Samaki: The Story of an Otter in Africa: A True-to-Life Novel

215 pp. "The life of Samaki, a spot-necked otter from Tanzania, from eight weeks old. Through his eyes are seen the other inhabitants of the African rivers and surrounding terrain." "Samaki: The Story of an Otter in Africa is a novel written and illustrated by J.A. Davis (Joseph Anthony Davis). It was first published in 1979, by E.P. Dutton (New York, N.Y.) and "simultaneously in Canada by Clark, Irwin & Company Limited, Toronto and Vancouver". The novel is about Samaki, a wild spot-necked otter (Hydrictis maculicollis), from his birth through to his adulthood and holding of his own territory, with cubs of his own. All significant characters are named (Samaki is Swahili for fish), but there is no dialogue. In the Author's Note, J.A. Davis states that "Samaki's story is fiction, but I have taken pains to ground it as solidly as I know how in the observed behavior of the animals portrayed. ... Samaki, as an older cub and adult, is patterned on an otter whose name was the same; he lived with me in my home for some seven years, and some of his real life I have already narrated in Beever & Company."