By Mariel Hohmann, HLT Land Stewardship Coordinator TerraCorps Member
What animal glides through the winter woods like the whole forest is a Slip-n-Slide?
Otters!
Jess (HLT’s Conservation and Stewardship Manager) and I stumbled upon this track at the Breckenridge Sanctuary in Williamsburg. The long, sled-like impression in the snow told us right away that we had found an otter slide.
With two offset footprints embedded periodically along the slide, we could see how the otter gained momentum on its journey. This mode of travel is a super-quick way for an otter to get to new sources of water and food, but they also have fun doing it.
This video from our friend at CR Wildlife Cams (who captured it in Berkshire County) shows how river otters slide, using their hind feet to push through the snow for an energy-saving ride. Like our otter, they’re often headed to a destination, but sliding can be play behavior too.
Following the track, Jess and I saw that this otter had shot down from the neighbor’s property and across Route 9, traversed hills, scooted under fallen branches, and made pit stops along small streams before diving into the icy waters of the West Branch of the Mill River.
We tracked the otter through Breckenridge for over half a mile. In the conservation world, we talk all the time about how wildlife travels within and between conserved lands for habitat, food, and mating – this otter slide is proof of why this work matters.
Just like otters have fun sliding, Jess and I had fun following the otter, too—if only we had our sleds!
Want to dive deeper into the clues animals leave behind on the land? Join Jess on February 17th for a workshop on wildlife tracking and reading the landscape around us.
