Otters are members of the weasel family. (Mustelidae- "mustelids"- meaning that they
      have musk glands) Weasel family members include: badgers, minks, ermines, wolverines,
      fishers, pine-martens, weasels, domestic ferrets, black-footed ferrets, stoats, skunks,
      otters and sea otters. (there are a few more, but I can't think of any others right now)

           There are several species of otters, two live in the United States and Canada-
                   the Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) and
                   the River Otter (Lutra canadensis, or "Lontra canadensis")

First, a little about the River Otter's sea-faring cousin....

           Sea otters are larger than river otters, their back feet are almost like flippers, they
      rarely come out onto land, and they are one of the few animals that use tools. They are
      considered to be the largest weasel on average, and the smallest marine (sea) mammal.
      Length is around 4-5 feet (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 metres) from nose to tail, normal weight ranges
      between 50 to 80 pounds (22-36 Kg) or more. Their soft fur is extremely thick, even
      more than a river otter's fur. The fur is denser, meaning there are more hairs per square
      inch, and is longer -up to an inch or more- than a river otter's fur. Sea otters depend on
      their fur to survive in the cold ocean water. They are the only "full-time" sea mammals
      that don't have a layer of fat- "blubber"- that animals such as whales and seals have.
      Otters must keep their fur waterproof and in excellent condition. Because of this, they
      spend much of the time grooming and rubbing their fur. Air is blown and rubbed into the
      fur, creating a layer of insulation between their body and the cold sea. Pollutants in the
      water, such as oil or petroleum products, cause the fur to loose it's insulating ability.
      Once the otter becomes chilled, it could die very quickly. The petroleum can also act
      like a poison when the otter ingests it while trying to clean it from it's fur. That is why
      an oil spill can be so dangerous to the little sea mammal.
           Sea otters are found in the north Pacific Ocean- from the northernmost islands off
      Japan, and the Kamchatka Penninsula of Russia, over to the Alutian Islands and along
      Alaska's south coast. There are scattered small colonies for British Columbia (the west
      side of Vancouver Island) and the coast of Washington state. A few may stray into
      Oregon. Farther south, a population of roughly 2000+ individuals live along the central
      California coast (Monterey Bay down to San Luis Obispo Bay), and a few are around
      San Nicolas Island of the Channel Islands south of Santa Barbara (those otters are
      from Monterey Bay). Only the populations around Alaska are large and widespread
      enough where the danger of extinction is low. Sea otters tend to live in colonies,
      lone individuals are rare.
 
           Sea otters are one of the few animals that use tools. They use rocks to crack open
      the shells of the animals they eat, sometimes saving the rock to use it again. Sometimes,
      the rock is flat and large enough to use like a table, in this case, the shell is beaten on
      the rock instead. The "tap...tap...tap..." can be heard from a considerable distance away.
           Sea otters eat sea urchins, starfish, abalone, clams, and sometimes fish and other
      small sea animals. Sea otters mainly live around kelp beds ("forests")- they often wrap
      themselves with the long kelp strands, which tend to keep the otter from drifting away
      while sleeping. There is a considerable connection, a "symbiosis", between those kelp
      forests and sea otters. The sea urchin is a major feeder of kelp, eating the bases of the
      kelp which then causes the kelp drift off and die. If there is an overpopulation of sea
      urchins, the kelp begins to disappear, and that causes a reduction in other animals that
      depend on the kelp for survival. The sea otter is a major predator of these spiny animals,
      so they keep the sea urchin populations in check. Where there are otters, the kelp grows
      thick and strong, creating an ideal environment for fish and all other sea life.
 
           Sea otters were almost hunted to extinction by 1900 for their fur, and were then pro-
      tected by law after 1911. The sea otter was feared to have disappeared off the California
      coast completely, but a small colony was found south of Carmel in the '30's. All of the
      sea otters in California are from that colony, they are now considered to be a subspecies
      separate from their more northern relatives. These otters are slowly expanding at the ends
      of their range. The Washington state and British Columbia populations were started from
      otters brought from Alaska, to return the sea otter to more areas within its historical
      range. At this time these small colonies of sea otters are slowly growing.

