Canadian Otter (Lontra canadensis)
Length: Head and body: 80 cm. Tail: 45 cm.
Features: Weasel-like body; dark brown fur; thick, bushy, and tapered tail.
Habitat: Near streams and lakes; sometimes near the sea.
Playful and sociable, the otter enjoys wrestling with its own kind, playing tag, sliding down snowy or muddy riverbanks, and rolling in the grass and reeds. The male lives with the female for part of the year in the spring. Blind at birth but covered in down, the young remain in their natal litter in a stump or in a beaver or muskrat burrow for 10 or 12 weeks. The mother then teaches them to swim, dive, and hunt, and when they are six months old, the male completes this training. They feed mainly on fish, but also on frogs and crayfish.
