BLACK FROG (Oreophrynella quelchii)

Of the tepuis’ natives, this tiny black frog is the superstar. It’s been clinging to the mountains’ rocks since before the dinosaur age and has changed little, if at all. Unable to swim or hop, it clings to rocks and will roll itself up into a ball if threatened. Its black color keeps it comfortable when temperatures on the tepuis’s highest summits drop below the freezing point.

BIRD LIFE

Half of all migratory birds en route to South America come to the Canaima National Park, according to The Nature Conservancy. And, to judge by the photos that adorn park-related Web sites, bird tourists should be set for a true avian adventure. The tepuis region boasts Venezuela’s highest number of endemic birds — an estimated 41 species with such tantalizing names as tepui tinamous (Crypturellus ptaritepui), fiery-shouldered parakeet (Pyrrhura egregia), roraiman nightjars (Caprimulgus whitelyi), red-banded fruiteaters (Pipreola whitelyi), and velvet-browed brilliants (Heliodoxa xanthogonys). Most of these birds are on the hunt for seeds or nectar and many can be seen as you drive along the Canaima National Park’s lone paved road.

GIANT ANTEATER (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)

Happiest when snuffling along the Lost World’s Gran Sabana, giant anteaters scarf down some 30,000 ants per day. The feeding frenzy is understandable — these are hefty mammals. Giant anteaters can weigh up to 86 pounds and measure up to 9.5 feet long from head to tail. And that’s without counting a tongue that stretches up to 2 feet to zap ants or termites on the run from homes destroyed by the anteater’s powerful claws. But this is no ferocious mammal. A loner who works day and night, the anteater is slow to put up a fight when its territory is challenged (it is capable of running away at speeds of up to 31 miles per hour) and defines its roaming range broadly — up to 22 acres or more. Despite its innocuous existence, the giant anteater is an at-risk species — its meat and skin are valued items and its highly flammable fur makes it a frequent victim of brush fires periodically set by local Pemón Indians.

GIANT OTTER (Pteronura brasiliensis)

Some scientists venture that the giant otter is so large that it should not be called an otter at all. The largest of all otters, these mammals can be up to 6 feet long and weigh over 70 pounds. Giant otters’ days are spent hunting for fish — alone or in groups — on the Gran Sabana’s rivers and dealing decisively with unwanted guests (snakes, beware!).

Family is important. Each group of otters (known as a holt) has its own territory, complete with communal latrines. When parents are away hunting catfish or perch, older children babysit the younger offspring. Water pollution from mining and hunting by local humans makes the giant otter another of the Gran Sabana’s at-risk species.

RED HOWLER MONKEY (Alouatta seniculus)

Who needs a rooster when howler monkeys are on hand? These self-appointed alarm clocks choose daybreak for a chorus of deafening howls audible up to 3 miles away. Male monkeys start the cry, soon echoed by the males of neighboring groups. The goal

is to define territory and, with it, food resources. (An approaching rainstorm can also prompt a performance.) Not known for their live-and-let-live tendencies, male howler monkeys are expelled from their native group upon becoming sexually mature at 7 years old. (Females are sexually mature at 5.) Finding a new home requires these monkeys to invade another group and kill the babies. Though mothers usually put up a fight, it’s a losing battle. Male howlers stand a mere 2 feet long and weigh up to 13 pounds, but will not tolerate any offspring other than their own. After establishing their primacy, triumphant male monkeys usually number no more than 2 in a group of 10 females. But they shouldn’t celebrate too soon — it’s up to the females to make the first move. If bitten by this invertibrate, you will suffer a fever — potentially fatal if accompanied by an allergic reaction — that lasts 24 hours. The perpetrator is a/an:

Ant

Scorpion

Spider

Lizard

It’s not just anteaters who find the Lost World’s insect life tasty. Pemón cuisine features beetle-based sauces for bread-dipping, a hot chili and termite spritzer known as “kumache” to add zing to your noonday meal, and, for those who like variety in their bugs, a guacamole of sorts made from both termites and carpenter ants, described on the Web site of one tepuis traveler as “piquant.”

Producer
SARAH BIRNBAUM

Associate Producer
RONNIE GODEANU

Acting Design Director
SHANNON PALMER

Writer
KAREN DE SEVE

Designers
SABINA DALEY
SHANNON PALMER

Graphic Artist
LENNY DROZNER

Acting Technical Director
G. FRANCISCO PERIN

Scientific Consultant
GIANNA SCARALIA

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Ann Willmott Andersson, Director of Interactive & Broadband.

© 1999 Thirteen/WNET New York

All Rights Reserved

Television Credits

A co-production of Partridge Films and Thirteen/WNET New York.

We present the following Web sites for those interested in the subjects shown in the NATURE program. All links are valid as of December 29, 1999.

International Otter Survival Fund
www.otter.org
Organization funding otter research and conservation programs worldwide .

Otternet.com
http://www.otternet.com/index.htm
All about otters of many species, conservation efforts, and habits of otters.

Fantastic Journeys — Yellowstone@nationalgeographic.com
www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/yellowstone/index.html
A kid-friendly site with cool geology facts and animated geysers.

