Up Close and Personal
with a River Otter
U
By Shauneen Hutchinson
nless you have looked carefully
Provided by Luanne Johnson
and purposefully, the chances
are excellent that you have never
seen a river otter on Kiawah
Island. They are here, and have been for centuries,
but there are plenty of reasons you might have
missed them. Quite honestly, much of the time
they may appear as a single log or a collection of
dead logs. Males are about four-feet-long, weigh
about 25 pounds, and have upper bodies that are
predominantly dark brown or black. Furthermore,
they tend to live in out-of-the-way places along
estuaries, blackwater swamps, and coastal marshes.
To make finding them even more challenging, they
tend to be nocturnal, limiting most of their activity
to periods of time when Island residents are not
out searching for wildlife. Despite these challenges,
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seeing a river otter is a great treat, so knowing a
few basic facts may help you spot one.
North American river otters (Lontra
canadensis—from Lutra, the early European name
and “of Canada”) are semiaquatic mammals from
a weasel family that includes minks and beavers.
Typically they are found along waterways in
underground dens complete with tunnel openings
to allow entry into the water. They often make
their dens from those abandoned by other animals,
for instance, beavers, or in hollow logs. They
have streamlined, muscular bodies, one-third of
which is a long, strong tail, with their dimensions
varying slightly from head to tail, thus giving
them the rounded appearance of a log. They can
remain underwater for up to eight minutes and are
talented swimmers, as well as fast runners.