River Otters, by Sasha

All About River Otters

by Sasha

         River Otters have cool features.The color of a River Otter’s fur is grey, white, black, and, brown.  Their soft smooth fur is also waterproof.  Did you know a River Otter can be under water for at least eight minutes?  They can also close their ears and nostrils to keep the water out!Isn’t that cool!?  River Otters have webbed feet to help them swim well.  They can weigh up to eight to nine pounds!  They can also dive to about sixty feet!  They are also in the weasel family.

         River Otters eat fish like shellfish, crawfish,and fish heads but, they eat lots of other stuff too.  They also eat crustaceans, mollusks ,insects, birds, oysters, crabs, frogs, rodents, turtles, and aquatic invertebrates.  They hunt at night and during the day.  They additionally like to put food on their bellies and crush it up.

         River Otters live in many different places.  They can live in streams, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, the marine coasts, the United States, Canada, and the Rocky Mountains.

         River Otters love to play.  They love to slide on their bellies and play lots of fun games they made up with other River Otters.  They’re usually active at night.   That means they’re nocturnal.   They are also very sneaky.

River Otters have many different predators.  One of them is people because hunters hunt for their smooth and soft fur. They want their fur for coats, boots, pants, shoes, and mittens etc.  The other predator is bobcats. Bobcats want them because they want to eat them.  River Otters are endangered because of these predators.  Hunters have been hunting them since the seventeen hundreds to the eighteen hundreds!   That’s why there aren’t  many left in certain places.

         Scientist don’t know what the  population is because there are so many!  River Otters are so cool!

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!

Sasha's Writing Shared With the World!

Sasha's research paper is published on KidsBookyBubbles, a blog featuring kids' writing.  Click the screenshot above, or right here to read the full text, then respond to the piece by leaving a comment.