The Asian/ Oriental Small Clawed Otter is the smallest otter in the world.

Head and body length is 40 - 65cm and the tail is 24 - 35cm. Weigh under 10 pounds. Burnt light brown to gray in color, with a white to pale gray throat, and chest.

The hair is velvety and the gueardhairs are normally 1.2-1.4 cm long, the underfur is 0.6-0.9 cm long.

The nose is like a trapezoid that has a point at the longest flattest side. The nostrils are located in the bottom side parts of the nose.

Unlike most otters, the Small Clawed Otter's feet are narrow and partially webbed, only at the last joint.

Claws of adults are only minute spikes that do not project beyond the ends of the digital pads, hence giving it its species name.

The fingers of the forepaws are very sensitive and nimble and are used to locate food in the mud or beneath the rocks. The otter is very agile both on land and water.

Otters are mostly nocturnal, but can also be active during the day. They are very intelligent and curious animals. Otters of all ages like to play in the water and on land.

Special Adaptations
• Sensitive and dexterous forepaws which helps it to locate prey in mud or under stones.
• Hand-oriented (not mouth-oriented like most carnivores) and will grab and hold the prey with their forepaws while eating.
• Relatively large and broad cheek teeth, apparent purposes of crushing shells of crabs and mollusks.
• Special structures on their eyes which give them great vision on land and in the water.

Other names: Asian Short Clawed Otter, Oriental Short Clawed Otter, Malaysian Small Clawed Otter

Otters dig their own dens or live hidden in the riverside shrubbery. They also live in deserted dens of other animals.

The Oriental Small Clawed Otter is found in the geographical range of South India, Southern Indo-China, Singapore, Malayan Peninsular, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, The Riau Archipelago, Palawan.

Carnivorous: Diet consists mainly of crabs, other crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, fish, crayfish, snails and other small aquatic animals it uses to catch with its hand-like forepaws.

In the wild, they rarely eat plant material, but in captivity, they easily become accustomed to it. Some zoos, feed the otters with cat and trout chow (for less active cats), which is filled with essential vitamins and minerals, carrots, smelt and occasionally chicks.

It is one of the few otter species that is social and not solitary in its habits. The female is the dominant partner of the pair. Both the breeding pair of the Oriental Small Clawed Otters stay together after breeding and help raise the litter of 2 -6 pups.

The pups may then stay with their parents which forms the nucleus of a small social group which may have up to 12 individuals. 2 years old, usually do not breed until about 3 years old.

Like all other mammals, an otter's first diet consists of the mother's milk. Life span in captivity up to 22 years. Females may produce up to 2 litters annually. Gestation 60 - 64 days. The young do not open their eyes until about 40 days, and they first swim 63 days. Young nurse until 90 - 120 months. Solid food is first taken about 80 days

Destruction of the otters' wetland habitat is the major threat to this species. The Small Clawed Otter is a List 3: Lower Risk: Near Threatened, CITES II, in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. Cited: 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals pp140.

Zoo Programs - SSP
There are about 110 Oriental Small Clawed Otters in the 21 participating zoos in the SSP program. This SSP was one of the first to be developed, and its original purpose was to serve as a model for the captive breeding of endangered social otters, ie. the Giant Otters and the Cape Clawless Otters.

Since that time, the Oriental Small Clawed Otters have become threatened by habitat loss. One of the foremost concern of the program is reducing the incidence of kidney stones in captive otters. Research on both captive and wild otters is being done to determine how diet affect this problem.

Like raccoons, the Oriental Small Clawed Otters sometimes "wash" their food before eating it.

They sometimes bring the clams their find in the shallow water to the shore, pile them up, and after a few hours in the sun, the clams open and the otters eat them.

Because the majority of the otters succumb to kidney problems and obesity in captivity, they are fed using cat food for less active cats to reduce the amount of both calories (to keep the weight down) and ash (which can lead to kidney problems).

They are hunted for their durable pelt and are considered threatened due to hunting, habitat encroachment and pollution of their river habitat.

Otters are consider a good indicator to the health of the water systems they inhabit. A healthy otter population indicates a healthy water system.

When the otters hunt in the rice fields, they aid the farmers by ridding the fields of crayfish that damage crops.

Malayan fisherman have even trained them to dive drive fish into nets for them.

The 13 species of otters are the most aquatic of mustelids; the Sea Otters are the most aquatic of any mammals besides the whales, sirenians (manatees and dudongs), and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walrus). The Sea Otters and the South American Giant Otters are the largest of mustelids, approaching 100 pounds in weight.