Otters in Singapore

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Leafy Singapore… | Move Over, Merlion; The return of long-absent otters is a sign of the city's greening. Economist, Aug 25, 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/as ... g-move-over-merlion

Note:
(a)
(i) Merlion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlion
(Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion;" The symbol was designed by Alec Fraser-Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in use from 1964 to 1997)
(ii) For pronunciation, see merlion
www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/merlion
(iii) French-English dictionary:
* mer (noun feminine; from Latin [noun neuter] mare [sea]): "sea"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mer

In Modern German, it is Meer (noun neuter), meaning "sea".  (Remember: The first letter of all German nouns are capitalized.)

(b) "the Bishan Ten—a photogenic family of otters"

Or Bishan 10.
(i) Bishan 碧山, Singapore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishan,_Singapore
(section 1 Etymology)
(ii) Bishan 5 Now Bishan 10 with New Otter Pups. Strait Times, Feb 13, 2016.
www.straitstimes.com/singapore/e ... with-new-otter-pups
(at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park  碧山宏茂桥公园)

Quote:

(A) "It started out as just a pair of male and female otters spotted in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. Two became five when three pups were born in April last year.

(B) "Otters are threatened native marine mammals. They are often found at sea but need a source of freshwater nearby.

"And while they are mostly harmless, these otters have been suspected of feasting on ornamental koi [Japanese for 鲤] in Sentosa, reportedly costing more than $80,000, in April last year.

* Sentosa  圣淘沙
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentosa
(section 1 Etymology)

(c) "Otters had disappeared from Singapore by the 1970s * * * in 1977 Lee Kuan Yew * * * ordained a clean-up * * * The river went from black to clear in less than a decade * * * fish populations returned. By 1998, the first otter families began to return to Singapore."

These are smooth-coated otter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth-coated_otter

(d) "They tutted and chuckled when the otters were accused of scoffing $60,000 of designer carp."
(i) tut (vi and interjection)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tut

The same as "tut-tut" (vi and interjection).
(ii) scoff (vt; late 18th century (as a verb): originally a variant of Scots and dialect scaff): "eat (something) quickly and greedily"
www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/scoff