Otters - Discover Nature (KRCG)

mdc.mo.gov

The Missouri Department of Conservation wants to help you to discover nature and learn more about river otters.

The sight of an otter playfully sliding down a snowy river bank can make even Scrooge grin.

Cousin to minks, weasels and skunks, otters are well suited to live in the water.

(Jeff Beringer, Missouri Dept. of Conservation)
They are streamlined.
They can get in and out of crevices.
They are very good swimmers, they have webbed feet, they have a dense fur, you know they are just made like a torpedo.
When I think of an otter, I think of a torpedo just kind of going through the water and they can get around good.
They are good swimmers.

Otters live along slow-moving streams and lakes.
Fish and crayfish are favorite meals, but otters also dine on frogs, birds and insects.

Otters were nearly eliminated from Missouri due to unregulated trapping and habitat destruction.

But thanks to restoration efforts by the Conservation Department and a carefully regulated trapping season, otters are once again found throughout the state.

When visiting wetlands and waterways, keep an eye out for this curious and playful animal.