Aonyx Enhydra Hydrictis Lontra Lutra Lutrogale Pteronura †Enhydriodon[2][3] †Algarolutra †Cyrnaonyx †Megalenhydris †Sardolutra †Siamogale †Teruelictis †Satherium †Enhydritherium Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae.

Otters' habitats include dens known as holts or couches, with their social structure described by terms such as dogs or boars for males, bitches or sows for females, and pups or cubs for offspring.

Groups of otters can be referred to as a bevy, family, lodge, romp, or raft when in water, indicating their social and playful characteristics.

Otters are known for their distinct feces, termed spraints, which can vary in smell from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish.

Otters exhibit a varied life cycle with a gestation period of about 60–86 days, and offspring typically stay with their family for a year.

Otters are distinguished by their long, slim bodies, powerful webbed feet for swimming, and their dense fur, which keeps them warm and buoyant in water.

Otter-human interactions have varied over time, with otters being hunted for their pelts, used in fishing practices in southern Bangladesh, and occasionally attacking humans, though such incidents are rare and often a result of provocation.

[6][7] The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp (being descriptive of their often playful nature), or, when in water, raft.

[8][9] The feces of otters are typically identified by their distinctive aroma, the smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish;[10] these are known as spraints.

Their most striking anatomical features are the powerful webbed feet used to swim, and their seal-like abilities for holding breath underwater.

[13] Otters are active hunters, chasing prey in the water or searching the beds of rivers, lakes or the seas.

Most species live beside water, but river otters usually enter it only to hunt or travel, otherwise spending much of their time on land to prevent their fur becoming waterlogged.

Otters are playful animals and appear to engage in various behaviors for sheer enjoyment, such as making waterslides and sliding on them into the water.

Early hunting methods included darts, arrows, nets and snares but later, traps were set on land and guns used.

[28] Traffic (the wildlife trade monitoring network) reported that otters are at serious risk in Southeast Asia and have disappeared from parts of their former range.

[34] In November 2021, about 20 otters ambushed a British man in his 60s during an early morning walk in Singapore Botanic Gardens.

In the Noto region, Ishikawa Prefecture, there are stories where they shapeshift into beautiful women or children wearing checker-patterned clothing.

"[40][41] There are darker stories, such as one from Kaga Province (now Ishikawa Prefecture) in which an otter that lives in the castle's moat shapeshifts into a woman, invites males, and then kills and eats them.

[42] In the kaidan, essays, and legends of the Edo period like the "Urami Kanawa" (裏見寒話),[43] "Taihei Hyaku Monogatari" (太平百物語), and the "Shifu Goroku" (四不語録), there are tales about strange occurrences like otters that shapeshift into beautiful women and kill men.

[49] In China, like in Japan, there are stories where otters shapeshift into beautiful women in old books like In Search of the Supernatural and the Zhenyizhi (甄異志).