Current distribution of North American river otters in central and eastern Oklahoma, with seven new county records

Occasional Papers of the Museum at Texas Tech University
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Abstract

In 1984 and 1985, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation reintroduced North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) from coastal Louisiana into eastern Oklahoma. Those reintroductions and immigration from Arkansas and possibly northeastern Texas allowed river otters to become reestablished in eastern Oklahoma. Our goals were to determine the contemporary distribution of river otters in central and eastern Oklahoma with voucher specimens, sign surveys, and mail surveys and to compare proportion of positive detections among watersheds. We report new distributional records with voucher specimens from seven counties (Adair, Bryan, Coal, Johnston, McIntosh, Okfuskee, Tulsa) in Oklahoma. We also provide locality information for specimens collected from four counties (Haskell, McCurtain, Muskogee, Wagoner) where river otters were described in published literature but no voucher specimens existed. During winter and spring 2006 and 2007, we visited 340 bridge sites in 28 watersheds in eastern and central Oklahoma and identified river otter signs in 16 counties where river otters were not previously documented in published literature or by voucher specimens. Proportion of positive sites within each watershed ranged 0–100%. Mail surveys suggested that river otters occurred in eight additional counties where they were not previously documented by published literature, voucher specimens, or sign-survey efforts.

Study Area

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Current distribution of North American river otters in central and eastern Oklahoma, with seven new county records
Series title Occasional Papers of the Museum at Texas Tech University
Volume 294
Year Published 2010
Language English
Publisher Museum of Texas Tech University
Publisher location Lubbock, TX
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Atlanta
Description 13 p.
First page 1
Last page 13
Time Range Start 2006-01-01
Time Range End 2007-06-30
Country United States
State Oklahoma
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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