter. The otter is an animal rare in this region and country, where it was threatened with extinction until it became a protected species in Europe in 1979 with the signing of the Bern Convention. This rather recent officially protected state needed and continues to need greater support. It was deemed necessary to create a bond between the public and the otter, which has had a negative reputation based on a series of prejudices previously attributed to it to justify its hunting. It had even been demonized by natural sciences which, in the 17^th century, had not yet emancipated from superstitions based on an anthropomorphic vision of the animals’ characteristics and which were particularly virulent against major local predators such as otters and wolves. 

Dr. Wolfgang Gettmann, former Director of the Aquazoo Dusseldorf and a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Otter Specialist Group, and Dr. Wolfgang Antweiler, Director of the Wilhelm-Fabry-Museum, set themselves a considerable challenge when they decided to plan this exhibition. They were searching for an exceptional event to celebrate the museum, named after a worldwide famous physician and surgeon of the Renaissance born in Hilden in 1560 who died near Bern in Switzerland in 1634. He contributed to modern medicine as an experimental science by promoting the teaching of anatomy and dissection to gain a concrete knowledge of how the human body functions. While he was practicing in times of war, he invented processes and instruments to extract bullets or to make trepanations. To establish these new standards based on his experience, he fought superstitions with his publications, which consisted of exemplary descriptions of cases and the cures he proposed and helped to formulate individual health protocols including the study of the effects generated by plants and herbs. Although the museum regularly presents instruments and documents directly related to his work, their present interest is to expand to a more general perspective by dedicating temporary exhibitions to medical and scientific history with the aim to change mentalities by displaying how progress has been established in these specific disciplines.         

Focusing on the otter – which had never been the sole subject of an exhibition before – enabled Gettmann and Antweiler to link the educational mission of the museum with a subject that allowed demonstration of the auto-critical process natural sciences went through before they developed an experimental approach, providing concrete and safe information about living nature. Their exhibition was thus founded on a concept that did more than associate biology and anatomy to promote knowledge about otters. It also took into account that scientific rationalization alone is not able to efficiently fight prejudices as this information does not often reach the imagination and cannot sustain a positive connection. It aimed to show how long it takes to change mentalities as a solely scientific approach cannot seize the complex relationship between mankind and animals and cannot integrate the spiritual values that have become associated with them through religions and beliefs. This contradiction explains the difficulties even in the present day of defending apex-predators despite their incontestable key role in the ecological system. The understanding of that cannot compete with the anger and the feeling of personal injustice in the confrontation with a “food concurrent” the nuisance of which appears the more upsetting the more it remains invisible and seems to underline its “cunningness” 

Rational natural education has been unable to fight prejudices against otters

The present discourse about the otter, which still remains ambivalent, is a significant example of the contradiction between scientific evidence and ancestral beliefs which still subconsciously influence the contemporary image of wild animals in relation to humans. The otter’s reputation, tainted through several centuries of negative beliefs, cannot be turned magically into one of love and understanding within a few decades. It can only be surmounted by the kind of popularization that goes beyond facts to create the conditions required for the acceptance of a predator considered a nuisance to humans. The same kind that previously led to the destruction of its habitat, confining it to very restricted areas where it has lived almost hidden. It even switched from the diurnal to the nocturnal way of life to better avoid confrontation, leaving, however, some signs of its nightly raids on fishing ponds or koi carps in private gardens which ironically seemed to confirm his “evil” nature in the popular opinion.

Therefore, scientists, advocating the return of the otter, have been in the uncomfortable situation of pleading the cause of an elusive creature only identified by its persistent misbehavior, which appeared a durable obstacle to its cohabitation with human civilization. They might emphasize its utility for the ecosystem as a key species helping to maintain water quality and eliminating detriments while preserving the health of their environment. However, this rational discourse would not be convincing enough when compared with continued discussions of the physical damage they have caused. The defense of predators such as otters must be innovated if it is to reach an audience larger than those already scientifically interested. It must take into account the progress of science but also deconstruct the prejudices that have built over time, showing that our knowledge about life is not only scientific but also philosophical. Scientific discoveries are very important but to have an influence on human behavior, they must be related to the whole span of arts and humanities and be relayed by an integrative pedagogy targeting children first.

