27 Otters Confirmed Living in Han River Across Five Families as Habitat Expands

The number of otters inhabiting the Han River has been confirmed to be 27.

The National Institute of Biological Resources under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced that this finding was made after collecting 106 otter scat samples from 27 locations between Gayang Bridge and Godeok Bridge along the Han River from January to April of this year, followed by genetic analysis.

A total of 21 otters were identified in the main stream of the Han River and 6 in its tributaries, consisting of 16 females and 11 males by gender.

All 27 otters whose individual genetic information was verified were found to be related by blood, such as siblings, and among them, 5 family groups consisting of parents and offspring were confirmed.

The otter families were found to be distributed mainly in the eastern areas of the Han River, including Seongnaecheon Stream and Jamsil Bridge.

Seongnaecheon Stream had the highest number of otters confirmed at 5, followed by 4 at Hangang Bridge, and 3 each at Yangjaecheon Stream, Jamsil Bridge, and Jungnangcheon Stream.

The habitat space for otters along the Han River was significantly reduced due to concrete straightening projects in the 1960s and 1970s, but has gradually increased since the 2000s as waterfront ecological spaces were created through naturalness restoration projects.

Following their first sighting in Tancheon Stream in 2016 and the confirmation of 4 otters in 2017, their habitat range has now expanded to the Gangseo area of the Han River main stream as well as the Jungnangcheon and Anyangcheon tributaries.

(Photo provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration's National Cultural Heritage Portal, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.