On the look out for river otters

Here is something I wrote for the Galveston Bay Area Master Naturalist newsletter.
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Texas Parks and Wildlife Department photo of a river otter.

Spotting a river otter in the wild is something special.

Mark Kramer remembers the first time he saw a river otter at Armand Bayou Nature Center.

“I began paddling the bayou in my youth in 1972, so when my first otter sighting occurred in 1995, it meant a great deal to me,” Kramer wrote in reply to GBAC-MN email questions.

“I happened to be near the water’s edge throwing a cast net when I heard a call/vocalization that I didn't recognize. I lay on my belly at the edge of the water waiting for the animals to swim past — a mother with three pups! 

“I was so moved that I wrote an article in the ABNC newsletter about it,” he said. “They are simply the most charismatic animals on the refuge.”

  

ABNC stewardship coordinator Kramer, who is on the water a lot, said he sees river otters eight to 10 times a year. He was paddling in his kayak for his last sighting.

Marissa Sipocz, who has been leading wetland restoration at Sheldon Lake State Park for the past 13 years, was excited to see a river otter a few months ago crossing Park Road 138. She has seen otters only two or three times previously.

“I was totally shocked when I watched him hop across the road, thinking: ‘Oh my goodness, that's an otter! How cool! So adorable!!’ "

Sipocz and Kramer believe the sightings indicate a healthy habitat with abundant food and a quiet place to relax and raise their young.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s river otter specialist agrees. Gary Calkins, district leader for Piney Woods ecological area, has been on river otter watch for 12 years and collecting sightings the past nine years for a study.

Our river otters (Lutra canadensis) are indicator species and opportunistic hunters, he said. They eat fish but especially like crawfish, frogs, tadpoles and blue crabs, which are sensitive to pollutants. They often feed at dawn or dusk.

River otters generally live in hollows near water. They can live eight to nine years in the wild. There are one to six pups in a litter.

Their slender bodies with short necks and legs covered with glossy dark brown fur help make them acrobats in the water. They can hold their breath up to eight minutes underwater. Members of the weasel family, they weigh 11 to 30 pounds.

They live in fresh water but will hunt in brackish water and along the coast. Calkins notes that sightings have been reported at the Kemah Boardwalk.

River otters make an impression when spotted because while they are secretive, they can appear playful and will interact with people up to a point, Calkins said.

The good news is that TPWD research shows the web-footed mammals have been spreading rapidly back into their historical range in Central Texas since the 1990s. The numbers had been down due to trapping and habitat loss. 

Calkins has recorded sightings in the San Antonio and Wichita Falls areas, well beyond the Eastern corner of the state where many of the state’s otters reside.

However Calkins says it is impossible to get accurate population numbers because otters are elusive. Biologists collect information from legal trappers, indicator surveys, road kill and signs of tracks and scatter.

Personally Calkins has seen only four rivers otters in the wild. His first sighting was in the Jasper area. “I was pretty jazzed,” he said.

Sharon Schmalz and staffers at the Wildlife Center ofTexas get up-close with two to five river otters every year. 

They bite, warns Schmalz, WCT executive director.

This year two young ones have arrived at WCT for rehabilitation. Each case is special, she said.

One of the river otters was found by someone who kept it for eight weeks before taking it to WCT. “At that point he was very underweight and severely malnourished and in poor condition overall. His case was a testament to why we ask people to bring animals as soon as they can for the best care possible,” Schmalz said.

The second one was found orphaned on a beach by a Good Samaritan who took it to the center..

Both animals went through WCT rehab and were transferred to a rehabilitator near Tyler who will care for them about a year before releasing them into a habitat on her property.

River otters are little contradictions, Schmalz said.

“They are very intelligent, playful, and social; all qualities humans possess. So it's natural for those of us working with them to respond to those qualities,” Schmalz said. “However otters are by no means tame.

“Mother otters discipline their young by nipping at them and siblings nip at each other when playing. So when handling them they have a real tendency to bite a lot. And they have very sharp teeth and strong jaws.

“They have these adorable faces and personalities, but their demeanor and energy level make them one of our more challenging patients. But of course, our staff and dedicated volunteers love every minute.”