Generally, I do not refer to personal experiences in a review but I believe we are at a crossing where ancient prejudices support discrimination against predators while the perceived cuteness and innocence of animals, whatever they are, is emphasized to oppose human cruelty against them. This leads sometimes to a form of naïve vegetarianism or veganism. When I was visiting a French zoo with a large enclosure for otters and a beautiful pond, two adolescent cubs, while playing together after having cuddled with their mother, spotted a young duck landing on the water. In a second, both reached it and strangled its thin neck with their strong paws, eventually tearing off its wings from each side. Nearby was a couple with two young boys who seemed deeply shocked by how these fur babies they had found so adorable a few minutes before suddenly behaved. They vented immediately to their embarrassed parents, ‘Why did they do this? This is mean! These otters are murders and must be sent to jail!’ while the otters munched their prey noisily. The scene revealed our own contradictions as carnivores. ‘They must eat, they were hungry and that’s how they live’, answered the mother while the boys insisted that it was barbaric until their father, becoming slightly irritated, concluded with some authority, ‘And you, what do you think you eat? You eat meat and this comes from animals that were killed!’ The whole family looked down silently while the otter cubs were licking their paws. The children took a last glance, visibly troubled and the parents left the enclosure without a word, probably feeling guilty for having ruined their children's’ illusions and having made them aware of being ‘murderers’ too. The zoo-keeper, who had been alerted of the interaction, sighed with a resigned smile and complained about the lack of realism of the mostly urban visitor population who have become more and more difficult to educate to better understand wildlife despite all of the efforts which have been made to bring greater awareness to larger ecological interdependencies.

To underline his statement, I add a remark I heard at a German zoo from a young couple in their twenties who passed by the otters’ enclosure immediately after feeding time. The animals had just been fed rainbow- trout and were eating loudly, cracking the bones, ‘Look at these poor things! The rubbish they feed them in zoos! This is awful: they didn’t even debunk the bones! And how badly they eat! They’re ugly! Let’s go!’ This couple must have imagined fish sticks or fillets and eating with knives and forks to be the civilized behavior well-educated otters must be trained for under human care! This last personal anecdote sheds light on how much of the contemporary criticism against zoos is founded on the public’s ignorance of nature due to a lack of direct experience and of its cruelty we try to avoid identifying within ourselves. 

Science must reunite rationality with emotions for a global experience of life

These examples are personal. However they hint at a wider tendency within our technologized countries of denial of the reality of nature which leads us to believe our cohabitation with animals is an utopic civilisation of kindness and carefulness, where the Good (whatever we imagine it is) has definitively won, while we actually negate the objective ecological impact of our pretended highly evolved way of life, the dark barbaric side of which we consider quasi-innate to populations we can easily blame for being primitive and uneducated. The integrated concept, which Gettmann and Antweiler opted for in their exhibit was an effort to interrupt this vicious circle where rationalism and irrationalism condition each other cementing reciprocal incomprehension through the perpetual renewal of clichés and false pretexts. The goal was to pacify the present western humanity with their natural origins through an enlightened education, which aimed to direct away from an excessive emotionality by creating a self-critical scientific discourse reintroducing the idea of acceptance of our own aggressive nature so far as it is indispensable for the perpetuation of our species. Thus, it related feelings to historical and social conditions and stressed the way in which the image of otters has been determined for centuries by irrationality, first as an incarnation of the Evil and of ugliness and more recently as a symbol for ultimate cuteness. Neither of these assigned symbols are accurate as they are an expression of pure anthropomorphism for which there is no justification in the eco-system, where each species has a role and predators a determining one. 

The idea was not to entirely give up on empathy and compassion as a way of understanding how nature works. This becomes clear when Gettmann’s animal companion and International Otter Survival Fund   (IOSF), ambassador organization for the 13 otter species, Nemo, enters the scene. A face-to-face encounter with him allows one to better view the world from his perspective through seeing the playful relationship he has with his surroundings. Nemo’s clever opportunistic hunting behavior evokes an evolutional ability we share with otters and which we subconsciously use every day. Contact with him allows us to reconnect with that and enjoy it while discovering that the carefreeness we love in him encourages acknowledgment of our own spontaneous creative energies used to survive through subconscious reinvention.

