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Nutrition and Predators | |
| Description Distribution |
The waterways provide all the nutrition needed for the otter to survive. The otter’s diet varies according to the availability of resources. Otters feed on fish (a large variety), snakes, turtles, frogs, small invertebrates…occasionally consuming a mammal or a bird (Pederson, 2000). The northern river otter is subject to a large variety of predators, but these predators have been shown to have no serious impact on the otter population. Most predation is probably directed toward young animals and those adults that are encountered by a predator while away from water (Tabor and Toweill, 1982). The northern river otter has a variety of internal parasites. Of these internal parasites, Strongyloides lutrae and Gnathostoma miyazakii (roundworms) may cause serious pathological damage (Tabor and Toweill, 1982). Otters are subject to numerous diseases such as "canine distemper, jaundice, hepatitis, feline panleucopenia, pneumonia, and human tuberculosis" (Tabor and Toweill, 1982). |