Oakland Zoo: North American River Otter
www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azotter.html
Biographical information from the Oakland Zoo.

Welcome to Yellowstone National Park
www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/ye/
A fact-packed site featuring sections on geology, wildlife, history, and preservation.

The Total Yellowstone Page
www.yellowstone-natl-park.com/
A comprehensive guide to the park, with a separate page for many of the animals.

River Otter Fun Facts
www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/FISH.GAME/wildlife/geninfo/game/ff_rott.htm
Information about the animal from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Yellowstone National Park (NPS)
www.nps.gov/yell/
Background information from the National Park Service on Yellowstone National Park, including sights and lodging.

Yellowstone Net
www.yellowstone.net/
A community site, with live chat, bulletin boards, links, and photographs.

The River Otter
www.ngpc.state.ne.us/wildlife/otters.html
Information on the status of the river otter in Nebraska, where the species was hunted almost out of existence.

GORP — Yellowstone National Park
www.gorp.com/gorp/resource/US_National_Park/wy_yello.htm
A travel site with maps, a photo gallery, and tour-guide recommendations from the Great Outdoor Recreation Pages.

Friends of the Sea Otter
www.seaotters.org/
A non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the sea otter.

A pair of river otters at Yellowstone.

A group of sea otters bobbing on their backs, wrapped in the strands of kelp that keep them afloat, was once a common sight off the California coast. Hunted almost to extinction, sea otters are now protected by the Endangered Species Act. Unlike river otters, who are comfortable on land, sea otters can barely walk and almost never leave the water. They spend most of their lives in the sea, even sleeping there.

There are six species of otters in the world, including river otters and their more famous relatives, sea otters. All sport a thick coat of dark, oily fur, lined with a lofty undercoat of shorter hair. The double layers trap air between them, creating an insulating barrier against winter temperatures. This protection requires vigilant maintenance: if the fur becomes flat, no air can circulate, and the animal may freeze. Otters must constantly groom their coats to prevent them from becoming matted.

To stay alive, sea otters must eat 25 percent of their own body weight every day. A 40-pound otter must find 10 pounds of food — a full-day task. To eat more efficiently, sea otters developed the ability, unique among the species, to use tools. Each day, a sea otter will start out by locating a sharp rock, which it balances on its belly. For the rest of the day, the otter will use the rock to crack open the oysters and other shellfish it eats to fill its daily quota.

River otters may be more comfortable on dry land than their relations, but they catch their prey in the water. Natural swimmers, all otters have evolved small valve-like skin flaps that cover their ears and nostrils, allowing them to dive to depths of up to 35 feet. With this natural protection, otters can stay underwater for up to five minutes.

An otter and coyote face off over a fish.

As you see in Yellowstone Otters, year after year otter mothers bear a litter of pups, rear them for a year and a half, and then leave them to bear and raise a new family. While they are together, a strong social bond keeps otter families close and helps them ward off predators. A gang of sharp-clawed, belligerent otters can successfully force a coyote to back down from the otters’ recently caught fish.

Otters are mustelids, relatives of weasels, which are some of the most prodigious breeders in the wild. Almost as soon as her litter is born, a female otter is ready to mate again. Otter pups are born in the dead of winter, so a pregnant female seeks out the shelter of abandoned beaver dens in order to give birth to her young. After two months spent nursing the newborns underground, the otter family emerges. Within a year, the pups will be full grown, ready to strike out on their own.

A North American river otter.

Yellowstone National Park, in northern Wyoming, is home to some of the most spectacular natural wonders of the world. Studded with bubbling mud pots, steaming hot springs, and roaring geysers, the park is visited by more than 4 million people every year. It’s also a haven for wildlife like coyotes, elk, bears, bison, and foxes. But a certain creature provides the most entertainment value, whether it’s sliding down snowbanks on its belly or ice fishing. It’s the river otter (Lutra canadensis), star of the NATURE program Yellowstone Otters. A relative of the better-known sea otter, this exuberant mammal is also a relative of the weasel and shares that animal’s thick fur, which insulates it against Yellowstone’s icy winter.

As they race gleefully down snowbanks or ride waterfalls into deep pools of water, river otters may look as if they don’t have a care in the world.But otters actually spend their days constantly on the move. A resting otter is more likely to have a run-in with a predator, like a hungry eagle wheeling overhead, or competition, in the form of a coyote trying to steal an otter’s newly caught trout. But as long as an otter is within sliding distance of the water, it’s safe. In Yellowstone’s frigid rivers, at least, the otter is at the top of the food chain.

Yellowstone may be locked in wintry conditions for eight months of the year, but its animals have a secret weapon for surviving the cold. The park is full of thermal pools, caused by the area’s proximity to the molten rock underneath the surface of the earth. The same superheated puddles that cause geysers to shoot into the air keep Yellowstone’s lakes and rivers from freezing over. So, otters have access to fish, the staple of their diet, throughout the winter.

To order a copy of Yellowstone Otters, please visit the NATURE Shop.
Online content for Yellowstone Otters was originally posted January 1998.