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
           River otters are more "terrestrial" than their ocean cousins. They spend more of
      their time on land than in water, but are easier seen when they are in or along the water.
      River otters can be found along coastal regions if there are fresh water streams or lakes
      nearby, and even venture out to sea themselves, but they will always come back to shore
      quickly. Sometimes river otters may search around tidepools or salt water marshes for
      animals to eat, or simply may explore around for a den. Farther inland, river otters live
      around lakes, ponds, and streams. Otters will use anything they consider suitable for
      a den. They will usually choose dens that other animals have made in the past, especially
      beaver and muskrat dens. Sometimes even a squirrel hole will do, if the otter can make
      it larger. Often spaces under riverbanks where the current has made a cavity are ideal den
      sites that an otter will like. If these can't be found, a grass nest under a thicket of brush
      will do. An otter will always prefer any site where it can dive into the water if necessary,
      either to hide, or to get a quick meal.
           Otters are usually seen around some body of water, but sometimes will cross over on
      land far away from water while travelling. They can get along land as well as they can go
      through the water. Some otters will roam about for long distances before setting up their
      territories, which will always be along waterways and where food can be easily found.
      Males may travel up to 100 miles or more after they leave their mothers, which usually
      happens when the young male is around one year old. Females sometimes may stay with
      their mothers until they are 2 or 3 years old, and have even been found helping Mother
      babysit her new set of cubs, before having babies themselves. Most otters will be found
      together:
           a group of males, a group of females with or without young,
           a single mother with young, or a mating pair,
      They often hunt for food together, working their way up or down a stream as a group,
      but they will eat their catch separately. Occasionally a single otter will be seen foraging,
      or when travelling to another area. While a mother has her young babies she will keep all
      other otters away from the immediate area of the nest/den until the babies are a couple
      of months old. Father otters have rarely been known to protect and help care for their
      cubs, if they've been "weened", but usually only the mother will raise and protect the cubs.
      River otters do not mate for life- they will often change mates, as the males move about
      quite a bit, and a single male may mate with more than one female each year.
           Otters mate in the spring, but won't have their babies until the following spring or late
      winter. The process that causes the babies to be born a year after conception is called
      "delayed implantation". This is where the fertilized egg stays free-floating in the mother's
      uterous for many months before implanting into the uterine wall. Actual developement of
      the fetus is about 63 days, quite close to a dog or cat. In California, and along the Gulf
      Coast, babies are born in February through March. Farther north, babies may arrive as
      late as mid April. The mother otter will mate again just a few weeks after she has given
      birth, so that she can have a new set of cubs each year.
           When the cubs are born, the mother may choose a den site that is quite some distance
      from water. She herself, of course, is always able to get to a stream or a lake for food, but
      she can also catch land animals like rodents and birds as well. Having a den farther away
      from the water probably helps by keeping the nest away from flood waters that often occur
      in the spring. The father does not help with raising the cubs, but may remain in the area. In
      most cases, the expectant female will chase all otters away from the immediate vicinity of
      the den site before she gives birth.

           Just-born babies weigh about 2 oz, and are about the size of a small chipmunk. Their
      eyes are closed shut, and they depend on Mother for all their nutrition, care, and protection.
      Otter milk is very rich - nearly 24% butterfat. They grow fast. By the time they are 6 weeks
      old, they are more than a pound in weight and about the size of large 8-week old kitten. At
      10 months of age, a baby otter will be over a foot long (including tail) and weigh 2-3 lbs.
      At first, female otters are a bit larger than their brothers. The babies do not know how to
      swim, so they are taught to swim by their mother when they are about 2 to 3 months old.
      About all the babies can do at first is to bob around like little corks, but by the time the
      young otters are 4 or 5 months old, they can swim as well their mother. They nurse until
      they are about 3 or 4 months old or so, and start to eat solid food when they are 2 months
      old. The young otters learn to catch their own food when they are 4 to 5 months old, and
      by this time, they will appear nearly the same size as their parents, and will weigh anywhere
      between 10 to 15 lbs.

