While spending a late summer weekend at the family cabin, our daughter Jacci and her husband Dave had some very interesting and rare visitors.

As a teenager, our daughter found a great love of photography, and she is seldom away from a camera even if it is her iPhone.

While creeping down to the dock in hopes of getting a good picture of a basking turtle, she was greatly surprised to see a family of otters frolicking in the pond. From her pictures, it appears to be a female with two young ones. Apparently, the mother otter thought the clear water under the mat of duckweed coating the pond would be a good place to teach the young ones how to catch a few small, slow moving yellow belly catfish or stunted bluegill.

Finding the otters irresistible visitors to the pond, Jacci asked if they would stay. I had to tell her unfortunately not, as they would be on their way shortly. An otter family is very nomadic and can easily have a territory stretching 10 to 18 miles. With a couple large lakes nearby and the small pond being adjacent to the Big Flatrock River, the otters have some great fishing resources at hand!

The river otter is just one of several very successful wildlife reintroduction programs accomplished by the Indiana DNR.

Our wildlife biologists report rRiver otters (Lontra canadensis) are now found throughout most of Indiana, thanks to efforts of the DNR and its partners. In 1995, the DNR began a reintroduction program aimed at re-establishing a healthy otter population in several watersheds of northern and southern Indiana. After five years of reintroductions, the otter population began to expand through natural reproduction. The otter was removed from the state-endangered species list in 2005. Since then, otters have been reported in every Indiana County, far surpassing reintroduction goals. The population continues to expand.

Otters have a long body, short legs and muscular neck. Their fur color is typically medium to dark brown on top with a lighter chest and belly. Otters have long, thick whiskers and webbed feet.

An otter’s weight can range from 11 to 20 pounds.

They are excellent underwater fishers as they can hold their breath for eight minutes, and their fur repels water. They are most active at night and at dawn and dusk.

A total of 303 river otters were released in northern and southern Indiana between 1995 and 1999. The reintroduction went so well the river otter was removed from the state-endangered list in 2005. River otter reports have been documented in most counties in Indiana and river otter will likely be statewide, though in some places at low densities in the coming years. Each year, DNR staff collects samples from river otter carcasses for population monitoring.

River otters are polygynous (have several mates). Most river otters will start reproducing at 2 years old. Otters typically breed from December to April and gestation is 61-63 days. Otters also delay implantation at least eight months, meaning birth may not occur until 10 to 12 months after mating. Litter size is typically one to three kits; however they can range up to five. The female otter raises the young without aid from the adult males. Young are born between February-April and leave the den within eight weeks of birth.

River otters spend most of their lives in water, which reflects in their diet with their primary foods including fish (all kinds), crayfish, mussels, frogs, salamanders, turtles and ducks and other birds. Though primarily carnivores, river otters have been documented eating fruit on rare occasions.

River otters inhabit many of Indiana’s lakes, rivers, and creeks. They are most commonly seen at dawn and dusk, so an evening or early morning paddle on one of Indiana’s water trails can be a great way to try to spot a river otter.

Although they don’t maintain set territories or have distinguishable homes like beaver and muskrats, they do leave behind signs they were there, in the form of latrines. Latrines are places, usually on low sandy areas with easy access to the water, where otters return to leave their poop, or scat. If you find an otter latrine while hiking or paddling, it means river otters are in the area and might be frolicking through the water. River otters are a common sight at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge and can be seen bouncing in and between many of the pits and lakes of Sugar Ridge Fish & Wildlife Area.

Readers can contact the author by writing to this publication or e-mail Jack at jackspaulding1971@outlook.com 

Spaulding’s books, “The Best Of Spaulding Outdoors” and “The Coon Hunter And The Kid,” are available from Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle download.