The birds are singing, the Sun is shining, and you’ve just woken up to find a wolf-sized otter sniffing your toes. That impressive beast is Siamogale melilutra, and it’s the largest known carnivore in its ecosystem. <span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span><span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span>Its latter name, melilutra, is a combination of meles for "badger" and lutra for "otter", representing its mixture of otter- and badger-like skull and teeth. Scientists were similarly able to gather clues from bones from the rest of its body including a particularly well-preserved femur, and then compare these against those of modern otters. “There is a modern otter that is very similar to S. melilutra – clawless otters in Africa of the genus Aonyx.