North American River Otter

September 27, 2018 – The North American river otter can weigh as much as 30 pounds and can grow to a length of almost four and half feet. Their sleek muscular body and webbed toes make them very efficient underwater swimmers, stirring the water up, and chasing prey, as they roll and make quick turns in their pursuit. The otter can hold its’ breath for as long as eight minutes and can cover some distance as it swims. Fish, frogs and crayfish are a big part of the otters diet, the otter is a carnivore, a predator with strong jaws and sharp teeth and will also take birds or other animals that are near the water. The river otter is a symbol or totem of many Native American groups, the Pottawatomie and the Seminole people see the river otter as one of their clan animals. The Ojibwa called the river otter Nigig, its’ skin, teeth and claws were used in their medicine bundles. The otter was hunted and trapped for its’ meat and skin, the skins were respectfully turned into pipe bags, pouches and quivers by the indigenous people of North America.

Once a common sight in Illinois, the river otter was all but wiped out by the mid 1800’s as human expansion continued and the settlers cleared and drained the wetlands. With no regulations and the wholesale trapping and shooting of these semi-aquatic creatures, any sightings were becoming quite rare. Most ponds, lakes and rivers were now void of this remarkable animal and they were now sadly missing from most of Illinois, with the exception of far southwestern Illinois in the area of the Cache river and along the Mississippi in the northwestern part of the state. Trapping was eventually closed for river otter in1929. By 1989 the otter was listed as endangered and the future for the North American river otter was not looking good here in Illinois. The population had shrunk to an all time low and there were only a few areas that held the total population of this species for the state, which was believed to be as low as 100. But there was hope as things were changing throughout Illinois, the health of our natural resources had improved and this presented an opportunity for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Conservation efforts on wetlands combined with the laws enacted over the past decade to improve water quality in the rivers and streams in Illinois were paying off and by the mid 90’s improved habitats existed where beaver were thriving and and beaver dams helped create wetlands with healthy aquatic systems and these positive changes to our natural areas was great news for the otter.

Reintroduction efforts were in the works for the DNR from 1994 through 1997 with the release of captured river otters from Louisiana. The released otters were reintroduced in central and southeastern Illinois. Around that same time the Indiana DNR was reintroducing river otter to a few watersheds in the northern and southern parts of the state. Today we see the results of those efforts of reintroduction, which would not have been possible without the conservation laws of the 70’s. The American river otter has expanded north and west in Illinois and into northeastern Illinois most likely out of Indiana using ditches and creeks and the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers. Today in Illinois river otters can be found in every county with an overall population that may be greater than 20,000 and possibly as high as 30,000. Recent sightings of river otters in our general area have been reported in Newton county Indiana where Jed Hertz photographed a pair on August 30th at the Black Oak Bayou of the LaSalle FWA. I also observed a single otter at the White Oak Slough of the LaSalle FWA along the Kankakee river. Jed recently encountered an otter east of Kankakee, in Kankakee county, on September 14th. I was able to photograph that particular individual over a number of days while observing its’ ability to hunt. The otter certainly seems to be an effective hunter catching large and small frogs along with a number of fish species. The small prey was consumed on the fly, but a large Bullfrog or fish required two to five minutes to consume before the hunt would continue.

 

Reference:

“Wildlife Directory: River Otter – Living with Wildlife – University of Illinois Extension, https://m.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory_show.cfm?species=river_otter

“River Otter.” Education, Illinois DNR, www.dnr.illinois.gov/conservation/wildlife/Pages/River-Otter.aspx

“North American River Otter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Sept. 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_river_otter

“The Ojibwe Native Americans.” The Ojibwe Native Americans – Traditions, http://ojibwenativeamericans.weebly.com/religion.html

webmaster@aaanativearts.com. “Potawatomi Bands and Clans:” Cherokee Houses, AAA Native Arts, https://www.aaanativearts.com/potawatomi/potawatomi_clans.htm