           The menu otters have includes anything that they can catch. Otters are mostly carnivorous
      animals ("meat-eaters"), but will occasionally eat vegetable matter as well.
           Food: Otters eat
                   crawfish and other crustaceans,
                   the easiest-to-catch fish available (slower the better),
                   fresh water clams and snails,
                   insects, mice, nutria,
                   snakes, frogs, and other amphibians and small reptiles,
                   ducks and other birds,
                   berries, grass, and anything else that they find.(as long as it's edible)
           When they live along the coastal regions, river otters get to add these to their diet:
                   mussels, crabs, 'sand-fleas',
                   small clams and snails,
                   and other sea animals that they find and can eat.

      [I am pretty sure they leave sea anenomes and perhaps
      starfish alone, but don't quote me on that one!] :o)

           Freshwater fish that otters tend to catch are ones like carp, catfish, pike, suckers,
      minnows, other types of "trashy-fish" (to us humans!)- and they catch trout, bass, etc.
      only if they can't find any other types to catch, and then its usually the smaller ones.
      Otters cannot survive on fish alone. Many types, including salmon and trout, contain an
      enzyme, (Thiaminase) that destroys one of the 'B' vitamins. That is why otters have to
      eat other animals, besides fish, in order to replace this vitamin in their diet.

           By the time the otters are full grown (females: 2 years old, males: 3 years old), they are
      about 3 1/2 to 4 feet long, nose to tail-tip (with a 15-18" long tail), and weigh 15-20 lbs
      for females and 20-30 lbs for males. The most dangerous time in the otters' life is just
      after they leave their mothers. Once an otter leaves, they must search for suitable territory.
      Otters do not "defend" their territories as other animals do (except a mother with cubs),
      but will travel about it, taking several days or a couple of weeks to make one trip around
      back to the starting point. Some territories may be several miles long. An otter's territory
      may overlap many others, and as when an individual will sometime meet neighboring otters,
      they'll often end up either playing or hunting for food together, or will just avoid each other.
      Otters do not hibernate, and they move around all winter. They must find enough food and
      warm, dry dens, to be able to survive. Many otters do not survive past 2 or 3 years. The
      maximum lifespan for an otter in the wild is up to 10-15 years, in captivity, otters can live
      to 20 years or more.
 
           They are mostly in shades of brown colour, sometimes as dark as dark chocolate to as
      light as tan. Each otter has a characteristic pattern to their face that almost suggests a faint
      mask, this is what gives the otter the appearance of a "ottery look". There are many stiff
      whiskers, those help the otter to find objects and prey underwater. The chin and lower
      neck area will usually be lighter in colour than the upper neck and back. All white otters
      (not albino) have been seen, and a few otters will have little white patches of fur on
      their upper lip or chin.
           They have webbed feet (five toes, like a raccoon) and thick, broad muscular tails (sort
      of a wide oval, or elliptical shape in cross-section). When swimming, feet are used for
      "dog-paddling", and to change directions; the tail is used with the body to move very fast
      through the water, with a sort of undulating motion that is somewhat like a porpoise, or
      a twisting, up and down way of movement. Otters are very muscular, and seem to look
      like they are made up of nothing but rubber- because they have such loose skeletons and
      can turn around inside their skin like a ferret. Their skin seems to be "attached" only in
      these 6 places: at the nose, all 4 feet, and the tail.

           An otter's vocabulary includes:

                        Chirps and squeeks (contact calls= "where are you?",
                   "here I am", "I am happy";
                   or if angry, chirps with growls and squeals).

