River Otters

River Otters

Last month our wildlife biologist, Josh, caught these pictures of river otters in the Lower Blue River. River otters are members of the weasel family, and their thick, water-resistant fur and webbed feet allow for a semi-aquatic lifestyle. These otters in the Blue River Basin likely migrated up from the Colorado River, where Colorado Parks and Wildlife has worked to restore their populations since the 1970’s. The success of this work was recently confirmed when the status of the river otter in Colorado was upgraded from endangered to threatened. Very curious, playful and a lot of fun to watch, otters are difficult to see as they are typically active at dawn and dusk.