The playful North American river otter is equally at home in the water and on land. It makes its home in a burrow near the water's edge, and can thrive in river, lake, swamp, or estuary ecosystems.

With the demise of the wolverine (Gulo luscus Linnaeus) in the Adirondacks in the late 1700’s or early 1800’s, the river otter became the region’s largest member of the weasel family. Adults weigh 5.4 ...

They were gone by the early 1900s — a casualty of fur trapping and habitat destruction ... to a population rebound of the American river otter in northern Pennsylvania, according to the trust.