Watching this recently unearthed treasure is all the more amazing when you realise the footage itself was shot as long ago as 1912. The surviving version of the film you see here was re-edited in the 1920s and titled The Otter, with a final hunting scene removed. Intertitles tell us all about the habits of this fascinating creature, alongside the first known shots of an otter swimming underwater. We even get to see the cameramen setting up their special tank in the river for filming these scenes.
Just think otter fans -- this furry fellow is almost a century old! (Simon McCallum)
You can watch almost 1000 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge at the new BFI Mediatheque - http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque
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