European Otter

(Lutra lutra)

Geographic Range    Habitat    Physical Description    Feeding Habits    Behavior    Reproduction
Status    Links

Taxonomy
            Kingdom:    Animalia
                    Phylum:    Chordata
                        Class:        Mammalia
                            Order:        Carnivora
                                Family:        Mustelidae
                                     Genus:        Lutra
                                        Species:        lutra

Alternative Names
                Common Otter
                Eurasian Otter
                European River Otter
                Old World Otter           
                                        

     Geographic Range  
The European otter has the widest distribution of all otter species. Its range covers parts of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.       
                        Palearctic and Oriental regions: Eurasia south of tundra line, North Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Sumatra,
                        Java: found from Scotland to Kamchatka and south to Java.

                        Europe: Good populations remaining: Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Scotland, northern taiga of Russia

Britain: Remain through Ireland and most of Scotland. Reasonable populations south-west England and counties bordering mid-Wales, with low populations in north, south and eastern England, while absent from south Wales, Anglesey and central England

Not found: Mediterranean islands (except Corfu, Lesbos, Chios, Euboea). Probably extinct in Lichtenstein, Netherlands, Switzerland. 

Habitat
                       European otters spend most of their lives in freshwater. They inhabits rivers, lakes, streams, ponds and along rocky coasts. It uses a variety of shelters, such as, crevices in rocks and under the roots of trees but it mainly uses dens called "holts" where the females give birth and bring up their young. The holt has a chamber above the level of the water and an exit under the water. There is also a air shaft connecting the chamber to the surface which opens out into the thick thorny bushes or brambles.

Physical Description
                The European otter has an elongated body, short legs with clawed webbed feet, flat head, small eyes and ears, broad muzzle with prominent whiskers, and a thick tail that tapers to a point. They can grow to a length of 2-3 ft with a height of 12 in. These otters are dusky brown in colour with a lighter-coloured belly. It has a white mark on the neck near the whiskers which is different in each individual and rather like an identity card for the animal.

The whole of the body is covered with guard hairs that are stiff and coarse and covered in an oil that the European otter produces. This oil acts as a water repellent and is so effective that the skin never gets wet.

Feeding Habits
The diet of the European otter is varied. It feeds upon fish, eels, insects, aquatic birds, frogs, small mammals and crustaceans. European otters found living along coastal waters have been found to feed mostly on crabs and dogfish.

The hunts mostly at night, cornering their prey in weeds and catching them in their mouths.


  

Behavior
The European otter is a solitary, nocturnal animal. It spends most of its day in a shelter which it changes nearly every day.
Solitary otters will occupy a territory of ten or twenty kilometers in length.

Otters are often described as playful and have been observed sliding down mud-banks or snowdrifts on their bellies. Both juveniles and adults will play, trot, gallop, slide, and chase each other in water. This behavior is thought to help young otters perfect their hunting techniques.

They are vocal, with basic calls of alarm, greeting, and mating as well as up to 12 other calls. Their voice consists of short, shrill whistling, yelps, whimpers, and high pitched screams of distress.

Scent glands at the base of their tail give off a heavy, musky smell that they use as a form of communication.  They will mark vegetation and logs with their scent to inform others of their territorial boundaries, identity and sexual state.

Reproduction
European otters become sexually mature at the age of 2 or 3 for males and 3 or 4 for females. There is no specific breeding season for European otters. Males will breed with more than one female and after a gestation period of 61 to 63 days the female will give birth to 1-3 pups and raise them alone.

The pups are born blind, naked and only 4 in. long. At six weeks the pups can see and are taught to swim. The mother will wean the pups at 4 months but the pups will stay with her until they are 8 to 12 months old. At that time, the pups will leave to find territories of their own.

Status
In Europe, over the last 30 years, there has been a severe decline in the number of otters. They were initially thought of as pests, being hunted to preserve Europe's salmon stock and then began being hunted for their fur.

 Since the onset of intensive farming, population increases, destruction of the river banks, construction of dams and the deterioration in water quality, the otters have virtually disappeared.

The European otter is protected under Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in Britain and is also protected in Northern Island. The otter is listed on Appendix 1 of CITES, Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Annexes II and IV of the Habitats Directive. It is protected under Schedule 5 of the WCA 1981 and Schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations, 1994 (Regulation 38). The European sub-species is also listed as globally threatened on the IUCN/WCMC RDL.

Links

                                                                                Joint Nature Conservation Committee

                                                                                Lady Wildlife-Save the European Otter

                                                                                International Otter Survival Fund

For more information, contact   Small Carnivore TAG-education liaison

Page created by Wendy Anderson, Fall 2003
Pensacola Junior College ZooTech Student