Artist's reconstruction of two individuals of Siamogale melilutra sp. nov., one of them feeding on a freshwater clam. The tapir in the background is Tapirus yunnanensis. Aquatic plants include water chestnut (Typha) and fox nut (Euryale) and the low shrub in foreground is Sichuan peppercorn (Zanthoxylum). See National News story NNOTTER: A wolf-sized otter weighing close to eight stones once roamed the Earth's ancient swamps, a new study revealed. The ancient species was almost as twice as large of present day otters and had features similar to an otter and a badger. It also had powerful jaws to crunch large shellfish and freshwater mollusks which would have been their main food. The otter named Siamogale melilutra lived some six million years ago and belongs to an ancient lineage of extinct otters, which goes back at least 18 million years.