What physical features allow for the European River Otter to excel in water?

Geographic Range

Lutra lutra inhabits about of Eurasia south of the tundra line and N Africa. (MacDonald, 1984)

palearctic
- native

Habitat

Lutra lutra forage in water and nest on land. They inhabit rivers, lakes, streams, freshwater and peat swamp forests, ricefields, ocean shores, fjords, caves, and terrestrial habitats side by side to waterways. Covered dens and dry resting sites are plant in earth tunnnels, tree roots, boulder piles, shrubs, and banks. In its territory of 1 to 4 miles, each river otter has fixed locations for getting into and out of the water, rolling, sunbathing, and sliding on "otter stairways". (Grzimek 1990, Sivasothi 1994)

lakes and ponds
rivers and streams
littoral

Physical Clarification

endothermic
bilateral symmetry

Average mass

6750 chiliad

237.89 oz

AnAge
Average basal metabolic rate

25.104 W

AnAge

Reproduction

Lutra lutra has a continuous breeding cycle and female otters have a continuous heat bicycle. Mating can accept identify either in h2o or on land. The main mating flavor is from February to March and July. Gestation lasts 60 to 70 days and weaning occurs at 3 months. Each female river otter usually gives birth to 2 or three cubs which are 99 to 122gm at birth. The cubs' eyes open after 1 month and they begin to leave the nest later on two months. The young stay with their mothers for up to xiv months and achieve sexual maturity subsequently two or 3 years. (Heggberget 1994, Grzimek 1990)

gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
sexual

Boilerplate number of offspring

2

AnAge
Boilerplate gestation period

61 days

AnAge
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female

548 days

AnAge
Boilerplate age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male person

548 days

AnAge

Lifespan/Longevity

Average lifespan
Condition: captivity

22.0 years

Max Planck Found for Demographic Inquiry

Beliefs

River otters can swoop for upward to two minutes underwater and are most active at dusk and during the nighttime.

Lutra lutra are basically alone animals with only temporary pairing of mates or mothers with their young, although they are sometimes found in loosely knit groups of upward to six animals.

Otters are often described as playful and have been observed sliding down mudbanks or snowdrifts on their bellies. Both juvenile and adult L. lutra play, trot, gallop, slide, and chase each other in h2o. This behavior is thought to help young otters perfect their hunting techniques.

Lutra lutra are vocal, with basic calls of alarm, greeting, and mating as well as up to 12 other calls. The vocalisation of Fifty.lutra consists of short, shrill whistling, yelps, whimpers, and loftier pitched screams of distress.

River otters have paired scent glands at the base of their tail which give off a heavy, musky smell. Scent marking is a form of advice betwixt otters about the territorial boundaries, identity, and sexual state of each otter. Otters non only marker vegetation and logs with their scent but cover their fur likewise. (MacDonald 1984, Sivasothi 1994)

motile

Communication and Perception

tactile
chemical

Food Habits

Lutra lutra individuals eat fish, crustaceans, clams, small mammals and amphibians, birds, eggs, insects, worms, and a small-scale amount of vegetation. They utilise their vibrissae (whiskers) equally sensing organs underwater to monitor the movements of fishes and other prey. River otters chase and feed several times a solar day, consuming almost 1kg of food daily. (Grzimek 1990, MacDonald 1984, Heggberget 1994)

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

The pelts of river otters are considered to exist valuable to humans. (Grzimek 1990)

Economical Importance for Humans: Negative

In the past river otters were considered to be the principal competition of fishermen and a bounty was paid past the Swiss goverment for each otter killed. (Sivasothi 1994)

Conservation Status

IUCN Red Listing

Near Threatened
More than information

Contributors

Susan Kennedy (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Sometime Earth. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

bilateral symmetry: having torso symmetry such that the animal can exist divided in i aeroplane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemic: uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

coastal: the nearshore aquatic habitats near a coast, or shoreline.

endothermic: animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although information technology may take arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

motile: having the capacity to motility from one identify to another.

native range: the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

sexual: reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

tactile: uses affect to communicate

References

Corbet, Yard. and J. Loma. 1992. The Mammals of the Indomalayan Region. Oxford Academy Press, NY.

Grzimek'southward Encyclopedia of Mammals. Vol 3. 1990. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, NY.

Heggberget, T. and H. Christensen. 1994. Reproductive timing in Eurasian otters on the coast of Norway. Ecography 17: 339-348.

Heggberget, T. and Thousand. Moseid. 1994. Prey selection in coastal Eurasian otters Lutra lutra. Ecography 17: 331-338.

MacDonald, D. 1984. Encyclopedia of Mammals. Facts on File Publications, NY.

Sivasothi, N. and B. Nor. 1994. A review of otters (Carnivora: Mustelidae: Lutrinae) in Malaysia and Singapore. Hydrobiologia 285: 151-170.

Tate, G. 1947. Mammals of Eastern Asia. The Macmillan Company, NY.

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Source: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lutra_lutra/