Back from the Brink The North American River Otter

Author:

Great Big Story

Keywords:

great big story,gbs,lag,documentary,docs,River otter,On the brink,Nature & Animals,North American river otter,endangered,endangered species,extinct,north america,animals,zoo,Denver Zoo,Extinction

Subtitles:

- [Narrator] This is Olivia, a North American river otter. Olivia is only eight months old, but is quite the playful otter pup. River otters are semiaquatic. They live both on land and in water and have adapted for both environments. They have thick, protective fur to help them stay warm while swimming in cold water, and short legs and webbed feet to help them swim quickly. River otters can stay under water for as long as eight minutes and use their long whiskers to find prey in the often cloudy waters in which they swim. In the late 1980s, North American river otters were extinct throughout many of their natural habitats due to fur trapping and poor water quality. Through reintroduction programs and the fur trade management their populations have risen and stabilized. This is the North American river otter.