What better news on World Otter Day, 26 May, than the birth of three giant otter cubs in Iberá Park, northeastern Argentina?
The giant otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, a top aquatic predator, was believed to be extinct in Argentina but is now making a powerful comeback after three cubs were born on 19 May to Coco and Alondra, two giant otters introduced from zoos. The pairs’ two previous litters had been unsuccessful. Another giant river otter, Nanay, recently arrived to the programme from Eskilstuna Zoo in Sweden.
The reintroduction of giant otters is part of an ambitious and innovative rewilding programme in Corrientes province by Rewilding Argentina, the strategic partner of Tompkins Conservation.
Kristine Tompkins, President of Tompkins Conservation and a United Nations Patron of Protected Areas, celebrated the news.
“These three cubs represent a future where human communities and the natural world can thrive together. As we enter the UN Decade on Ecosystems Restoration, I strongly believe that our most urgent task is helping nature heal. Rewilding puts us on that path.”
The rewilding programme marks the first attempt to return the giant river otter to a habitat where humans have caused its disappearance. Since giant river otters live and hunt in large family groups, their release into the protected Iberá wetlands has been contingent on their forming a family.
Endangered globally, the giant river otter has not been seen for over 40 years in Argentina, where illegal hunting and habitat loss led to its decline. Yet, the conservation status of this charismatic and playful animal changed radically only two weeks ago, when staff of Rewilding Argentina filmed a solitary wild individual on the Bermejo River in Impenetrable National Park in Chaco Province. The closest known population of the species is some 1,000 km away in Paraguay.
Iberá National Park abuts a much larger (553,000 hectares) protected area, the Iberá Provincial Park, creating a huge contiguous swath of parkland centred on one of the largest freshwater wetlands in South America. The conjoined Iberá Park is the largest nature park in Argentina.
The park not only has the first jaguar cubs but is home to recovered populations of species that had been lost, including the giant anteater, the Pampas deer, the tapir, the collared peccary and the red-and-green macaw.
In December 2018, the Congress of Argentina passed legislation approving the creation of the nearly 160,000-hectare Iberá National Park, ensuring its long-term protection. Douglas and Kristine Tompkins, successful entrepreneurs from the United States, purchased the land through two foundations, Conservation Land Trust and Flora and Fauna Argentina, which ultimately donated the property to the public to become a national park. Collaborating with public and private partners, the Tompkins Conservation has driven the creation of 13 national parks, protecting nearly 5.9 million hectares (14.5 million acres).
The United Nations General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Decade is designed to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide. This global call to action will be launched on 5 June, World Environment Day. The UN Decade will draw together political support, scientific research and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration with the goal of reviving millions of hectares of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Visit www.decadeonrestoration.org to learn more.
For further information, please contact Carolyn McCarthy, Global Communications, Tompkins Conservation: [email protected]
Further resources:
Rewilding in Argentina: the giant river otter returns to Iberá park