THE North American River Otter! (the oldest living Lontra ; )

The North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) is the oldest living species in the Lontra (genus) lineage (see phylogenetic tree at the bottom of the page).

The North American river otter is the ONLY otter not to be listed as *declining* by the IUCN, and it is the only otter listed as "Least Concern" in the IUCN RedList, even though they were largely killed off, primarily due to over-hunting, by the early 1900s.
In many states where they were considered *extirpated* (extirpated= completely destroyed) they were re-established through a reintroduction program. They have been eliminated in parts of their range due to habitat damage and still face a lot of challenges to survival.
Currently North American river otters can be trapped in 14 of the 20 states where they were reintroduced; 14 US states and 4 Canadian states have no otter-take limits, unfortunately many of these states do not have up-to-date and/or ongoing research so measuring the actual sustainability of "harvest" is problematic at this time.

NorthAmerican River Otter. Photo: Chiara

North American river otters (NARO) are ~ 60" (1.5 m) long and weigh ~ 30 lbs (13 kg). 
They are found across almost all of North America, from the East Coast, through the Mid-West, across the North and South (including coastal regions), and throughout the West. They are missing, or largely missing throughout the SouthWest.
These otters are very adaptable and live in a wide variety of habitats including salt water, as long as they can get to fresh water to keep their fur clean.


So NARO that live along salt water coasts have to have access to fresh water also!

 

These otters can be fairly social, sometimes living alone and sometimes with social groups of adult female, offspring, and sometimes unrelated helpers AND groups of adult males (up to 17 individuals have been documented together!).
TODAY we saw a group of 6 sets of otter tracks together on a near shore island in Washington state.
We'd love to know what they were up to, we suspect snacking on some lovely crabs and clams!


Phylogenetic Tree!