The river otter’s Arkansas record, 88 records spread across 35 counties, follows water from one end of the state to the other: the clear runs of the Buffalo National River and the streams of Ozark National Forest in the north, and the slow bayous around Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge and Moro Bay State Park in the southern lowlands.
A fish chaser with a playful streak
Otters live on fish, crayfish, frogs, and anything else they can outswim, hunting by sight and whisker-touch underwater. They are famously active animals, and the mudslides they wear into riverbanks, along with the latrines where a family group leaves scat, are often the surest sign that otters are working a stretch of water. At Buffalo National River, where the record is thickest, gravel bars at first light are the place to look.
At home in the cold
Otters do not hibernate and stay active under ice if need be, so Arkansas’s mild winters keep them on the move year-round. Records fall in every month, with a small February crest, when leafless woods make a swimming otter easier to spot, and a second rise in October as family groups travel along the rivers.
Status in Arkansas
NatureServe ranks the river otter S5, Secure, and the species is native to Arkansas. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous in the state.
