Description:  Otters are three to four feet long and can weigh between 10 and 30 lbs.  They are long and skinny, with short legs and sleek brown fur.  They are related to skunks, but don’t smell nearly as bad!

Habitat:  Otters are found everywhere.  They are found near lakes and streams where they like to swim and play and hunt for food.  People are destroying the kinds of places where otters like to live.  If this doesn’t change, they might be in trouble.

Diet:  Otters are carnivores.  That means that they eat other animals.  They love to eat fish, but will also catch frogs, turtles and the occasional snake for good measure.

Reproduction: Males and females come together to breed in late winter or early spring. Gestation lasts two months, but the young may be born up to a year after mating because these otters employ delayed implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus. Births occur from November to May, with a peak in March and April. Females give birth to from 1 to 6 young per litter, with an average of 2 to 3, in a den near the water. They are born with fur, but are otherwise helpless. They open their eyes at one month of age and are weaned at about 3 months old. They begin to leave the female around 6 months to a year old. Sexual maturity is reached at 2 to 3 years of age. They normally live about 8 to 9 years in the wild.

Trivia: 

Otters can dive down over 55 feet when they are chasing a tasty fish.  That’s more than eight times deeper than a swimming pool.