54 Peter J. Tango, Edwin D. Michael, and Jack I. Cromer 



February 1987; the animals had been trapped in North Carolina coastal 

 waters in January 1987. We first observed an otter pup with the female 

 (designated F10) at 0636 hours on 21 May 1987, 105 days after her 

 release. At 1712 hours on 23 May 1987, we confirmed that two pups 

 were with the female. Young otters typically do not leave the den until 

 they are approximately 2 months old (Toweill and Tabor 1982); 

 therefore, we estimated birth of young as the fourth week after release. 

 That represents the shortest known period between release of a 

 translocated otter and birth of young. 



We also observed mating activities among the four radio-tagged 

 otters present on the river system in March 1987. A second female (F97) 

 was released on 17 February 1987, following the death of one of the 

 males that had been released on 5 February. Female F10, when located 

 on the morning of 9 March 1987, was on the bank of the main river 

 channel with a male (M50). A local resident had heard and seen the 

 animals that same morning and described what Liers (1951) termed 

 caterwauling. Approximately 5 hours later, at 1403 hours, the same two 

 otters were observed copulating 1.5 km upstream from what we believed 

 had been the site of mating activity that morning. Copulation was 

 observed for 13 minutes and was in the water. The two animals 

 remained in close proximity to one another for the next 7 days. At 0717 

 hours on 1 1 March 1987, they were seen on the main channel river 

 bank, where at 0720 the male mounted the female. The female dragged 

 the male into the water and the two animals remained coupled. At 0739 

 it appeared they may have separated briefly, but the male remounted 

 almost immediately and they remained coupled in the water until 0800 

 hours. Male M50 remained within 1.7 km of the female F10 den site 

 until the evening of 16 March 1987, but no other copulations were 

 observed. The copulations had occurred 0.4-1.9 km downstream from 

 the den site where female F10 had earlier given birth to pups. 



On 10 March 1987 at 0721 hours, we observed female F97 and 

 male M60 mating in Freemans Creek, the first tributary of the West 

 Fork River downstream of the release site. The duration of this event 

 was not determined. Copulation took place on a log in the creek until 

 the otters fell into the water together. The female was heard caterwauling 

 during the copulation. All copulations for these four otters took place 

 within 6.2 km of the February 1987 release site. 



Though we suspected that female F10 had young because of her 

 localized movements with respect to one den site, F97 was less site- 

 specific in her movements, and no young were seen with her. The 

 observed mating dates for F10 suggest a birth date in agreement with 

 backdating from the first observations of her pups, as otters are 

 considered postpartum-estrous animals (Toweill and Tabor 1982). 



