Giant otter thought to be extinct in Argentina resurfaces. Literally
by Mongabay.com on 26 May 2021
Once believed to be locally extinct, a wild giant otter was sighted in Argentina’s Impenetrable National Park. The species hasn’t been seen in the country for about 40 years.
An expert says the giant otter may have migrated from the Paraguayan Pantanal thousands of miles away, or that there is a local population in Argentina that’s gone undetected until now.
Conservationists are also planning to reintroduce giant otters into Argentina’s Iberá National Park.
A pair of captive otters slated for release recently gave birth to three healthy pups.
Tue 25 May 2021 01.00 EDT
Last modified on Tue 25 May 2021 03.19 EDT
âIt was a huge surprise,â said Sebastián Di Martino, director of conservation at Fundación Rewilding Argentina. âI was incredulous. An incredible feeling of so much happiness. I didnât know if I should try to follow it or rush back to our station to tell the others.â
The cause of the excitement was the sighting, last week, of a wild giant river otter â an animal feared extinct in the country due to habitat loss and hunting â on the Bermejo River in Impenetrable national park, in north-east Argentinaâs Chaco province. The last sighting of a giant otter in the wild in Argentina was in the 1980s. On the Bermejo, none have been seen for more than a century.
POCONE, BRAZIL - SEPTEMBER 24: A giant river otter swims in the Pantanal on September 24, 2020 in Pocone, Brazil. Pantanal is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul and is the world s largest tropical wetland area, and the world s largest flooded grasslands. The region is considered by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage and Biosphere Reserve. Since the beginning of September, more than 5,000 fires have been registered. The main cause of the induced fires is the livestock activity to transform the region into pastures. The biome has been going through four months of drought, which makes fire control difficult. The situation severely affects the local fauna and flora, which consists of thousands of species, some even endangered.
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