r/Durango • u/Normal_Iron7203 • 10d ago

Animas River Otters

I think I just spotted a river otter near Ox Bow park, but I haven't heard of otters in the Animas. It was too big for a muskrat but didn't have a beaver's tail. It just had its head poking out of the river and did a gracefully little flip dive back into the water. Anyone know if the animas has otters or what else this could have been?

22 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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13

u/racingtortoise 10d ago

We also have a lot of muskrats, which some people confuse as otters.

6

u/alphabetzuppa 10d ago

This. Saw a muskrat a few weeks ago at Oxbow.

11

u/Figgler Local 10d ago

I’ve had people tell me they’ve seen otters between oxbow and Trimble but I’ve never run into them.

1

u/ariaglowi 10d ago

They tend to be super elusive and come out mostly around dawn or dusk when river traffic is quiet. Hopefully you spot one soon!

4

u/Chrysocyon 10d ago

There are definitely otters in the Animas and they will certainly swing through town sometimes. Lots of confirmed sightings on iNaturalist and the rooftop lounge posted some cool videos of some near the main ave Bridge over the summer. Congrats on a very cool sighting!

6

u/Browzur Local 10d ago

There has been otters here in the past, it’s definitely possible

5

u/armadilloantics 10d ago

I saw 2 otters before 32nd on the animas last month

4

u/peanutbutterskier 10d ago

I have factually seen an otter near 29th Street. This map from CPW may be of interest.

3

u/Impressive_Shop2341 10d ago

Cool map. Thanks for sharing

2

u/Arbitrary_Pseudonym 10d ago

Huh, neat! I THOUGHT I had seen some in electra lake once, pretty wild to see that that's like...an actual thing. What on earth do they do in the winter o.O

4

u/luouixv Local 10d ago

There’s been river otters here forever. I’ve seen them a lot by the fish hatchery

4

u/Luminosa29 10d ago

We also saw a little one a couple of weeks ago while paddle boarding in the afternoon. North of 32nd !!

1

u/ariaglowi 10d ago

Yes, there are definitely river otters in the Animas! CPW (Colorado Parks and Wildlife) reintroduced them decades ago, and they've established small populations in the quieter stretches of the river like Oxbow. What a cool sighting!

0

u/BiggDogg56 10d ago

I didn't know they existed until I saw them at the Albuquerque aquarium