Utilisation of resting sites and dens by the neotropical river otter (Lutra longicaudis) in the south of Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Colares, Elton Pinto
• Data de Publicação: 2000
• Outros Autores: Waldemarin, Helen Francine
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da FURG (RI FURG)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/385
• topic: Neotropical River otter; Lontra longicaudis; Dens

This work was undertaken between March 1997 and February 1998 and aimed at verifying the frequency of utilisation of resting sites by the neotropical river otter (Lutra longicaudis). The banks of a creek located at the northern limit of the Taim Ecological Station (RS) were searched eight times, looking for places with signs of use (footprints, scratches, spraints, etc.). On the first field trip, sites found were marked and named according to some basic characteristic that allowed its re-identification on future field trips. During this work, thirteen resting-places were found to be used only once, whilst eight were used on more than one occasion. Of these, only one was used by the species on all field trips. No otter den was found in the area during the study. Otter spraints were found at 90% of the resting sites, footprints at 12%, and scratches at 16%. All the resting sites used more than once were above water during the whole study period and only one of them was located outside the woods, being found on a grass-covered bank. Based upon the results obtained, we could hypothesise that, even though the species uses this creek for resting activities during all year, it is probable that it is not used for reproduction.