Eurasian otter
| European Otter | ||||||||||||||
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| Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758) |
The European Otter, Lutra lutra, is a European member of the Mustelidae or weasel family, and is typical of freshwater otters. It may also be known as the Eurasian river otter, common otter, or Old World otter.
Range and Habitat
The European otter is the most widely distributed otter species, its name being something of a misnomer, as their range includes parts of Asia and Africa, as well as being spread across Europe. The otter is believed to be extinct in Lichtenstein, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
Otters mainly eat fish but also eat insects, frogs, crustaceans and sometimes small mammals. They are generally more active at night, but are active during the day where undisturbed by human activity.
Behaviour
Otters are strongly territorial, living alone for the most part, with individual's home ranges varying between 1-40km, depending on the density of food available. Males and females will breed at any time of the year when mating takes place in water. After a gestation period of about 63 days
Otters breed in the spring, but delay implantation of the fertilized egg, so that the young are born in late winter or early spring. Mating occurs in water.
Conservation
Trapping for their dense fur has been has been the main conservation risk for many otter species, but the European otter faces another threat.