'A huge surprise' as giant river otter feared extinct in Argentina pops up

[Judi Lynn]

2. Solitary otters have a surprisingly rich vocabulary

Solitary otters have a surprisingly rich vocabulary
By Sofia MoutinhoMay. 26, 2021 , 2:00 PM

Neotropical river otters spend most of their time alone, but that doesn’t stop them from being big chatterboxes. These animals—which live in Central and South America—make a variety of squeaks and growls to convey everything from surprise to playfulness, a new study has found. The discovery could help reveal how communication evolved in all otters—and perhaps help protect these endangered animals.

“The study is an in-depth and insightful investigation into the vocal repertoire of this understudied otter species,” says Alexander Saliveros, a biologist and otter expert at the University of Exeter who was not part of the research.

All otters make sounds like growls and squeaks to communicate. Some social species, such as the Amazon’s giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), use up to 22 different call types. Others, like the lonesome North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), only have four known calls.

But the neotropical river otter (L. longicaudis) has largely remained a mystery. Solitary inhabitants of rivers and lakes, they come together only once a year to mate. That makes their communication especially hard to study, says Sabrina Bettoni, a bioacoustician at the University of Vienna

More:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/05/solitary-otters-have-surprisingly-rich-vocabulary

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Giant river otters from Brazil: