Partnerships are bringing back the giant otter in Colombia
If you’ve ever kayaked with an otter, you’ll know that they are the pandas of the west, as they look cuddly and carry around their babies on their bellies. But not everyone likes them. The giant otter is endangered across the Amazon rainforest in South America due to hunting for their pelts, competition with fisherpeople, and deforestation.
The giant otters were thought to be extinct in Colombia and were not seen by anyone for 15 years until recently. With the help of the Orinoquia Biodiversa Foundation, in Tauramena, five family groups were found of almost 30 otters.
Their research team spent two years travelling almost 200 miles in canoes in Colombia’s Tauramena waterways, identifying the otters’ footprints, burrows, behaviour patterns and individual characteristics. Through this effort, scientists now know they can consider Colombia an option for bringing back the giant otter.
This is good timing because a coalition of more than 50 researchers from 12 South American countries including Colombia, recently identified and prioritized 22 areas for giant otter conservation, including locations in Colombia.
What is the giant otter?
There are 13 species of otters in the world, but the South American Giant Otter is the largest. It grows up to six feet long and weighs up to 70 pounds! They like to travel along large rivers, lakes, and are often found in slow, dark blackwater streams that become tea colored as leaves break down.
You might smell otters before you see them. They create their own porta potties called latrines to mark their territories along river banks.
They eat up to nine pounds of fish every day and can locate food by smell from over 300 feet away. That’s why fisherpeople are worried about the otters eating all of their catch.
But these otters are fearless and often will eat alligators, snakes, and their favourite fish, the demon eartheater and piranhas. And in reality, it’s not the otters eating all of the fish, but increased habitat loss and pollution that are reducing fish populations for both people and otters in the Amazon.
Why are they endangered?
The giant otter once ranged from northern Venezuela to Argentina. Illegal hunting for its fur shrank the range of the population by 60 percent. It is now considered extinct in Uruguay and Argentina. Approximately 40 thousand otters were hunted in the past to make “pelo de guama” hats, products from the Llanos Orientales of Colombia and Venezuela.
Although hunting is no longer an issue, new threats have emerged, such as rampant gold mining, deforestation for pasture and soybeans, and hydroelectric energy development. If these continue without protections for the otter, another 50 percent of the population could be lost.
In Colombia, giant otter populations are no longer present in the Amazonian foothills in the Caquetá and Putumayo departments, along the borders of Ecuador and Peru, due to one of the highest deforestation rates in the country. So a focus on protecting habitat that’s left is critical.
What’s being done to bring giant otters back?
In 2025 a coalition of conservation organizations came together to figure out how to bring back the giant otter throughout the region. This included organizations such as Wildlife Conservation Society, Fundacion Orinoquia Biodiversa, Fundacion Omacha and more than 40 others.
A big part of this is setting aside lands to protect. Three Ramsar sites, designated as waters of international importance, have been set aside for protection in Colombia to protect the giant otter. This effort has protected over one million hectares of habitat for the giant otter at Tarapoto wetlands, Inírida River Star, and Bita River. The El Tuparro National Park is one of the largest protected areas in Colombia and is home to a high diversity of threatened, vulnerable and ecologically important species for the Orinoco, including the giant otter.
But what’s also needed is engagement with the community around the protection of the giant otter. In 2018, Colombia created the Integrated Management District, which allows communities to co-manage protected areas alongside scientists and the government.
Using these designated districts, the Orinoquia Biodiversa Foundation partnered with GeoPark and the community to create increased environmental awareness of the otters. They signed voluntary conservation agreements with 10 families in the Mata de La Urama Integrated Management Regional District to protect 22 hectares of land important to the giant otter, giant anteater, and paca.
In the Amazon, the coalition of scientists notes that the Serranías de Chiribiquete National Park is “undoubtedly one of the best options for the conservation of this (giant otter) species” with its 4 million hectares of undisturbed land and a conservation plan led by the local indigenous communities on the Cuduyarí River.
Bringing this otter back to Colombia will require continued collaboration with the communities so that any conservation happening now is not undone.
