The River Otter

Surprisingly, river otters can be found in marine environments. Slimmer than the sea otter, they also like to spend time on land. They are extremely playful and do seem to devote a good chunk of their day to just plain having fun. Running and wrestling seem to be their favorite pastime. Perhaps this explains why they do not spend any time building their own dens but settle for already existing, vacated ones.

They are silent swimmers and can dive so smoothly, they hardly make a ripple on the water. They are approximately 1 meter (3 – 4 feet) long and weigh about 9 ½ kg (20 lbs). Their feet are webbed.

They have few predators and most threats are anthropogenic, mostly pollution and destruction to habitat. They eat mostly fish and crustaceans and because they are the top of the food chain, the pollutants they ingest are highly concentrated.

They reach sexual maturity at about 2 years old and have an interesting reproduction system. The egg, once fertilized, enters a dormant state for an extended period of time before pregnancy takes place. When environmental conditions are favorable then gestation period begins and lasts for about 2 months. This process is known as delayed implantation or embryonic diapause.

We frequently see these playfull critters around Telegraph Cove and on our tours.