Charlie Hamilton James's Image

While making a film about giant otters in Cocha Salvador, Manu National Park, Peru, Charlie got to know this youngster well.

‘He was full of personality,’ says Charlie. ‘These animals have a lot of attitude.’ The portrait of the four-month-old cub was taken lying down in his boat, and the cub was as curious about Charlie as Charlie was about him, craning up its neck while treading water. Giant otters are very social and live in extended family groups, with up to eight or so members, giving safety in numbers where local predators, such as caiman, are concerned. They are officially listed as endangered. In the past, the main threat was hunting, but now their habitat is being destroyed and degraded by logging, mining, pollution, overfishing and even dams, and their numbers are rapidly dropping.