Wildlife
Otters are inquisitive, playful and intelligent, often appearing to take childlike enjoyment in sliding around on muddy banks or in snow. They are semi-aquatic mammals and live in holts around water edges. They are fast, agile swimmers. Bubbles of air trapped in their fur give them a silvery appearance underwater.
Scientific name: Lutra lutra
Rank: Species
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Searching for signs of otters
Ellie seeks out the otters which feed on the shores of Ullswater in winter.
Ellie seeks out the otters which feed on the shores of Ullswater in winter with naturalist Stephen Hewitt.
Mull's otters
Otters feed and play in plain view on Mull's roadside shore.
Otters feed and play in plain view on Mull's roadside shore.
Industrial age otters
Shetland's rich clean waters have the densest otter population in Europe.
Shetland's rich clean waters have the densest otter population in Europe.
Flourishing otters
Mike Dilger finds that otters are becoming more common in the UK.
Mike Dilger finds that otters are becoming more common in the UK.
Beach view
A chance glance gives a lovely sighting of a grooming otter.
A chance glance gives a lovely sighting of a grooming otter.
Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
The Otter can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, Indian subcontinent, Mediterranean, Russia, United Kingdom, Wales, Ynys-hir nature reserve. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Otter distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Near Threatened
Population trend: Decreasing
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The European otter (Lutra lutra), also known as the Eurasian otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter and Old World otter, is a European and Asian member of the Lutrinae or otter subfamily, and is typical of freshwater otters.
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Coastal
Desert
Flooded grassland
Intertidal zone
Lakes and ponds
Mangroves
Mediterranean forest
Mountain grassland
Shallow seas
Rivers and streams
Taiga
Broadleaf forest
Coniferous forest
Temperate grassland
Tropical coniferous forest
Tropical dry forest
Tropical grassland
Rainforest
Tundra
Helpless young
Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Tactile sense
Acoustic communication
Maternal care
Nocturnal
Predator
Chemical communication
Territorial
Viviparous