Found in the United States and Canada, river otters are well adapted to both water and land. Their long, sleek bodies, powerful legs with webbed feet, and brawny, tapered tails give them the speed and dexterity of an Olympic swimmer. Two layers of thick, course hair keep them cozy in cold water. And their pulse dramatically decelerates to conserve oxygen while diving for fishes and crustaceans. (They eat birds, reptiles and insects too.) At the same time, river otters can run on all fours up to 18 mph. Musky scent markings convey territory, gender, defense and other messages.
Heavy trapping in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, habitat loss and pollution have diminished river otter numbers throughout North America. They were nearly extinct in Illinois when they were added to the state’s endangered list in 1989. Thanks to the Clean Water Act, however, restored areas along the Illinois, Kankakee and Wabash Rivers allowed otters to be reintroduced. With help from Illinois taxpayers, through the Wildlife Preservation Fund on the state’s 1040 form, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources successfully reestablished populations in wetland areas. The frisky critters did the rest, and otter populations had increased enough by 2004 that they were removed entirely from the state’s threatened and endangered list. Today river otters are found in every Illinois county.
