ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mamm. Sci.

Sec. Life History and Conservation

Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmamm.2025.1620318

This article is part of the Research TopicGlobal Threats to Otter Health: Parasites, Disease, and Anthropogenic StressorsView all 4 articles

North American river otters consume diverse prey and parasites in a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay

Provisionally accepted
Calli M WiseCalli M Wise1,2Thomas SerfassThomas Serfass3Emma PalmerEmma Palmer1Leone YisraelLeone Yisrael1,4Karson Burton-ReederKarson Burton-Reeder1,5Katrina Marie Pagenkopp LohanKatrina Marie Pagenkopp Lohan1*
  • 1Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SI), Edgewater, United States
  • 2Frostburg State University, Frostburg, United States
  • 3Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD, United States
  • 4Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States
  • 5University of the Pacific, Stockton, United States

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The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) occurs from freshwater to marine habitats across North America, yet very little information exists regarding the biology and ecology of river otters residing in the largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay. We characterized latrines and collected scat to non-invasively examine the diet of river otters residing along 12km of the shoreline of the Rhode River, a tidally influenced subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay. We found and assessed characteristics of 18 latrines, which were compared to habitat models of characteristics of latrines in riverine habitats. Scat was examined microscopically and genetically to assess consumed prey and parasites potentially infecting these river otters or their prey. Our results indicate high similarity of latrine characteristics in both tidally influenced and riverine habitats. Additionally, coastal otters appear to readily use manmade structures as latrines. Our results also indicate that river otters consume a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic fauna, primarily consisting of finfish and crustaceans, but also including frogs and ducks. Finally, multiple parasite species were identified, including parasites of river otters and those infecting prey, indicating that parasites likely play an important role in both prey availability and otter health. This study is the first to characterize river otter latrines and diet in a tidally influenced estuarine habitat within the Chesapeake Bay, a critical step in expanding the ecological research of this apex predator across the increasingly urbanized Chesapeake Bay.

Keywords: Diet, trophic interactions, habitat, Metabarcode, Scat, non-invasive sampling

Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 M Wise, Serfass, Palmer, Yisrael, Burton-Reeder and Pagenkopp Lohan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Katrina Marie Pagenkopp Lohan, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SI), Edgewater, United States

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material