Smooth Coated Otter

Lutrogale perspicillata

 

Identification

 

Size: From nose to tail, this otter is 106 to 130 cm long. The tail alone is 40 to 50 cm long.

Color: The smooth coated otter is sandy brown to dark gray brown, with a lighter, cream colored belly.

Nose: The nose is gray, and a flattened diamond shape.

Feet: Large, very strong, webbed, feet with strong claws

Fur: Very thick and 'sleek'- guardhairs 1.2 to 1.4 cm, underhairs 6 to 8 mm.

Track/Sign: Territorial boundaries are delineated by a musky odor that both males and females secrete from scent glands.

 

Ecology

Habitat: The smooth coated otter prefers to live in undisturbed areas. They live in mangrove forests, lowland lake and river systems, rice fields, or peat swamps. Sometimes they will hunt in seasonally flooded swamps. Smooth coated otters will travel long distances over land in search of a new habitat.

Range/Distribution: Southeastern Asia, India, China, and Indonesia. There is a small population in the eastern Middle East.

Threats: The main threat to these otters is habitat loss due to construction of hydroelectric projects, and land clearance for agriculture. Other major problems for them include pollution from pesticides and fertilizers, and poaching in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.

Conservation Status: Vulnerable

 

Food: The smooth coated otter prefers to eat fish (which make up over 90% of its diet), but it will also eat crustaceans, insects, water rats, turtles, and birds. They generally take fish that are longer than 15cm, and eat at least a third of their body weight every day. Sometimes they eat their fish whole in the water, but they generally eat on shore.

Smooth coated otters hunt both during the day and at night, sometimes alone and sometimes in large groups. When hunting in groups, they spread out across a body of water, drive their prey towards some obstacle like mudflats or rapids, and when the fish start to panic, they dive to catch them in their mouths. When hunting alone, they use their whiskers to detect movements in the water, and feel in the mud and crevices for food.

 

Behavior

Life Cycle: The breeding season is between August and December, but is flexible. The smooth coated otter has a gestation period of 60 to 62 days, and give birth to between one and five pups. They open their eyes at about four weeks, and they start swimming at six. The pups are weaned at five months and leave home at about a year old. They reach sexual maturity at about two years of age. Smooth coated otters mate for life, and live in family groups consisting of the mating pair and their pups.

Social: Smooth coated otters are highly social animals; often family groups will live and hunt together even after the pups are mature enough to establish their own territories. Mothers with new pups do not allow other otters into the holt, so the rest of the family sleeps either in other chambers of the burrow (which often has many entrances and 'rooms'), or outside in protected areas.

The alpha female is dominant in these groups. There is little conflict between group members, but occasionally mature females will fight with the alpha female for dominance. More often, young mature females will leave the group to form their own. The alpha female determines hierarchy within the group, and the alpha male moves the group through their territory. A family's territory generally ranges between 4.3 and 7.5 sq. miles.

Individual: Smooth coated otters are proficient both on land and in water. They are powerful swimmers, and on land they climb and jump quite well.

 

About: Smooth coated otters are distinguished from other otter species by their slightly rounder heads and flatter tails. The genus Lutrogale likely refers to this otter's rounded skull, as it means "helmeted otter". Perspiciallata probably means "keen eyes", which makes sense given that this otter's eyes are oriented more towards the front than those of other species.

These otters are often trained by fishermen to drive fish into their nets.

Names:

Also called: Smooth Otter, India smooth coated otter, Asian smooth coated otter
Spanish: Nutria lisa, Nutria simung
French: Loutre d'Asie
German: GlattOtter, Indisher FischOtter
Italian: Lontra liscia
Other scientific name: Lutra tarayensis

Subspecies:

Lutrogale perspicillata perspicillata- This animal is large and dark in color, with a very light underside.

Lutrogale perspicillata sindica- This otter is smaller and lighter, and occurs in the Indus Valley in Pakistan.

Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli- Believed to be extinct. There is some debate whether Maxwell's otter should be its own species, Lutrogale maxwelli, or a subspecies of smooth coated otter. Located in the marshes of the Tigris-Euphrates in Iraq. See page on Maxwell's otter for more information.

Links: otterjoy's page on lutrogale_perspicillata , conservenature's page on Smooth-coated-Otter