Page 25 - World of Animals - Issue #33

Otters of the world

BELOW
ASIAN SMALL-CLAWED Doting mothers look
OTTER a er their young for

Aonyx cinereus almost a year, fi nding food
Class Mammalia and keeping them safe
Spotted-necked

Territory India, Taiwan,
southern China otters make

Diet Crabs, catfish, rodents,
snakes
Lifespan 11-16 years excellent parents
Adult weight 1-5.4kg (2.2-
11.9lb)
Conservation status Young stay in their dens
SPOTTED-NECKED for three months relying
OTTER solely on their mother
VULNERABLE Hydrictis maculicollis
Class Mammalia Found in large freshwater
The expert crab catcher rivers, spotted-necked
otters are very dependent
on water containing high
Despite their size they are amazing at catching crabs Territory Africa densities of fish for survival

Diet Fish, crabs, frogs, insects, and they rarely venture
Wherever there are crabs, there are of time on land doesn’t faze them. Being birds further than ten metres
Asian small-clawed otters. They can be the smallest of all the otter species, it is Lifespan 8 years (32.8 feet) from a water
found in habitats from mangroves and much easier for them to sneak around Adult weight 5.7-6.5kg (13- source. Females care for
14lb)
swamps, to tidal pools and rice fields. undetected by predators. In some areas Conservation status their young alone and once

Unlike other otters, as long as there is their presence is a godsend, acting as a they have given birth, the
enough vegetation to provide adequate natural control of small crabs, which are pups enter the world blind,
cover, spending a considerable amount agricultural pests. NEAR THREATENED
helpless, and dependent.
Smooth-coated

otters hunt in packs

This amazing example of coordinated hunting means
the smooth-coated otter will never go hungry SMOOTH-COATED
OTTER
In Malaysia, a group of smooth-coated otters were spotted Lutrogale perspicillata
hunting in packs but instead of diving and rummaging Class Mammalia
around the riverbed with their paws like most otters,
these ones had developed a very impressive technique.
By swimming in a V-formation nearly as wide as the
watercourse, they caused widespread panic amongst the Territory India and Southeast
fish, which then leapt out of the water in a desperate bid Asia

to escape and when they did, the otters were there to Diet Fish, reptiles, frogs,
insects, crustaceans
catch them with open mouths. Lifespan 4-10 years
“Swimming in a V-formation Adult weight 7-11kg (15-24lb)
Conservation status
they caused widespread VULNERABLE

panic amongst the fish”

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