![]() ![]() In addition, a recent observation found young otters purposefully feeding an aged matriarch, who likely had difficulty hunting for herself. Researchers have found that these family groups practice alloparenting, which means non-parents also participate in raising cubs, not unlike many human communities. If fate is kind, a breeding pair may stay together for up to 10 years.” ![]() There’s drama, bickering, unity in the face of a caiman threat, babysitting and shared feeding of the cubs, and, finally, offspring leaving home. ![]() “Groups are highly cohesive: they hunt, mark their territories, sunbathe, and sleep together, with bonds constantly reinforced by mutual grooming and play,” explains Groenendijk, adding that “a giant otter family has much in common with a human family, which is why observing them over many years has something of the soap opera about it. These family groups are overseen by one breeding couple, but do pretty much everything together. Researchers are just beginning to untangle some of the complex familial relations in giant river otter communities, who live together in related groups of around a dozen individuals. Jessica Groenendijk walking up a stream in the hope of filming a transient giant otter. This was the start of what I believe, and hope, will be a life-long commitment to the giant otter.” Our first encounter with a giant otter family was a deeply impressive experience and I was hooked. After obtaining a Masters degree in Aquatic Resource Management from King’s College, London, Groenendijk was recruited to become Project Leader of the Frankfurt Zoological Society Giant Otter Conservation Program. “Otters have always had tremendous appeal for me, ever since reading Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water, and the idea of a ‘giant’ otter was entrancing,” Groenendijk told in an interview. Living in closely-knit family groups, sporting a complex range of behavior, and displaying almost human-like capricious moods, the giant river otter has captured a number of researchers and conservationists’ hearts, including Dutch conservationist Jessica Groenendijk. As its name suggest, this otter is the longest member of the weasel family: from tip of the nose to tail’s end the otter can measure 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. Photo by: Frank Hajek.īehavior and conservation of the Amazon’s giant river otter.Ĭharismatic, vocal, unpredictable, domestic, and playful are all adjectives that aptly describe the giant river otter ( Pteronura brasiliensis), one of the Amazon’s most spectacular big mammals. ![]()
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