Otter

The slim, streamlined body of the otter is perfectly adapted to aquatic life. They also have webbed feet between the toes and special skin folds allowing them to close their ears and nose when diving. A dense coat with around 50,000 hairs per square centimetre of skin protects them from the wet and cold. Otters are solitary animals, and females raise their offspring alone. Their diet includes not only fish, but also crayfish, frogs, pond mussels, waterfowl and small mammals. Otters were originally found on most bodies of water. Rigorously persecuted as “fish predators” and hunted for their fur, they were exterminated almost everywhere, including in Tyrol. The Alpenzoo was the first zoo in Europe to succeed in breeding this highly endangered “water marten” in 1978.