Studies on otters preying on beavers are varied, Kathie. Unlike the beaver that prefers to build across a smaller body of water, the otter can live at … Not waiting for California to get on board otters are already drawn to our beaver ponds where they are sometimes unwelcome and mostly ignored. This gives me a chance to answer Ken’s questions in comments from yesterday about beavers and river otters. Yet they are vastly different animals, and even come from different orders. Sea otters average 50 to 90 pounds and reach lengths of up to five feet. During winter, river otters will take advantage of openings in ice and even break through beaver dams to get to water sources. Although interesting to watch, these animals can be problematic when they move into stormwater ponds. Otters are thrill seeking opportunistic fish eaters that troll vast territories for their daily meal. Beavers, Muskrats, and Otters are aquatic mammals whose ranges cover most or all of South Carolina, so there is potential for almost any pond in the state to harbor these fur-bearing animals. Beavers, Muskrats, and Otters are aquatic mammals whose ranges cover most or all of South Carolina, so there is potential for almost any pond in the state to harbor these fur-bearing animals. Not only are the beavers fascinating to observe as they forage, groom and build, but their ponds are magnets for other wild creatures. In the middle of March, the ice on a large beaver pond had retreated from the beavers' dam and the lodge the beavers were using right next to the dam. Beavers are family oriented herbivores that stay in one place and sculpt the same landscape over and over again until it matches their needs. February 22, 2013 at 5:45 pm England’s first - and only - wild beaver re-introduction project has been running for five years. Ken’s Comment: After reading this posting I was thinking about the young turkey vulture that went missing. It’s amusing to see an otter stare at you with that periscope-like neck above the water or to watch a mink repeatedly shake the water from its fur each time it climbs on a beaver cache of branches—only to dive right back in again. Otters tend to live by the riverside, and along banks as their preferable surroundings. A wise otter trapper can take advantage of this knowledge in a way that exploits this habit to their benefit. The government has now extended the River Otter Beaver Trial by six months while decisions are made about their long-term presence in East Devon - and potentially elsewhere in the country. We need you to answer this question! If you answered Muskrat, Beaver, Otter, you are correct. Once beavers move on from an area, it is usually not long before otters lay claim to their dwellings.