Hi everyone
Giant Otters have to be high on every wildlife watcher’s wish list
but the only way to see them in the wild is on a tour to South America.
So, before you go, here’s everything you need to know about what makes Giant Otters so special.
The giant otter is the longest of the otter species
but shares a similar weight with the sea otter.
Male giant otters can attain a length of 1.5-1.7m (4.9-5.6ft).
Females are smaller at 1-1.5m (3.3-4.9ft).
Their long tail may add as much as 70cm (28in) to this body length.
An average giant otter will weigh between 22 and 32kg (49-71lbs).
Giant otter fur is the shortest of all the otter species.
This fur is densely packed so that no water can penetrate through to the skin.
They have an inner coat which is surrounded
by guard hairs that keep the water off their actual coat.
The fur is coloured brown in most specimens though it can be fawn or red in some.
On the throat is an assortment of white patterns.
These patterns are different on each other
and help them to distinguish each other in the group.
The legs are stubby and short.
At the end the feet are webbed and also have sharp claws.
Habitat
These animals make their home in freshwater rivers and streams.
Most of these flood throughout the year.
Most of the time this species will chose the clear, sandy or rocky
bottomed rivers over those that are salty, saline and white.
Preferred habitats include riverbank high forests,
floodable mixed marsh and high swamp forest, floodable low marsh forest
and an open area within the creek.
Behaviour
Giant otters are incredibly social.
Their groups include 2 to 20 members but average 3-8.
These otters work together when playing, travelling, feeding and sleeping together.
This species maintains a den which they dig under fallen logs or into a river bank.
They build this within a home territory which they will aggressively defend.
Giant otters wake up during the day making them diurnal.
Diet
Each day the giant otter consumes between 3 and 4 kilograms (6-9lbs) of food.
A major portion of this diet will consist of fish.
They also feed upon crustaceans, snakes, small caimans and anacondas.
Their diet varies throughout the year due to the migrations of the fish.
Giant otters are members of the weasel family.
Giant otters are excellent swimmers and divers thanks to their short,
webbed feet and flattened tail.
They swim 9 miles per hour and pass distance of 330 feet in 30 seconds.
Giant otter have small ears and nostrils which close each time they dive under water.
Giant otters spend most of the time in water because they feed mostly on fish
and because they require large quantities of food.
Giant otters have well developed sense of sight, used primarily for the hunting.
Besides eyes, they use the whiskers to detect the prey in the water
by identifying changes in the water pressure and current.
Giant otters do not store food.
When they catch a prey, they will find a peaceful place ("picnic spot") to eat it.
Giant otters are very loud animals.
They produce around 9 different types of sounds, such as quick barks,
explosive snorts, wavering screams or low growls,
to inform other otters about potential danger (alarm sound) or to send aggressive warning.
Giant otters mate throughout whole years,
but most babies are born during the dry season.
Pregnancy lasts 64 to 72 days, and female gives birth between one and six babies.
They spend their first month in a den, which is usually located underground.
All members of the group take care of the young.
After two or three weeks after they are born,
mother puts babies in the water where they learn to swim.
In month or two, they become proficient swimmers and can hunt with the rest of their family.
They stay within the family group usually until they reach sexual maturity, at age of 2.5 years.
Giant otters live 12 years in the wild and up to 21 years in captivity.
The sleek and agile otters can more than hold their own in a confrontation with a big cat
that has invaded their riverbank.
In fact, some local Amazon tribes call the Giant Otter an ‘aquatic jaguar’.
During the rainy season, they also inhabit flooded tropical forests.
The species can be found across the continent including Peru, Venezuela,
Guyana, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador,
although their populations are not stable and are often sparse.
Their diet also includes birds, small mammals, invertebrates.
The established territory is then marked by scent from the animals' anal glands.
If intruders invade the family's territory,
the parents will defend it and their family members.
These animals are most active from 10-11 am and from 3-5 pm.
They take a nap at mid-day during really warm weather.
A family has a home range of 12 sq. km.
A family consists of a mated pair and their offspring of several generation.
The family members clear an area beside a stream for their living quarters,
of up to 50 sq meters, usually near feeding sites.
Aquatic Adaptations
These huge members of the weasel family swim by propelling themselves
with their powerful tails and flexing their long bodies.
Like most other otter species, giant otters come ashore to give birth.
The giant otter shows a variety of adaptations suitable to an amphibious lifestyle.
Giant otter muzzles are short and sloping and give the head a ball-shaped appearance.
The nose is completely covered in fur, with only the two slit-like nostrils visible.
It constructs extensive campsites close to feeding areas, clearing large amounts of vegetation.
The giant otter's hearing is acute and its sense of smell is excellent.
Above water, it is able to recognize observers at great distances.
Mothers give birth to furred
and blind cubs in an underground den near the river shore and fishing sites.
The giant otter seems to prefer prey fish that are generally immobile on river bottoms
in clear water.
Prey chase is rapid and tumultuous,
with lunges and twists through the shallows and few missed targets.
The otter can attack from both above and below,
swiveling at the last instant to clamp the prey in its jaws.
Predation and competition
Adult giant otters living in family groups have no known serious natural predators,
however there are some accounts of black caimans in Peru
and yacare caimans in the Pantanal preying on giant otters.
In addition, solitary animals and young may be vulnerable to attacks by the jaguar,
cougar, and anaconda, but this is based on historical reports,
not direct observation.
When in the water, the giant otter faces danger from animals not strictly preying upon it:
the electric eel and stingray are potentially deadly if stumbled upon,
and piranha may be capable of at least taking bites out of a giant otter,
as evidenced by scarring on individuals.
The mating season usually occurs in late spring and early summer,
but breeding has been known to take place at other times of the year.
RANGE:
These otters occur throughout virtually the entire Amazon Basin
and northward onto the Guiana Shield in countries such as Suriname and Guyana.
Expert fishers:
Giant Otters feast on several species of Amazonian catfish and Characins.
Giant river otters can eat piranhas.
Are giant otters endangered?
Giant otters are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List,
and were last assessed in June 2014.
In previous assessments, they were listed as Vulnerable (1982-1996)
and then Endangered (2000 onwards).
The species is threatened by habitat contamination and degradation,
overfishing of their prey and conflicts with fishermen,
infrastructure such as roads and hydroelectric dams, and climate change.
Individual subpopulations of giant otters are small and fragmented,
and population recovery is limited by late maturity,
late breeding age, suspected low transient survival and low cub survival.
Ecological Importance
The Giant Otter is a top predator in aquatic systems,
and therefore control prey species population sizes to help keep the river ecosystem in balance.
They are also good ‘indicator’ species,
meaning the population health of the giant river otter
is representative of the health of the entire river ecosystem.
Giant otters can also move quickly over land,
often travelling several hundred metres to get one from area of water to another.
Though their tendency when confronted is to dive and flee,
otters can be aggressive when defending their young
or a food source from a perceived threat.
When two otters meet, they typically engage in an act known as periscoping,
in which each otter raises its throat and chest above the water
so that it can be recognized by the other.
It can compete for food with other species such as the black caiman,
the neotropical river otter, and, of course, the human.
They’re semi-aquatic mammals,
which means that they need both land and water habitat to survive.
The most consumed species are the wolf fish,the curimata, and various sardine species.
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