Meeting Nemo is much more than an encounter with an animal ambassador. It was the crowning of the exhibition in its goal to mediate between otters and men as it allowed visitors to face the reality that understanding wildlife is not simply a question of facts or emotions as separate entities, but both. It challenged us to consider our own ability to evolve according to the opportunities and events of life and enabled us to question the self-perception and survival instincts active in our daily lives. Nemo’s natural instinct of independence reminds those who might humanize his cuteness too much, of what unites us with him: our strive for survival and self-affirmation, situated at the crossing between instinct and conscience. Feeling affection for him affects us as we recognize in his playfulness our childhoods and the endless potential of our own nature, while realizing that our stake consists in integrating it into a significant process through interactive socialization. Thus, he teaches us that respecting the animals’ antics means also respecting ourselves, which signifies the opposite of any kind of idealization. On the contrary, it highlights that our relationship and the way we see these animals is always likely to evolve and should not be judged according to moral standards which are transitory and subjective – matching the spirit of an epoch – and that the contradictions they reveal are above all challenges to our ability to survive.

Creating a new children’s literature: Books and creativity

Part XV: Review of Sam Garton's I am Otter by Béatrice Dumiche

I am Otter is an example of books that allow one multiply experiences thanks to imagination and provide everyone with inspiration for his own situation in order to brighten it and let it evolve. As a children’s book, it plays a decisive role for this purpose as it contributes to creating first impressions which will influence the appreciation of future reading. Therefore, it is most important that books are perceived from the beginning as loyal and indispensable companions who help enjoy personal development as the best of one can do for himself. For that reason, despite all the stress he has with his job and with Otter, Keeper continues to read or, at least, tries to do so. Otter herself has an entire bookshelf filled within her own room. In fact, at a closer look, books are everywhere within Keeper’s home; they are vital to him because they help him take some distance from his own experiences by relating them with those of others in an inspirational dialogue which opens his mind to the diversity of life. They clearly appear the way to a more intense and conscious existence reconnecting adults with the primitive power of imagination like Keeper is linked with Otter.

With subtle humor, Sam Garton makes no difference between books and toys, underlining that both have a symbolic signification which exceeds their material consistence while they remain concrete objects which can be handled easily; they are like a joker could replace anything you need. They are practically useful and this usefulness hints to the mental function they favour since they educate imagination as the skill to interpret reality so that it becomes a support for personal invention. So, when Otter prepares the opening of the toast restaurant, she looks at a lot of books while she is sitting on a pile of them and when she takes her selfie with Teddy for its inauguration, she puts the camera on another pile - like building blocks - they help realize for which all you are dreaming. Yet, the funny detail when she reads one of the cookbooks upside-down, shows that you can do anything you want with books which are inspiring even if you use them in an unusual way.  There is no rule for how to use a book, so you just can’t go wrong taking one and let your fantasy just go.

This way, the author aims to create a familiarity with books as normal objects participating in normal life and to surmount the image of their intellectual prestige which let them appear inaccessible to common people. Letting Otter play with them, he suggests children they can appropriate them on their own while he encourages parents themselves to normalize their relationship with them. He hopes that his young readers will become the defenders of children’s books just because they love them and have special fun with them, because they haven’t been dissuaded by prejudices, and that they will be able through their positive experience with I am Otter to bring adults back to an autonomous appreciation of books which is no longer influenced by sociocultural filters, yet only by personal affinities.

That’s why the sequence when Keeper reads his newspaper underlines ironically its structural similarity with a children’s book hinting at the unconscious mental continuity in the way adults reflect on the world they live in whilst relativizing the seriousness of information. Both are composed of text and pictures. The only difference is the color since the paper is greyish like Keeper’s adult world is supposed to be in Otter’s mind because she can’t relate it to her own experience. Yet in fact, using grey instead of black like in real newspapers, Sam Garton also suggests the fictive character of that one Keeper reads: the difference between the children’s book and the paper seems actually to fade out as the pretended objectivity of its information appears rather illusory and even ridiculous. His illustration shows that its most standardized geometric frame, which suggests an organized and hierarchic thought, giving the superficial impression that there is a link between unrelated and weird news which is more unrealistic than the deliberate fiction of Otter’s adventures. Its headlines reflect a contradictory society where indifference coexists with eccentricity and where common interest and common sense got mostly lost because there is no balance between individual achievement and social responsibility for a better and freer life.

So, while with the first one “Important Thing Happens”, he criticizes the newspapers’ impersonal sensationalism creating dramatic events just for diversion, with the second “Climbing Trees Good for Health” he mocks their interest in marginal phenomena, they try to establish as trendsetters, as well as their support to the hysterical quest for healthy life and longevity which marks the intrusion of perfect irrationality into supposed objective information. This is underlined by its humorous allusion at Darwin remembering the primitive similarity between apes and humans which is turned into the contrary here because instead of the apes who came down form the trees to evolve men, these people get back to apes. Through this apparent detail, the author questions a medium which is taken seriously while celebrating an obvious regression to animalism as an innovation which could revolutionize our sophisticated contemporary society. He denounces the naivety of this kind of belief which proposes unrealistic, rather silly solutions based on the misunderstanding of science which becomes a pretext to justify the outburst of refrained unconscious desires to get back to nature instead of a real initiation to what evolution may look like at our cultural level.