                        Grunts and chuckles ("I am having fun", "can I please have some of this?",
                   "let's play!!", "this is interesting!").

                        'baby-talk' (this is what they say when grooming and rubbing each other,
                   it almost sounds like a bird twittering sometimes, quite often said with chuckles).

                        Growls (when they are angry, or are defending themselves,
                   sometimes said with 'angry chirps').

                        Screams (VERY, VERY angry).

                        A sound that is made by blowing air out of their mouth,
                   sometimes between the teeth, kind of a sound like this:
                   "HAH!", or "hhfff", or "ffshsh", which they say when startled, or on 'alert',
                   or when wanting something from another otter, often an expression of impatience.

           An otter is quite an easy-going all around animal, but they can defend themselves
      against an animal much larger than itself. Like other members of the weasel family, an
      otter can be very fierce if necessary. Only rarely will another animal tackle an otter;
      sometimes animals like mountain lions, large raptors (owls, eagles), and dogs may badly
      injure otters or catch unprotected babies. The only major 'predator' for an otter is man,
      more increasingly, by water pollution and habitat destruction.
           It was once believed that otters ate nothing but gamefish like trout and salmon. They
      were often found where people liked to fish, and if the person had a bad day (by not get-
      ting enough fish), and then saw an otter, it was wrongly assumed that otters were catching
      all the fish. That was usually in the days before limits were put on how many fish can be
      caught, streamside habitats were destroyed, and fish spawning areas were buried. Since
      then, over the years, it has been discovered that otters actually help fish by eating the
      some of the predators of trout and salmon fingerlings. Otters also catch more of the
      other types of fish that compete against trout for space and food, including introduced
      fish that caused native trout and salmon in many streams to die out. The real causes of
      why gamefish were disappearing were due to habitat destruction and overfishing.
      Sometimes it happened that the otter disappeared first, then the fish would disappear
      later on. That proved in many cases that otters were not the ones to blame for the loss
      of gamefishes. Only years after, did many sportsmen find out that otters were needed
      to be living around streams and lakes in order for the fish population to return to health.
      The occasional otter that discovers a fish hatchery is a minor annoyance (except to the
      hatchery folks, of course!) in comparison to the benefit of having otters around.
           Now otters are considered to be "indicator species". If there is a healthy population
      of river otters in a region, then the area is likely to suport many other kinds of animals
      as well, and it means that the area is more ecologically sound.
 
           The otter's historical range was most of North America - south from the southern U.S.,
      and north to the "tree-line" of Canada and Alaska, except the driest parts of the desert
      southwest and the southern third of California.
           Currently, river otters are found in the same area, except that they have been extinct
      for many years in much of the Midwest (U.S. and Canada), parts of the Rocky Mountains,
      Arizona, New Mexico, and some regions of the U.S. east coast. There are several areas
      where otters are being released into areas where they were formerly found but now are
      rare or extinct. Colorado, Wyoming, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, Kentucky,
      New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are some of the states that have recently
      or are currently involved in bringing otters back to the wild in their rivers and lakes. Many
      of these otters are brought from Louisiana, where there are many that live in the swamps
      and bayous. Otters can be trapped for their fur in 27 states, which is strictly controlled.
           Otters are on the Appendix II list by the Convention in Trade in Endangered Species
      ("CITES"), which means that the international trade of otters has to be monitored. There
      are several species of otters around the world that are in danger of extinction.
(top)

