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Lontra

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

A playful North American River Otter at the San Francisco Zoo.

Lontra is a genus of otters from the Americas. Otters are playful and clever animals known for their love of water and strong families. They can often be found near rivers, lakes, and coastal areas, swimming, diving, and sliding on their bellies over snow and mud.

Members of the Lontra group include several types of otters that live in different parts of North and South America. These animals are important to the ecosystems where they live because they help control fish and crab populations, keeping the balance of nature.

Otters are also known for their thick, waterproof fur and webbed feet, which make them excellent swimmers. Their cleverness and strong bonds with their families make them fascinating to watch in the wild.

Species

These species used to be grouped with the Eurasian otter in the genus Lutra, but they are now in their own genus called Lontra. There are five living species and one known species from the past that belong to this group.

Fossil Lontra remains from the Miocene of Florida (FLMNH). The oldest Lontra fossils known.
Scientific nameCommon nameDistribution
†Lontra weiriWeir's otterPliocene North America

Images

A river otter swimming through a hole in the ice on the Green River at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge.
A preserved Southern River Otter on display at the Museum of Patagonia in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.
A playful river otter in its zoo habitat.
A marine otter at Huachipa Zoo in Lima, Peru.
A red panda sitting against a white background.
An illustrated plate of a striped skunk from a historical natural history book.
Illustration of a Bassaricyon alleni, a small mammal relative of bush babies.
Illustration of a woodchuck, also known as a porcupine fish, showcasing its distinctive features.
Map showing the geographic range of the Lontra species.
Map showing where the Southern River Otter lives in South America.
Map showing where the Neotropical Otter can be found in the wild.
Map showing where the Marine Otter lives in the wild.
A painted illustration of a sable, a small wild mammal known for its fur.

Related articles

Genus
Otter
Americas
Eurasian otter
Lutra

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Lontra, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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