That’s what Garton attempts to feature in his book by relying on the symbolic power of imagination which unites free minds attracted by sympathy who participate in its elaboration. He even goes so far as to suggest that newspapers, like they are at the moment, are no longer answering their public’s needs as they reveal incapable of creating communication, discussion and fructuous exchanges: their accumulation of pretend facts generates a feeling of distress towards the absurdity of a discontinuous and eventually meaningless life where instincts manifest in a risibly archaic form through which they have not the slightest chance to influence the future. However, when he insists on the structural similarity between the newspaper and the illustrated book– might it be dedicated to children or to adults – he initiates more than a humoristic inversion in favor of children’s literature. He demonstrates that texts and pictures must be related to a process of symbolization which gives them a representative signification so that they appeal to others and awake their personal interest as participants in a community which is affected in many of the same ways.

So, the newspaper has to evolve at the contact of the children’s book which reflects it and refocuses it on what really matters to everyone: to learn more about himself and others he feels related with to do the most of his life and enjoy it with all his senses. For that reason, the author introduces among the news private messages for those who know him a bit better and with whom he establishes a self-ironical complicity -“Sam and Becca married”. He plays with the desire of fame and recognition he aims at as a writer and illustrator while he relativizes it at the same time since it doesn’t objectively signify his professional success: the mention of the forenames makes it a significant information only for the people who are nearer to him and his wife and who in fact already got it. Thus, what he stresses, is his creative freedom as a book author which allows him not only to modify the content of the fictive newspaper and create through this trick a “fake reality”; it enables him to change its pretended objectivity according to what is important to him and to show that creativity is at least a personal achievement as it is a possibility to share what brightens his life with all those who love him and want him to be happy.

Sam Garton’s personal implication in his work contributes significantly to the renovation of children’s literature as it is based on a serious knowledge of the genre he transforms according to a great philosophical and psychological insight which however never affects anyway the pleasure of reading, so internalized it is in the creative process. His amazingly mastered art, which relies on the symbolical power of love as a mean to acquire an intimate knowledge of what is good individually for each one, restores indeed the fundamental energy of life which must only be recognized again to solicit valuable bonds between independent personalities knowing about their real limits, yet also about the strength of their empathic faculties. The dedication “To all who love Otter” sums it all up since you can’t understand her cheerful being and the author’s sensibility if you don’t love her. It is a clear statement in favor of non-conformism and an appeal to openly show it to let it get more space through education and by setting differences in everyday life, like Keeper with his colored clothes, to generate more tolerance thanks to a multitude of little gestures.

However, only art, he underlines children’s literature belongs to, gives creative people the opportunity to invert a social evolution which leads to an irrational regression of mankind who has fought their instincts for too long in the name of an illusory realism which let them become indifferent  and even lose their common sense. That’s why, as an author who writes for children, he attempts to restore, by awakening it from the beginning of self-consciousness, their capacity to be affected individually and to feel touched by what happens to others which adults are no longer able to, so often they had been manipulated in favour of selfish causes through the perversion of storytelling which solicits identification on the basis of artefacts just faking singular reality. With the renewal of humor as a means to keep some critical distance towards pre-shaped identities, he tries to help them believe again in the magic of books through those written for their children who haven’t been influenced by social prejudices yet. More precisely spoken, his radically personal approach, which is most courageous as it is actually innovative, invites parents to act non-conformistically too, following their own fantasy, and choose reads their children love and they can enjoy together. Opening himself with his own affection for Otter, he bets on the persuasive power of sincerity to resurrect the credibility of fiction and free the emotions of his readers who through his book learn to get back some confidence in them. In a very touching way which underlines the singularity of I am Otter and his author, he really creates a personal relationship with anyone who loves Otter which is not based on simple identification. One can’t imitate Otter because she is one of a kind. One must react to her and this way becomes a bit more himself thanks to her. That’s why we wish Otter (and Keeper and Sam) much luck for the books to come and that more and more people will get to know and love Otter.

