In which Bully spots mistakes about otters in comic books

If you've ever read any DC Silver Age comics, you may remember, especially in the books of science-based heroes like The Flash and The Atom, one-page "fun facts of science" features that purport to edutain you even before that word was invented. F'r instance:


"It's a Small World" from The Atom (1962 series) #17 (February-March 1965), script by Julius Schwartz, pencils by Morris Waldinger, inks by Tom Nicolosi



Aside from the embarrassing misspelling of the word "beetle," can you spot another error on this page? Well, I certainly did.


Yep! If I know a thing or two about a thing or two, I know about otters, and that ain't a sea otter. That there is a river otter. I'm pretty sure the artist use photo references of the wrong otter for this strip. Here's some river otters:




And here are proper sea otters.



Sea otters are much cuter and fuzzier (they have a thick layer of fur to keep them warm in the water). You often see them hanging out together or in groups:



And they are famous for sleeping while holding hands so they don't float away alone. Sea otters are smart.


And why do I know so much about otters? because one of my best pals is Shelly the Little (Sea) Otter Puppet! She does not hang around in the sea much, though, preferring more esoteric places like the donut shop at Harrods.


Like most otters, though, Shelly is very fond of fish, which makes shopping for her birthday pretty easy!



We like hanging out together a lot, which is why I could immediately tell that wasn't a sea otter in the comic book. You owe us a panel of a true sea otter when you reprint that comic, DC!



So: sea otters, won't you?!?