Otter

Otter Temporal range: Middle Miocene to present[1]
Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Lutrinae Bonaparte, 1838
Type genus
Lutra Brünnich, 1771
Genera
Aonyx Enhydra Hydrictis Lontra Lutra Lutrogale Pteronura †Enhydriodon[2][3] †Algarolutra †Cyrnaonyx †Megalenhydris †Sardolutra †Siamogale †Teruelictis †Satherium †Enhydritherium

Otters are carnivorous

An otter's den is called a holt, or couch. Male otters are called dogs or boars; females are called bitches or sows; and their offspring are called pups or cubs.[6]^[7] The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp (being descriptive of their often playful nature), or, when in water, raft.^[8][9]

The feces of otters are typically identified by their distinctive aroma, the smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish;^[10] these are known as spraints.^[11]

Life cycle

The gestation period in otters is about 60 to 86 days. The newborn pup is cared for by the bitch, dog, and older offspring. Female otters reach sexual maturity at approximately two years of age and males at approximately three years. The holt is built under tree roots or a rocky cairn, more common in Scotland. It is lined with moss and grass.

After one month, the pup can leave the holt and after two months, it is able to swim. The pup lives with its family for approximately one year. Otters live up to 16 years; they are by nature playful, and frolic in the water with their pups. Its usual source of food is fish, and further downriver, eels, but it may sample frogs and birds.

Description

Otters have long, slim bodies and relatively short limbs. Their most striking anatomical features are the powerful

Several otter species live in cold waters and have high

Extant species

Image	Genus	Species
	Lutra Brisson, 1762	Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) Hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana)
	Hydrictis Pocock, 1921	Spotted-necked otter (Hydrictis maculicollis)
	Lutrogale (Gray, 1865)	Smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)
	Lontra Gray, 1843	North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) Southern river otter (Lontra provocax) Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) Marine otter (Lontra felina)
	Pteronura Gray, 1837	Giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis)
	Aonyx Lesson, 1827	African clawless otter (Aonyx capensis) Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus) Congo clawless otter (Aonyx congicus)
	Enhydra Fleming, 1828	Sea otter (Enhydra lutris)

Extinct species

Subfamily Lutrinae

• Genus Lutra
  • †Lutra castiglionis – Corsica, Pleistocene^[15]
  • †Lutra euxena – Malta, Pleistocene
  • †Japanese otter (Lutra nippon) – Japan, extinct c. 1979
• Genus Lutrogale
  • †
    Lutrogale cretensis^[16]
• Genus Enhydra
  • †Enhydra macrodonta
  • †Enhydra reevei
• Genus †Algarolutra – Corsica and Sardinia, Pleistocene^[16]
• Genus †Cyrnaonyx – Europe, Pleistocene^[17]
• Genus †Enhydriodon – Ethiopia, Late Miocene to Pliocene^[18]
• Genus †Enhydritherium – North America, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene^[19]

• Genus †Lutraeximia – Italy, Pleistocene^[20]
• Genus †Limnonyx – Germany, Late Miocene^[21]
• Genus †Megalenhydris – Sardinia, Pleistocene^[22]
• Genus †Paludolutra – Italy, Late Miocene^[23]
• Genus †Sardolutra – Sardinia, Pleistocene^[16]
• Genus †Siamogale – eastern Asia, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene^[23]
• Genus †Sivaonyx – Asia and Africa, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene^[24]
• Genus †Teruelictis – Spain, Late Miocene^[25]
• Genus †Torolutra – Africa, Pliocene^[24]
• Genus †Tyrrhenolutra – Italy, Late Miocene^[23]
• Genus †Vishnuonyx – Europe, Asia and Africa, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene^[24]

Relation with humans

Hunting

Otters have been hunted for their pelts from at least the 1700s, although it may have begun well before then. Early hunting methods included darts, arrows, nets and snares but later, traps were set on land and guns used.

