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Lontra canadensis

North American River Otter · (Schreber, 1777)

Lontra canadensis, North American River Otter
no rights reserved, uploaded by Adam Jackson · cc0 · via inaturalist, stored and served from this site
Red List, global
LC
Least Concern, 2021
First CITES listing
II
Appendix II, 1977
CITES trade records
11,855
1977–2023 · exporter-reported
Unit dimensions
4
reported separately, never summed
NAMMCO catch entries
none
NAMMCO reports a subset of marine mammals
Seizure records
14
reported taxon matches

One of 43: each square a species, coloured by its latest global Red List category, this one ringed. North American River Otter is among the other mammals.

In summary derived

Lontra canadensis, North American River Otter, is placed in family Mustelidae, order Carnivora, class Mammalia. The earliest CITES listing row the corpus holds for it is Appendix II, dated 1977. The corpus records 1 dated listing row in total.

Its latest global Red List assessment is Least Concern, published 2021. It carries 3 earlier global assessments on the current scale and 2 on scales that were superseded before the current categories and cannot be compared with them.

The corpus holds 11,855 exporter-reported CITES trade records for it, from 1977 to 2023, reported across 4 unit dimensions. The most frequently recorded term is skins: 8,643 records across 2 unit dimensions, of which 8,641 are measured in specimens. The corpus holds no NAMMCO catch records for it. 14 seizure records are attributed to it, being those whose reported taxon matches the species.

Composed from 16 corpus fields, by template, with no model
  • species.class
  • species.family
  • species.order_name
  • species_catch.catch_total
  • species_iucn.is_global
  • species_iucn.status
  • species_iucn.year_published
  • species_listing.appendix
  • species_listing.listing_date
  • species_seizure.*
  • species_trade.dimension
  • species_trade.first_year
  • species_trade.last_year
  • species_trade.record_count
  • species_trade.reporter_type
  • species_trade.term

Each sentence is generated from the columns above and nothing else. The same corpus produces the same text every time. Where a field is absent the sentence is omitted rather than hedged.

Overview curated

Taxonomy entered by a named curator and versioned in the repository.

Class
Mammalia
Order
Carnivora
Family
Mustelidae
First CITES listing
1977
Global Red List status
LCLeast Concern, assessed 2021
Content withheld pending expert review

8 narrative sections for this species were machine-drafted and are not shown. No subject expert has reviewed and signed them.

Trade derived

CITES Trade Database v2025.1, extracted 13 June 2025.

There is no single trade total

Quantities are reported per unit dimension, per traded term, and per reporting side. These are not additive: kilograms and individual animals have no common unit, a live animal is not a carving, and an importer report and an exporter report are two accounts of one shipment rather than two shipments.

Figures below are exporter-reported.

count in specimens
11,827
mass in kg
19
packaging in containers
8
volume in L
1

Records per dimension. Not additive across units.

Trade over time

listed 19771977: 37 records1978: 47 records1979: 40 records1980: 64 records1981: 192 records1982: 131 records1983: 95 records1984: 82 records1985: 131 records1986: 132 records1987: 586 records1988: 607 records1989: 433 records1990: 334 records1991: 240 records1992: 229 records1993: 226 records1994: 206 records1995: 287 records1996: 273 records1997: 241 records1998: 181 records1999: 203 records2000: 341 records2001: 220 records2002: 248 records2003: 440 records2004: 408 records2005: 357 records2006: 237 records2007: 396 records2008: 702 records2009: 383 records2010: 516 records2011: 266 records2012: 225 records2013: 300 records2014: 297 records2015: 231 records2016: 197 records2017: 162 records2018: 164 records2019: 209 records2020: 117 records2021: 188 records2022: 130 records2023: 124 records19801990200020102020
Peak 702 records in 2008. Trade records per year, exporter-reported, every term and unit counted as records, not quantities.
listed 19771977: 7,106 specimens1978: 16,828 specimens1979: 9,875 specimens1980: 22,328 specimens1981: 32,413 specimens1982: 20,157 specimens1983: 16,996 specimens1984: 13,203 specimens1985: 23,003 specimens1986: 34,663 specimens1987: 42,127 specimens1988: 41,444 specimens1989: 40,904 specimens1990: 38,020 specimens1991: 40,326 specimens1992: 47,536 specimens1993: 45,652 specimens1994: 68,568 specimens1995: 71,245 specimens1996: 60,364 specimens1997: 63,295 specimens1998: 34,819 specimens1999: 41,727 specimens2000: 95,907 specimens2001: 46,885 specimens2002: 56,589 specimens2003: 67,430 specimens2004: 68,836 specimens2005: 72,494 specimens2006: 42,067 specimens2007: 23,026 specimens2008: 66,365 specimens2009: 47,933 specimens2010: 78,903 specimens2011: 57,525 specimens2012: 57,468 specimens2013: 66,943 specimens2014: 46,062 specimens2015: 32,466 specimens2016: 18,965 specimens2017: 27,575 specimens2018: 23,766 specimens2019: 28,675 specimens2020: 30,391 specimens2021: 77,444 specimens2022: 29,720 specimens2023: 47,993 specimens19801990200020102020
Peak 95,907 specimens in 2000. Quantity of skins, the term with most records (8,641), in specimens, exporter-reported. Other terms are in the tables below, each in its own unit.

