Wisconsin River Otter
Stream: Wildlife/Fish/Natural History
8:00 AM - 8:50 AMFri
Expo 2
Stream: Wildlife/Fish/Natural History
Registration Required
Your registration must include one of the required registration options to attend this session. [ Details ]
River otter (Lontra canadensis) are deeply rooted in Wisconsin history and were abundant throughout the region prior to European settlement and the fur trade. Habitat changes and unregulated trapping into the early 1900’s reduced otter populations to near extinction levels. Through protections and recovered habitats, otter populations increased during the mid-20th century and are doing well today. We will look at the ecology of this semi-aquatic mustelid, dive into their current distribution and cover efforts the Wisconsin DNR is taking to monitor river otter population trends moving forward.