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Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 1 - 55 (July 2004) Citation: Arcila, D.A. and Ramírez, M. (2004) Captive Reproduction Of The Neotropical Otter In The Santa Fe Zoological Park In Medellin, Colombia. IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull. 21(1): 16 - 18 Captive Reproduction Of The Neotropical Otter In The Santa Fe Zoological Park In Medellin, Colombia Diego A. Arcila11, Marcela Ramírez2 1 Instituto
de Biología. Universidad de Antioquia. Medellín, Colombia. e-mail: darcila77@yahoo.com (received 13th June 2004, accepted 24th August 2004)
INTRODUCTION Protection and conservation of threatened species is a world-wide priority, however, it is necessary to know the basic aspects of the species’ biology, and how it interacts with the ecosystem, in order to make conservation decisions. The study of diet and reproduction probably requires the most research effort since these aspects are essential as regards survival of populations. The Neotropical otter Lontra longicaudis has a range that extends from Mexico to Uruguay, Paraguay, and northern Argentina (LARIVIÈRE, 1999). In general, L. longicaudis has been poorly studied, though a number of studies on diet have been reported (GALLO, 1997; QUADROS and MONTEIRO-FILHO, 2001). At present, little is known about the reproductive biology of L. longicaudis. This is due in part to the fact that L. longicaudis are not commonly observed in the wild. Captive otters provide an opportunity to increase knowledge of the biology of the species, including reproduction. CUBAS et al. (1993) and BLACHER (1994) in Brazil, and JACOME and PARERA (1995) in Argentina, reported on otter reproduction in captivity. BLACHER (1994) provided details from three litters produced by the same female during an eleven-month period in the Curitiba Zoological Park in Paraná. There are, however, no published records regarding reproduction of otters in Colombia, either in the wild or in captivity. In this short notice we report on the first litter born in captivity at the Santa Fé Zoological Park in Medellín, Colombia. RESULTS Two otters (a female (3 years old) and a male (4 to 5 months old)) were caught in the municipality of Caucasia (7º 59’ N and 75º 12’ W), in the northern section of the department of Antioquía, and were brought to the Santa Fé Zoological Park; arriving on November 1994 and 16 March 1996, respectively. The couple were observed mating in the water and, so far, three parturitions have been registered, though only one was successful. On all three occasions the female was isolated from the male. On 10 April 1999, the couple mated and, on July 4 of the same year, two young were born but died soon afterwards. We believe the mother accidentally trampled the young. The ultimate cause of death may have been a result of rejection by the mother or the small size of the enclosures. Since that time, the enclosure has been expanded and access to water has been provided for the otters. On April first 2002, the first otter successfully born in captivity in Colombia was produced (though no mating was registered). On 4 May 2002, this individual was moved to Santa Cruz Zoo in the city of Santa Fé de Bogotá for the purpose of breeding the species there. On 19 August 2002, a mating was registered in Santa Fé Zoological Park, and on 12 November of that same year an otter was born. Two days later, the young otter was missing. We believe the mother ate the young otter. DISCUSSION The gestation period of L. longicaudis was 86 days. This differs from results published by BERTONATTI and PARERA (1994, cited by LARIVIÈRE, 1999) and PARERA (2002), who report periods of 57 days and 60 to 70 days respectively. One explanation for this discrepancy is that it is possible that undetected later copulation resulted in pregnancy. However, the gestation period could also differ from one region to another within the species’ distribution range. Despite the small number of copulation instances registered, retarded
implantation did not occur. This coincides with the results of BLACHER
(1994) and JACOME and PARERA (1995). AMSTISLAVSKY
and TERNOVSKAYA (2000) studied mustelid reproduction in the Northern Hemisphere and reported
three kinds of pregnancies: (1) a constant short-term gestation period;
(2) a long gestation period (7 to 10 months), in which the development
of the embryo includes an obligatory diapause during the blastocyst
stage; and (3) a short-term and variable period. According to the information
available, L. longicaudis appears to belong to the third pregnancy
class, i.e. the gestation period is short and variable. Acknowledgements - We would like to acknowledge Helen Waldemarin, Fernando Trujillo, and Carlos Delgado for their input. We are most grateful to Eduardo Carrillo-Rubio, who translated this manuscript from Spanish into English. We also thank the staff at the Santa Fé Zoological Park for their assistance. References Amstislavsky, S., Ternovskaya,
Y. 2000. Reproduction in mustelids. Animal
Reproduction Science 60-61, 571-581. Résumé : Reproduction De La Loutre
A Longue Queue En Captivite, Au Parc Zoologique De Santa Fe A Medellin,
En Colombie Resumen:
Reproducción En Cautiverio De La Nutria Neotropical En El Parque
Zoológico Santa Fé En Medellín, Colombia |
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