My essay about samosas was featured in Chatelaine today (it's part of the Coach House Books anthology edited by John Lorinc, What We Talk About When We Talk About Dumplings)
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It's so exciting to see Trip of the Dead getting some love from young readers, and included on the short list for the 2022-23 Red Cedar Book Award out of B.C.!
So our favourite Canadian burrowing owl takes on a whole brood of baby river otters in this latest Tail from the Apocalypse, and I needed to do some research on otters (I know, tough life friends).
River otters can give birth to litters of 5 pups (and they are called pups) and "Freshwater otter pups are born blind, toothless, and practically immobile," according to SeaWorld. "They remain in their birthing dens, and spend their first few weeks nursing and sleeping."
They can be as small as 130 grams when they are born and they are supposed to nurse for six to eight months. These pups are going to lose their mom to rabies (necessitating Pallas' intervention) but in terms of size they are going to be small even compared to Pal. Pal is a full-sized Canadian burrowing owl, so he's about 150-200 grams. No giant compared to his charges, but still able to carry one around if he needs to.
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