Creating a New Children’s Literature - Understanding Evolution with "I am Otter"

Part XIV: Review of Sam Garton's I am Otter by Béatrice Dumiche

With I am Otter, Sam Garton creates an interactive work which he uses to integrate the importance received by the visual media into an intellectual structure which had been since Gutenberg the symbol of rational progress allowing the diffusion of knowledge on a large scale. He most discretely advocates a literary revolution outgoing from children’s book which have been conceived initially on the complementarity of text and illustration, allying the two fundamental modes to transmit a cultural heritage. Stressing their functional differences, he reintroduces the associative power of imagination which needs to be adjusted by a living dialogue which confronts subjectivity with a critical otherness and leads to a better self-consciousness. Thus oral reading, which has survived in contemporary western societies thanks to children’s literature, gets a new psychological role based on ancient social tradition of popular tales which might be able to modernize the function of books and written culture as they are indispensable references for mankind who evolve by self-reflection from their own experience.  

The improbable encounter between Otter and Keeper he features is indeed a humorous illustration of a natural philosophy associating in a universal psychology as its cultural correlation which appears to be inspired by Darwin. The importance of this scientist and explorer for Sam Garton and the conception of his character has already been evoked through a wonderful “otterstory” where Otter and Teddy visit him – or better, try to climb his statue –  at London’s Museum of Natural History. For him, the remembrance of his evolutional theory is applicable to human creativity which is the only one able to reflect personal experience on its own and to interpret it through its symbolic representation. So, it generates the necessary freedom for a conscious adaptation based on tolerance as it can’t exist without a constructive dialogue which will also guarantee the actually threatened transmission of culture.

Childrens' books can rely on playing as life’s proper mode and are a privileged medium where to propose the mitigation between instinct, related with a mythic, immemorial past and an only imaginable future which must integrate this heritage to be efficient at transforming social relationships: thanks to this conception, they lead back to a living structure which has an active function as it perpetuates its autonomy through evolution. Children's books explain that literature and visual arts express symbolically life’s way to keep on developing and providing endlessly new arrangements by fusions and separations generating new shapes and forms humanity needs to evolve consciously through practical and intellectual challenges. They initiate to life as a whole, using its restless quest for perfection to help it surmount itself and stabilize temporarily in a symbolic form as a part of its evolution which is unfolding its own autonomy interacting with all that lives and exists at different levels of consciousness. So, they teach moderation and smartness which are indispensable for the active and constructive transmission of traditions for their own sake, not because of simple conservatism which becomes an obstacle to evolution, yet because it creates distance and self-distance which allow reflection and pondered action.

Thus, Sam Garton advocates a children’s literature which favors instinctive playfulness as the way how life keeps on passing from generation to generation while renewing via adaptation. It has a vital function in the context of our contemporary societies which have associated industrial productivity with morality and conformism and have deprived themselves of the benefits of creativity and invention which are based on transgression. Those have been inhibited indeed by a moral education which used threat to socialize instincts and relied on children’s books and tales eliciting primitive fears related with growth and autonomy. This has now led to a generation of adults who are nostalgic of and idealised childhood to escape the constraints of social standards which refrain individualism and therefore search for a reconciliation with their instinctive need of personal achievement. So, children’s books, which initiate an inter-generational dialogue, appear the most able to reconcile them with themselves while they change their offspring’s education from the beginning to prevent the regrets and the melancholy they associate with their own childhood.

Obviously, I am Otter has been conceived as the renewal and the reinterpretation of a traditional genre to make of it a universal read integrating children and adults in the same interactive structure with the author (who is at same time the writer and the illustrator) as the moderator providing moments of happiness which even legitimate transgression as it is useful for each individual who must have opportunities to test out his own limits and feel the thrill of being autonomous without fearing to be censored or morally judged: experiences even those which fail are constructive and only games can help acquire this wisdom as playfulness has been inherited from evolution which selects the best solution for the species. Moral education, which would censor even the thought of self-realization as opposite to common interest and let frustrations and reproaches unexpressed, would only teach a hypocrisy giving a completely unrealistic example of perfection trying to inhibit the survival instinct instead of giving it a self-critic humoristic outlet through art. That’s why I am Otter ends on her mischievously subversive behavior which ironically replaces the current moral happy ending of the genre by the triumph of survival instinct which can’t but lead to an open end relativizing the author’s efforts themselves. Otter rules eventually, showing her own creator his limits while remembering him that he better doesn’t take too seriously since writing for children is a humoristic task which is permanently questioned by the book characters themselves as well as by the readers in a reciprocal challenge their ability to interact and have fun together.