River Otters, by Penny

A River Otter’s Life

By Penny M.

River otters have some very helpful features. Otters are mammals,so that means they’re warm blooded. Otters fur is brown , gray , and black with lighter undersides , and thick blubbery skin. They have long skinny whiskers. Baby otters have fluffy fur. They can close their ears and nostrils to keep water out. An adult otter has thirty two sharp teeth , and sometimes their teeth are purple from eating purple sea urchins. Otters can look like that.

River otters sometimes behave strangely. They can have 1-6 babies but 3 or 4 are most common. When male otters want to mate they leave a musky scent to tell females they will mate with them , when they meet up they swim in circles and play. Groups are made up of females and their pups(baby otters). Otters can live up to 9 years! Otters do most things at night. They are mostly not friendly to humans. They can stay underwater for a whole 8 minutes , and can dive a depth of 60 feet underwater! Otters chuckle or chirp when alone , and cough loudly when danger is near to warn other otters. They like to play “hide and pounce” and sliding on slopes. Otters can act in very different ways!

          A river otter has a carnivorous diet. Otters mostly eat fish. They also eat the most convenient food sources, such as turtles, rodents, frogs, crayfish, crabs, shellfish, oysters, birds, insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and animals that live in the water. Otters will hunt day or night. Otters float on their backs and use their bellies as tables, and use rocks to crack or open their food.

Otters have many interesting habitats. They are found near rivers north of Mexico. Otters will only live in places with something over their heads such as plants. They need places with high water quality. Otters live where food is easy to find. River otters can live in streams, lakes, and wetlands. They can live in North, Central, and South America, they also live in Europe, Arika [which is in Peur], and Asia. People are starting to put river otters back in the Rocky Mountain region.  They are hard to count but people think there’s about 100,000. Otters can be seen in those places.

     River otters have a small number of predators. Bobcats are known to kill otters. Humans are also enemies to the otters. Humans hunt otters for their smooth skin. When predators are near, otters scream and show teeth to scare them away. Those are the otters predators.

So in conclusion river otters are awesome!