On The Wild Side: River otters seem to be making a comeback in the Toronto area
By ANN BROKELMAN
Does anyone not love otters? I never get tired of the videos of sea otters floating on their backs, snuggling with their little ones, without a care in the world.
I love watching them use their little hands to use rocks to crack open shells. And, locally, I’ve always enjoyed visiting the river otters at the Toronto Zoo. Whether on my own or with grandkids in tow, the otter exhibit always seemed to be the one we lingered at the longest.
While I’ve always been fascinated and amused by them, I’ve almost never seen them out in the wild; I’ve never seen any close enough or clearly enough to get a good picture.
I’d been hearing, from various birding and wildlife contacts, that more and more people were seeing them in the Toronto area. This has been going on for a decade, and I only ever saw one once, so I wasn’t sure if these were one-off sightings of otters moving through the area, or the actual return of the species.
A couple of years ago, when I did see one, I was out birding with two friends. It was winter, and as we were driving next to a stream, someone just happened to catch an odd movement out on the ice. We pulled over, safely as always, and for 10 minutes got to watch a single otter running around, sliding on his belly, rolling in the snow, and even diving into the water and coming up with a fish!
I’ve included a link, and if you click it, it’ll take you to YouTube to see some of the pictures and videos I took that day. Here’s the link to the otter video: https://youtu.be/6fwP46ewu3k
Did you know that river otters were once common in Toronto?
That shouldn’t be a huge surprise as I’m sure that bears, moose, and wolves were once commonly seen around here too. However, around the start of the 1900s, otters eventually became extirpated in the GTA. If you don’t know what extirpated means, that’s OK! I didn’t either, and now it’s the new-word-of-the-article! It means that an animal has gone extinct in a specific area, but not everywhere. River otters were still found across Ontario, just no longer in Toronto.
Well, otters seem to be making a comeback, and the extirpation is hopefully over!
In the last few weeks, I’ve had my best opportunity to see a few of these incredible creatures. The first was at a local pond, not far from where I live in Scarborough.
My timing was perfect, as barely two to three minutes after I arrived, I witnessed four adorable heads pop out of the water. They seemed to look right at me! I immediately decided to name them John, Paul, George, and Ringo, though my son said that I ‘otter’ name them something more modern, to connect with the younger readers. I think he just wanted an excuse to tell a bad joke.
Though the otters stayed too far away for me to get a picture I was happy with, the fact that they are back, look healthy, and like the location enough to have pups, means that they will hopefully put down roots, and I’ll have plenty of chances to try again.
Otter families are generally made up of the mother, her newest pups, and some older siblings, with the adult males preferring to lead a solitary life.
You probably knew that river otters are semiaquatic, as they live both on the land and in rivers, lakes, ponds and other waterways. They swim by using both their body and their long, strong tail. While their little feet can do some kicking, it’s mostly the tail that propels them through the water.
Adult river otters eat around three to four ponds of fish a day, though they will also eat crustaceans, amphibians, and reptiles.
They are magical to watch, and I hope you can see one in the wild someday. If you have seen any, please send me a message with the story. I would love to know if more have moved back to the city.
