{"id":249,"date":"2005-07-13T11:11:59","date_gmt":"2005-07-13T17:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mjhinton.com\/wild\/index.php\/uncategorized\/river-otters-return-to-new-mexico-after-more-than-50-years\/"},"modified":"2005-07-13T11:11:59","modified_gmt":"2005-07-13T17:11:59","slug":"river-otters-return-to-new-mexico-after-more-than-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"River Otters Return to New Mexico After More Than 50 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Signs of Otters Spark Debate\" href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/north\/371042north_news07-12-05.htm\">ABQjournal: Signs of Otters Spark Debate<\/a> By Felicia Fonseca, The Associated Press<\/p>\n<p>River otters haven&#8217;t been seen in northern New Mexico since 1953.<\/p>\n<p>    That&#8217;s why University of New Mexico researcher Paul Polechla&#8217;s discovery of otter feces last fall on the banks of the San Juan River near the Colorado border was news to be celebrated. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>State officials, meanwhile, hope the possibility of spotting an otter at Navajo Lake State Park, where the droppings were found, will boost human visitors to one of New Mexico&#8217;s most popular campgrounds. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The researchers said more analysis is needed to determine which otter subspecies left behind the scat. When that is determined, scientists will make a decision about how to continue.<\/p>\n<p>    One of the possibilities includes the Southwestern river otter, which Polechla says should be on the endangered species list. Nonnative or mixed breed otters also could be present, he said.<\/p>\n<p>    River otters are sleek animals usually brown in color with short legs, webbed feet and glossy, dense fur, Polechla said.<\/p>\n<p>    &#8220;Their fur is so highly regarded\u2014 in terms of durability, softness, insulation capacity\u2014 that it is regarded as the diamond of the fur world,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>    The otters, which travel along waterways, produce a litter once a year yielding between one and six kits.<\/p>\n<p>    Playfulness is their outstanding characteristic, said Melissa Savage, an ecologist with the New Mexico River Otter Working Group.<\/p>\n<p>    &#8220;They are very gregarious and social,&#8221; she said. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Bill Dunn, a supervising biologist for the Game and Fish Department,  &#8230; said public surveys have shown New Mexicans favor reintroduction in the upper Rio Grande, the Rio Chama and the Gila River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ABQjournal: Signs of Otters Spark Debate By Felicia Fonseca, The Associated Press River otters haven&#8217;t been seen in northern New Mexico since 1953. That&#8217;s why University of New Mexico researcher Paul Polechla&#8217;s discovery of otter feces last fall on the banks of the San Juan River near the Colorado border was news to be celebrated. &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/?p=249\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">River Otters Return to New Mexico After More Than 50 Years<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ahwilderness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}