Curated otter headlines from around the world — conservation wins, scientific discoveries, and the occasional celebrity otter.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium's surrogacy program, which trains rescued adult otters to raise orphaned pups, has successfully released its 100th hand-raised otter into the wild. The program has become a global model for marine mammal rehabilitation.
Read more →A nationwide survey by the Environment Agency confirms that river otters (Lutra lutra) now inhabit every English county for the first time since the 1950s. Conservationists credit cleaner waterways and pesticide bans for the stunning reversal.
Read more →New research shows that sea otters, by controlling sea urchin populations, allow kelp forests to recover. Those forests absorb significant amounts of CO₂. Researchers estimate otter-recovered kelp sequesters the equivalent of over 8 million gallons of gasoline per year.
Read more →The beloved (and occasionally mischievous) southern sea otter known as 841, who made international headlines for commandeering surfers' boards in Santa Cruz, is now the subject of a short documentary from a Bay Area filmmaker. She remains one of the most-tracked otters in USGS history.
Read more →Giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis), once hunted nearly to extinction for their pelts, are slowly recovering in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands. Population estimates have risen from under 1,000 in the 1970s to approximately 5,000 today, thanks to hunting bans and ecotourism incentives.
Read more →Stories are updated regularly. Spotted an otter story we missed? Send it our way.
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