'I Battled a Giant Otter'

I have a weakness for old men's magazine covers from the fifties and sixties and a particular weakness for those depicting animal mayhem of some kind or another.  Many of these involve young women in various states of undress being variously menaced by giant snakes, octopuses, elephants, crocodiles, gorillas and all manner of big cat, while their men folk look on helplessly.  Others depict fearless white hunters blowing away charging rhinos, elephants, wildebeest and big cats.  Especially big cats.  Then there is another sub-category which focuses upon the ordeals suffered by the (invariably male) victims of animal attacks, (the most famous of these being 'Weasels Ripped my Flesh').

The above cover from the December 1953 Men magazine illustrates this last type of story and is a great favourite of mine.  Whereas the protagonists of most of these stories faced killer weasels, vultures, giant land crabs. pirahnas and the like, this poor fellow has to make do with a giant otter.  Now, while I know that there are such a thing as giant otters in South America, which grow up to six feet long and have sharp teeth, I don't think that they are known for savaging humans.  Although, God knows, they'd have good reason to, as they were once hunted to the verge of extinction for their pelts.  But, regardless of their proclivity, or otherwise, for mauling humans, the fact is that otters, giant or otherwise, are just too cute looking to pose any kind of threat.  Which is why I find this cover endlessly amusing.