The spotted-necked otter (''Hydrictis maculicollis''), or speckle-throated otter, is an

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

native to

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Description

The spotted-necked otter is usually chocolate to reddish brown and marked with creamy or white blotches over the chest and throat. The head is broad with a short muzzle, small rounded ears, and a hairless nose pad. The teeth are adapted for consuming fish, with large sharp upper canine teeth, curved lower canines, and sharp

carnassial Carnassials are paired upper and lower teeth modified in such a way as to allow enlarged and often self-sharpening edges to pass by each other in a shearing manner. This adaptation is found in carnivorans, where the carnassials are the modified f ...

teeth. The jaws are similarly adapted, with the mandibular fossa fitting so snugly into the

condyle A condyle (;Entry "condyle"
in

on the lower jaw that the latter cannot move sideways, making it easier to capture and hold fish. It is a relatively small species, with males measuring from nose to rump, and weighing , while females are and . The tail is long and muscular, measuring in both sexes. It is sleek and has webbed paws. Females have two pairs of

teat A teat is the projection from the mammary glands of mammals from which milk flows or is ejected for the purpose of feeding young. In many mammals, the teat projects from the udder. The number of teats varies by mammalian species and often corr ...

s, and while males have a large

scrotum In most terrestrial mammals, the scrotum (: scrotums or scrota; possibly from Latin ''scortum'', meaning "hide" or "skin") or scrotal sac is a part of the external male genitalia located at the base of the penis. It consists of a sac of skin ...

, the

penis A penis (; : penises or penes) is a sex organ through which male and hermaphrodite animals expel semen during copulation (zoology), copulation, and through which male placental mammals and marsupials also Urination, urinate. The term ''pen ...

is hidden beneath the skin, to reduce drag while swimming. Up to five subspecies have previously been identified, these most likely represent a natural variation in appearance between individuals, and no subspecies are currently recognised.

Distribution and habitat

The spotted-necked otter inhabits lakes and larger rivers throughout much of Africa south of 10°N. It is common in

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

and across Zambia, but is absent in the

Zambezi The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

below Victoria Falls, Zambia. It does not venture into salt water.

Behavior and ecology

The spotted-necked otter is very vocal, uttering high, thin whistles and rapid, shrill chatters. It sometimes lives in family groups, but appears to be social only under certain conditions. Males and females are separated for at least part of the year. They normally hunt alone, except when mothers are training their young, and are not territorial, sheltering through the night in short burrows, rock crevices, or patches of dense vegetation. On land, they travel mainly over regular paths, and rarely move more than from river or lake banks. Both mark these paths by "sprainting" sites, in which they habitually defecate and urinate. The spotted-necked otter is diurnal and appears to hunt entirely by sight using short dives of less than 20 seconds each in clear water with good visibility. It carries larger prey ashore, but eats smaller prey while treading water. It primarily eats fish, typically less than in length, but also frogs and small crustaceans, especially when fish is in short supply. The female bears a litter of up to three young after a

gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...

period around two months. The young are born blind and helpless, and the mother cares for them for almost a year. Known predators of the spotted-necked otter include

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

s and

African fish eagle The African fish eagle (''Icthyophaga vocifer'') or the African sea eagle is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply occur. It is the national bird of Malawi, ...

Conservation

The spotted-necked otter is in decline, mostly due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and pollution of its clear-water habitats. It is hunted as

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...

References

External links

ITIS Standard Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:otter, spotted-necked spotted-necked otter Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa spotted-necked otter