Oriental small-clawed otter
Small-clawed otter ( Aonyx cinerea)
The small-clawed otter ( Aonyx cinerea), sometimes referred to as short- clawed otters, a widespread in Southeast Asia carnivore species of the subfamily is the otter ( Lutrinae ). He was formerly placed in the separate genus Amblonyx.
Features
With a body length from 45 to 61 centimeters, a tail length of 25 to 35 centimeters and a weight of 1 to 5 pounds, it is the smallest otter. His fur is dark brown or gray on the surface, the face, the neck and belly are lighter. As he fingers Otter greatly reduced claws, which have hardly any benefits. The webs are degenerated, which allows great mobility of the individual fingers.
Distribution and habitat
The range of the clawed otter extends from India and southern China through the Malay Peninsula to Borneo and Java and also includes the southern Philippines. They inhabit areas with dense vegetation near water, both in rivers and at river mouths and along seashores.
Way of life
Small-clawed otters are more sociable than other otter species, they live in family groups of up to twelve animals. They play together and communicate with a range of sounds.
My bite is very strong with the cracking mollusks and crustacean shells, on which they have specialized largely as food. Fish play a subordinate role in the diets of Dwarf Otters. Unlike many other species of otters they raise food on with their paws and not with the mouth, while they often burrow in search of food with their paws in the sand or mud.
Reproduction
After an approximately 60 - to 64 - day gestation, the female gives birth to one or two pups. At birth, a small building is created in the mud, in which the newborns spend their first weeks of life of both parents. After 80 days they can eat solid food. Unlike the other species of otters clawed otter can throw twice a year.
Threats and conservation
Zwergotter apply according to the Red List of endangered species by the World Conservation Union IUCN as threatened ( Vulnerable ). Their fur is considered less valuable than that of the otter, so that he was much less hunted than the spread in the same area without hair nose Notter. Nevertheless, there is the destruction of their habitat inventory declines.
Through the Washington Convention CITES, Appendix II of the small-clawed otter, like all species of the family otter ( Lutrinae ) is protected by restrictions in the trade. To this end, the European Union is the way to Annex B of the EU Wildlife Trade Regulation ( EC) No 338/ 97 and the amendment made by EC Regulation 407 /2009. The Federal Republic of Germany creates with the designation of all species of the genus Aonyx be especially protected in the Federal Nature Conservation Act, the legal basis for protective measures also this marten.