           The River Otter in the Pacific and Intermountain region.
      The river otter is fully protected in California. They are found generally only in the north
      half of the state: from the Delta area and up the Sacramento Valley (from San Joaquin
      County and north), the North coast (Sonoma Co. up to the Klamath mountains and on
      into Oregon). Otters are present around the Lake Tahoe region, including the adjoining
      area and Truckee River within the state of Nevada. Otters were once found in the rest
      of the San Joaquin Valley and much of the Mother Lode region, (Sierra Nevada foothills)
      but disappeared from these areas long ago (1800's) due to over-trapping, hydro-mining,
      and habitat destruction. The otter populations except in the North Coast area are still low,
      but as a whole are relatively stable throughout the North State. A few otters have been
      released into the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area, near Fairfield, where there is a large natural
      brackish-water marsh that stretches east into the Sacramento River-San Joaquin River
      delta. There are many farms and wildlife refuges in this area, with "sloughs", or water
      channels running in between, creating a system of "tracts", or low-lying islands. Although
      set in between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Sacramento-Stockton metropolitan
      area, there is plenty of habitat that is quite suitable for otters.
           A study of river otters around the Humboldt Bay and Eel River area (near Eureka)
      has been conducted to learn some of the habits of otter groups. Quite a few river otters
      live along the Sonoma and Mendocino coast streams and marshes, and they are often
      seen in areas right off Hwy 1.
           In Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and up into British Columbia, otters have remained
      abundant throughout the region, especially all along the coast, and the many streams that
      flow through the Cascade and Coast Ranges. For the Klamath Mountains in northwest
      California and southwest Oregon, they have been frequently seen all along the Klamath,
      Rogue, Illinois, Trinity, Smith, and Umpqua rivers and tributaries. Much of this region is
      quite rugged. Streams flow past high mountains, creating little valleys that hold riparian
      habitat ideal for an otter's needs. Otters live in some of the less developed parts of the
      Willamette Valley, and all the way up into the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands area,
      and including the Olympic Penninsula. The Columbia River Plateau that is east of the
      Cascade Range is a drier region ("high desert"). Otters are also found there, but they
      are mostly concentrated along many of the year-round waterways and mountain lakes.
      Many otters live in the lower elevation areas of the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon,
      and the Snake River watershed, going into the many streams and lakes in central and
      north Idaho. Farther up north, river otters are found on Vancouver Island, along the
      islands and inlets of the Strait of Georgia, in the Coast Mountains, and interior British
      Columbia east into the Rocky Mountains.
           Alaska is home to healthy populations of both species of otters. River otters can be
      found almost throughout the state, except in the far north. Along the coast, it is possible
      to see both river and sea otters in the same area. A river otter, while living mostly around
      marshes and streams, will often swim out to off-shore islands. As river otters will venture
      out to sea sometimes acting like their ocean cousins, they may be mis-identified as "sea"
      otters. A good rule is that if the otter you see is often walking or running on land, and it
      looks rather skinny, then most likely it will be a river otter. Sea otters rarely go out onto
      land, and they look more "chunky" in comparison to a river otter. Also, river otters do
      not use tools like sea otters do.
           It is not unusual to see otters near more populated areas, even near the Sacramento,
      Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver B.C. metro areas. River otters will even visit the local
      regional park, if it has a river or a big lake with lots of natural vegetation, and they will
      most certainly can be found in more rural areas. But otters can thrive in these areas only
      as long as the water is not polluted (high amounts of pesticides, dioxin, and heavy metals
      are the worst). There have been cases where the reproductive ability of otters has been
      reduced, in many areas, especially along the lower Columbia River. River otters have
      been found with dangerous levels of heavy metals, or signs of dioxin poisoning. It is also
      important that the conservation of wildlife habitat such as streamsides ("riparian zones")
      is maintained if otters are to thrive in an area. 
 
           The most favorite areas that otters seem to like living in are regions where streams
      (or lakes) have fresh, clean water year-round. Where the banks along waterways are in
      a natural condition, with plenty of vegetation such as streamside shrubs, cattail marshes,
      shade trees, and even logs, and where there is a wide variety of animals for them to eat.
      Also, otters need to have a few private spots and dens where they can reteat to for rest
      and raising babies, where there is little disturbance and where they feel safe. Otters also
      need a little space to roam around (to be able to "disperse" into adjoining areas). Otters
      can co-exist around humans as long as they have access to these places. Where an
      otter can live is a place where the ecosystem is healthy.