Meet the otter family on Taganak Island of the Turtle Islands. This family of five smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata), composed of a couple and their three pups, have come to live on the island for quite some time now.
First thought to be among Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus), the couple was first spotted in May taking shelter in the crevices near a command post of the local police in the area. Until one day in August, three more members of the family were seen playing on the beach.
The sighting of the otters was the first record of the species in the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary (TIWS), a protected area.
This group of otters was the second otter species to occur in the Philippines. The first is the endemic Palawan otter.
Carnivorous mammals, a threatened species
Part of the Mustelidae family, which is composed of carnivorous mammals, otters are closely related to skunks, weasels, wolverines and badgers.
There are 13 extant otter species that are semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine with diets based on fish and invertebrates, according to BBC Wildlife Magazine.
The smooth-coated otters, BBC said, occur throughout much of the Indian Subcontinent in Java, Sumatra and Borneo, northward to south-western China, east through Nepal and Bhutan and India to Pakistan, excluding the Indus Valley.
Otters are targeted by illegal wildlife traders, Emerson Y. Sy, a researcher at the wildlife trade watchdog Traffic, told the BusinessMirror via Messenger on November 19.
Otter pups have a big market in Japan and Indonesia, he said.
“Especially in Japan, where customers play with them in otter cafés. Most of them are caught in the wild. In Indonesia, they are considered as pets,” he said.
Young otters can be trained to perform tricks and become domesticated, Sy added.
Mysterious visitors
As they come to live on the islands, these adorable creatures are an awesome addition to the biodiversity of Turtle Islands.
Wildlife experts, however, are mystified by their emergence on the island.
Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Region 9 executive director, explained that the otter couple may have been brought to the Philippine shores by the ocean current at the height of a storm in May.
She told the BusinessMirror via Messenger on November 18 that upon consultation with the Otters Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the Philippines, the proximity from where the otters may have come from and Taganak Island is close enough for them to swim across and survive the journey.
Little-known creatures
In the Philippines, not much is known about otters, especially their feeding and breeding habit, their habitat or even population and distribution in the wild.
Jessa Garibay-Yayen, an IUCN Otter Specialist, said otters are indicators of a healthy river ecosystem, which is just one of the many ecological benefits or functions of the species.
“However, as predators, they impact the populations of species that they prey upon,” she told the BusinessMirror in an interview via Whatsapp on November 18.
Garibay-Yayen, who also works for the Centre for Sustainability Philippines, said the Philippines has the Palawan otter which was the subject of a study of the Otters Specialist Group of the IUCN in the past.
Yet, she said, even for the Palawan otters, a limited papers are available because there is very little study on the shy and elusive mammals.
As for the otters found on Taganak Island, there is no evidence that they actually migrated or even swam across from Malaysia to Taganak, Garibay-Yayen said.
A need for investigation
For her part, Asean Centre for Biodiversity Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said otters are excellent swimmers.
She said the Philippine government has the option to return them to their known natural habitat, which could be a good way forward as their progenies will eventually need to breed with otters unrelated to their family.
However, Lim said there’s a need to understand what brought them to Taganak.
“Was their habitat disturbed or they just accidentally migrated? Are they fit to be transported, based on the state of health of the family?” asked Lim, a licensed veterinarian, replied the BusinessMirror via Messenger on November 21.
She said these are some of the important factors to consider on deciding and planning to relocate the otters, to avoid human-wildlife conflict considering that Taganak is a densely populated island.
Avoid human-otter contact
“Another option is setting aside an area in Taganak where they can have minimum contact with humans. But this could mean enclosing them, which will limit their opportunities to feed themselves, and affect their welfare and survival,” Lim added.
Finally, Lim said a third option is for the community to try to live with the otters harmoniously.
She pointed out, however, the need to establish guidelines to protect the mammals and allow researches and observations to be undertaken to better understand their behavior, their movement, and the circumstances behind their presence on Taganak.
She said this could offer a deeper sense of how much more interconnected man and wildlife have in terms of biodiversity.
It could “encourage more joint initiatives for species and ecosystems protection, transcending political boundaries,” she said.
Chances of survival
While Lim said individual otters could probably survive on the island, seeing the population thriving is a remote possibility, even if they have enough of their source of food in the wild.
“As for the survival of the species on Taganak, a pair of otters will not make a viable population,” she said.
She said the only way for the otters’ population to grow is through genetic infusion, or when more otters will, by chance, find their way to Taganak.
Marine turtles’ haven
Taganak Island, the largest and most populated island in the municipality of Turtle Islands, in Tawi-Tawi province in Mindanao, may not be the best place for otters as the area is the habitat of marine turtles.
The Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA), the first transboundary protected area of sea turtles in the world, was established through a memorandum of agreement signed by the governments of the Philippines and of Malaysia on May 31, 1996.
Proclaimed as a wildlife sanctuary under Proclamation 171 on August 26, 1999, the TIWS is the only major nesting habitat of the green marine turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Philippines and the only major nesting ground in the whole Asean region.
Well adjusted, settled in
TIWS Protected Area Superintendent Minda Bairulla said otters, while generally shy and elusive at first, have already adjusted to people near them.
So far, TIWS see no serious threat to the existence of the otters on the island, Bairulla told the BusinessMirror in an online interview on November 18.
They appear to be healthy and are often seen playing.
“So far, based on our monitoring, we have not observed any threat. Their activities are more on searching for food, eating fish, rolling and playing on the sandy beach,” she said.
Bairulla added that while there are several biting incidents involving the mother, she described it as natural and a mother’s protective instinct to her three cubs.
However, Lim cautioned that biting incidence should not be taken lightly as otters can also have rabies that can infect humans.
Tourist attraction
According to Bairulla, on the Taganak Island and the entire Turtle Islands, the otters will be an added tourist attraction when tourism activities finally resume.
However, she acknowledged that there will be a need to maintain distance from the otters.
“We are still observing how long the mother’s instinct will last. We estimate that the cubs are already four months old already,” she said.
Besides eating fish, they were once seen feeding on a sea snake.
The otters are often seen playing on the beach.
Otters-turtle conflict
Asked whether the otters pose a threat to the turtles on the island, Bairulla said they are still in the process of observing the feeding habit of the island’s famous guests.
“We are continuously monitoring. We have only one report that the otters chased a turtle at sea,” she added.
She said even dogs or water monitor lizards, which are natural predators of turtles, pose no threat to the otters.
In fact, it could be the other way around. They could eventually pose as threats to turtling hatchings that are struggling to make their way to the ocean from their nests in the beach.
With the family of otters being a welcome addition to the island’s biodiversity and tourist attraction, Rodriguez appealed to the people on the island to help protect them and let them be as they survive and thrive on the island.
“We encourage the local community of Taganak Island in Turtle Islands, to let our otters be, do them no harm, and allow them to live freely without interference. Let us work together to create massive steps toward wildlife conservation that will create an impact not just in Tawi-Tawi but in the global community as well,” she said.
Image credits: Adzmie Herrera/Emerson Sy