North American River Otter
Lontra canadensis
Summary 2
Lontra canadensis (North American otter) is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to the North America. Weighing between 5.0 and 14 kg (11.0 and 31 lb). The river otter has fur ranging from brown to velvety black and a long streamlined body (picture 1). Sexes of Lontra canadensis are identical in appearance, but males on average are around five percent larger than females. Lontra canadensis (North American otter) tracks share many characteristics with their weasel family relatives and are often hard to differentiate with the five toed tracks and a C-shaped palm pad (pictures 3,4). Fortunately Lontra canadensis (North American otter) swims, and slides but does not climb trees contrary to its relative. Otter tracks can be determined by slide patterns in snow downhill and uphill (picture 2). Scat is often poorly formed blackish splats but can be a tubular shape and commonly include various prey species (fish scales or exoskeletons of invertebrates). Scat including fish scales is specific to Lontra canadensis, and can be a determining factor when categorizing scat (picture 5). Otters will often deposit scat onto prominent objects in the habitat such as rocks and logs. Lontra canadensis is found in Iron County, and is extant in all of North America.
Sources and Credits
- (c) haileywallace, all rights reserved
- Adapted by haileywallace from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lontra_canadensis
