Southern river otter
| Southern river otter | ||||||||||||
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Preparation of a southern river otter in the Museo de la Patagonia "Francisco P. Moreno" in Bariloche |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lontra provocax | ||||||||||||
| ( Thomas , 1908) |
The southern river otter ( Lontra provocax ), also known as the Patagonian otter , is a predator in the genus New World otter . The species lives in Patagonia in southern Chile and Argentina .
description
The southern river otter is a medium-sized species of otter and reaches a body length of 57 to 61 cm, has a 35 to 40 cm long tail and weighs 5 to 10 kg. Males are usually 10% larger than females. The fur is dark brown, the belly is light cinnamon brown. The neck and throat are gray. The strong skull is flat, the teeth are adapted to the biting of crustaceans. Both the front and rear feet are webbed.
Habitat and way of life
The southern river otter lives on the banks of rivers, lakes and in the marshland on the Pacific coast. In Argentina it has been observed that it prefers old riparian forests with a lot of undergrowth, in Chile it was found that the species occurs more on larger rivers than on small streams. Here the species occurs mainly in bodies of water with dense, evergreen bank vegetation, cleared root stocks and driftwood that has washed ashore. Channeled rivers, on the other hand, are avoided. Southern river otters are mostly nocturnal and rarely seen during the day. They spend the day in caves or under roots that are 0.7 to 50 meters from the shore and about 3 to 8 meters above the water level.
Southern river otters feed mainly on small fish (<10 cm) and crustaceans. In addition, mollusks and small water birds captured. In central Chile, fish is mainly consumed in spring and summer, and small fish are the most important part of the diet on the Pacific coast of southern Chile. In Argentina, studies have been carried out on populations of the species that feed on crustaceans for more than 95%, as the fish population in southern Argentine freshwater lakes is low.
The young are born about 10 to 12 months after mating, with the embryo resting for a longer period of time, the actual gestation is therefore assumed to be 2 months. Before birth, the female builds a burrow in which the blind and helpless young animals are born. The mother's milk is very nutritious and the young animals start eating solid food after about 7 weeks. They open their eyes after about a month and start their first swimming attempts in the third month. About a month later they can hunt themselves, and sexual maturity occurs after 2 to 3 years. The mortality rate is very high and only about one percent of the animals live to be older than 10 years, most die before the age of five. Females form smaller family groups with their offspring, while males live lonely outside of the mating season.
threat
No specific natural predators are known for the southern river otter. The species used to be hunted intensively as a fur supplier and even today it falls victim to several illegal hunters. Other negative influences are habitat destruction and water pollution. Today there are only larger populations in the Nahuel Huapi National Park , in the Tierra del Fuego National Park and at Isla de los Estados . Therefore the species is listed as endangered by the IUCN .
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d Serge Larivière & Andrew P. Jennings: Family Mustelidae (Weasels and relatives). in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 1 Carnivores. Lynx Editions, 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 . Page 643.
- ↑ Lontra provocax in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Sepulveda, M., Franco, M., Medina, G., Fasola, L. & Alvarez, R., 2008. Accessed February 3, 2011th
Web links
- Lontra provocax in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Sepulveda, M., Franco, M., Medina, G., Fasola, L. & Alvarez, R., 2008. Accessed February 3, 2011th
- Haase, W. 2003 Lontra provocax , Animal Diversity Web, visited February 3, 2011.
- Coastal otter competitor ( Memento from December 26, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), visited February 3, 2011.