There has been a long history of otter pelts being worn around the world. In China it was standard for the royalty to wear robes made from them. People that were financially high in status also wore them. The tails of otters were often made into items for men to wear. These included hats and belts. Even some types of mittens for children have been made from the fur of otters.^[26]

Otters have also been hunted using dogs, especially the otterhound.^[27] From 1958 to 1963, the 11 otter hunts in England and Wales killed 1,065 otters between them. In such hunts, the hunters notched their poles after every kill. The prized trophy that hunters would take from the otters was the baculum, which would be worn as a tie-pin.^[28]

Traffic (the wildlife trade monitoring network) reported that otters are at serious risk in Southeast Asia and have disappeared from parts of their former range. This decline in populations is due to hunting to supply the demand for skins.^[29]

Fishing for humans

For many generations, fishermen in southern Bangladesh have bred smooth-coated otters and used them to chase fish into their nets. Once a widespread practice, passed down from father to son throughout many communities in Asia, this traditional use of domesticated wild animals is still in practice in the district of Narail, Bangladesh.^[30][31]

Attacks on humans

A 2011 review by the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group showed that otter attacks reported between 1875 and 2010 occurred most often in Florida, where human and otter populations have substantially increased since 2000, with the majority involving the North American otter. At least 42 instances of attack were found, including one resulting in death and another case of serious injury. Attacking otters had rabies in 36% of anecdotal reports.^[32] 80% of otter bite victims do not seek medical treatment.^[33]

Animal welfare groups say that, unless threatened, otters rarely attack humans.^[34] In November 2021, about 20 otters ambushed a British man in his 60s during an early morning walk in Singapore Botanic Gardens. Despite weighing over 200 pounds, he was trampled and bitten and could not stand up without help from a nearby rescuer. The man speculated that another runner might have stepped on one of the animals earlier, and wished that there could be more lighting installed at that location.^[34]

Religion and mythology

In Irish mythology, the character Lí Ban was turned from a woman into a mermaid, half human and half salmon, and given three hundred years of life to roam the oceans. Her lapdog assumed the form of an otter and shared her prolonged lifetime and her extensive wanderings.

In some Native American cultures, otters are considered

The otter is held to be a clean animal belonging to Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrian belief, and taboo to kill.^[37]

In popular Korean mythology, it is told that people who see an otter (soodal) will attract 'rain clouds' for the rest of their lives.^[38]

In the Buddhist Jataka tales, The Otters and The Wolf, two otters agreed to let a wolf settle their dispute in dividing their caught fish but it was taken away by the cunning wolf.^[39]

Japanese folklore

In Japanese, otters are called "kawauso" (獺、川獺). In Japanese folklore, they fool humans in the same way as foxes (kitsune) and tanuki.

In the Noto region, Ishikawa Prefecture, there are stories where they shapeshift into beautiful women or children wearing checker-patterned clothing. If a human attempts to speak to one, they will answer "oraya" and then answer "araya," and if anybody asks them anything, they say cryptic things like "kawai."^[40][41] There are darker stories, such as one from Kaga Province (now Ishikawa Prefecture) in which an otter that lives in the castle's moat shapeshifts into a woman, invites males, and then kills and eats them.^[42]

In the

In the town of Numatachi, Asa District, Hiroshima Prefecture (now Hiroshima), they are called "tomo no kawauso" (伴のカワウソ) and "ato no kawauso" (阿戸のカワウソ). It is said that they shapeshift into bōzu (a kind of monk) and appear before passers-by, and if the passer-by tries to get close and look up, its height steadily increases until it becomes a large bōzu.^[44]

In the Tsugaru region, Aomori Prefecture, they are said to possess humans. It is said that those possessed by otters lose their stamina as if their soul has been extracted.^[45] They are also said to shapeshift into severed heads and get caught in fishing nets.^[45]

In the Kashima District and the Hakui District in Ishikawa Prefecture, they are seen as a yōkai under the name kabuso or kawaso. They perform pranks like extinguishing the fire of the paper lanterns of people who walk on roads at night, shapeshifting into a beautiful woman of 18 or 19 years of age and fooling people, or tricking people and making them try to engage in sumo against a rock or a tree stump.^[41] It is said that they speak human words, and sometimes people are called and stopped while walking on roads.^[46]

In the Ishikawa and Kochi Prefectures, they are said to be a type of kappa, and there are stories told about how they engage in sumo with otters.^[41] In places like the Hokuriku region, Kii, and Shikoku, the otters are seen as a type of kappa.^[47] In the Kagakushū, a dictionary from the Muromachi period, an otter that grew old becomes a kappa.^[48]

In an Ainu folktale, in Urashibetsu (in

In China, like in Japan, there are stories where otters shapeshift into beautiful women in old books like In Search of the Supernatural and the Zhenyizhi (甄異志).^[43]

See also

• Reniculate kidney

References

External links

Wikispecies has information related to lutrinae.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lutrinae.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Otter".

• The dictionary definition of otter at Wiktionary
• IUCN SSC Otter Specialist Group
• ARKive Photographs and videos of Eurasian otters. On the same site are photos and videos of the marine otter (Lontra felina), sea otter (Enhydra lutris), smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) and giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis).
• International Otter Survival Fund