Next on the phylogenetic tree: the Sea Otter and the Spotted-Necked Otter!

Let's start with that phylogenetic tree from the last post again...

... this tree is designed to generally demonstrate the time-frames that the otter species evolved from a common line over time (mya= million years ago) to the otter species we know today. Following the line of descendancy (like ancestry but the other way 'round ;) ) you can see that after the split that lead to the Giant Otter there is another evolutionary split that occurs in the Late Miocene, this split leads to the Lontra otters ~and~ *the rest* of the otter genera (genera= plural of genus).

The otters we are looking at today are included in *the rest* of the otter genera, but they are the next 2 oldest modern species: the Sea Otter and the Spotted-necked Otter.

The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) lives along the coastline of the northern Pacific and is the largest otter by weight, weighing up to ~100 lbs (46 kg). Topping out at ~5' (1.5m) long they are shorter and much stockier than the giant otter.

The sea otter rarely, if ever, leaves the ocean/estuary.
...but sometimes a female will haul out to give birth...
Bonus! Here is a video clip from Monterey Bay Aquarium of a wild sea otter that hauled out on a rock there to give birth (2016):

Sea otter populations were completely wiped out in many areas. The fur trade, beginning in the 1700s, drove the estimated population from near 300,000 down to ~1,000- 2,000 otters (in 13 otter colonies). The most stable populations of sea otters are currently in Russian: Kuril, Kamchatka, and Commander Islands.
It is listed "Endangered" on the IUCN RedList.

Enough about sea otters for the moment, what about the Spotted-necked Otter?

Want to get ALL science-geeky?!? Up until recently the spotted-necked otter was in the genus Lutra, but research done by Koepfli et al. (2008) and Sato et al. (2012) demonstrates that the spotted-necked otter should be in the genus Hydrictis.
So, the spotted-necked otter is now known, scientifically, as Hydrictis maculicollis!

Spotted-necked Otter (photographer:unknown, please contact with info)

Some spotted-necked otters have no spots at all, but for those that do, each one has unique markings.
They range up to ~42 inches (1m) long tip-to-tail and ~20 lbs (9kg) in weight.

They are found across central and southern Africa.

Spotted-necked water are very water oriented, not straying far from freshwater shorelines. So, while they have a large distribution (distribution in wildlife speak means "the geographical area in which teh species can be found") their dispersion (dispersion = pattern of distribution of individuals within a habitat) can be fairly low. What does this mean for this otter? It is very susceptible (at risk from) habitat destruction.

IUCN RedList lists them as "Near Threatened" due to habitat destruction/degradation.