count measured in specimens

11,827 of 11,855 records carry a quantity in specimens. CITES leaves the unit blank to mean a count of the term.

Top 8 of 27. Bars count trade records per term, not specimens, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in specimens.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
skins1,639,629 specimens7,2601990–2023W
garments10,273 specimens1,4131977–2014not recorded
skins361,821 specimens1,2601977–2012not recorded
garments10,624 specimens6811990–2023W
bodies883 specimens1931991–2023W
skulls835 specimens1851991–2023W
live341 specimens841977–1992not recorded
live136 specimens731983–2018C
live162 specimens721991–2020W
skins29,091 specimens691990–2000U
skin pieces8,988.15 specimens †541990–2020W
trophies281 specimens471992–2022W

Showing the 12 term and source combinations with the most records, of 77.

† Not a whole number. A count cannot have a fraction, so some records under skin pieces carry a quantity with its unit left blank that is not a count, most likely a weight or a measure. The total is shown as the Parties reported it.

3 smaller units: kg (19 records), containers (8 records), L (1 record)

mass measured in kg

19 of 11,855 records carry a quantity in kg.

Bars count trade records per term, not kg, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in kg.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
skin scraps545.23 kg61980–1986not recorded
skin pieces782.14 kg51977–1988not recorded
skin pieces229 kg42013W
skins3 kg11986not recorded
garments1 kg12004W
skins1 kg12000W
specimens0.44 kg12007W

packaging measured in containers

8 of 11,855 records carry a quantity in containers.

Bars count trade records per term, not containers, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in containers.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
garments14 containers41998–2005W
specimens29 containers22006–2007W
specimens25 containers11988not recorded
leather products (small)9 containers12003W

volume measured in L

1 of 11,855 records carry a quantity in L.

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens0.03 L12013W

CITES listings curated

CoP decisions, cross-checked against the appendix reported on trade records.

DateAppendixAnnotationStatus
1977-02-04II[SUBFAMILY listing Lutrinae spp.]first listing

IUCN Red List derived

Assessment history. Scope is always stated: a regional assessment is not the species status.

This history crosses a criteria revision

Categories from before 2001 come from earlier Red List systems. Three kinds are kept apart.

LR/lc and LR/nt are the modern LC and NT under their old names, so they are plotted as those categories and the line runs through them: nothing changed but the wording.

LR/cd was discontinued with no successor. This project reads it as Near Threatened, following a published crosswalk between the old and new Red List systems, and the chart marks such a point hollow and names both codes, because placing a category is not the same as finding it published.

The pre-1994 codes (E, V, K, T and the rest) are not on the risk order at all, so they sit below the axis and the line breaks across them. A category change across a criteria revision is not a change in extinction risk, and none of these is scored as a movement: the ledger refuses every one of them at gate 3.

LCNTVUENCR2000201020212000: Least Concern (global) 2 assessments share this position; they are listed separately in the table below.2004: Least Concern (global)2008: Least Concern (global)2015: Least Concern (global)2021: Least Concern (global)LCNTVUENCR2000201020212000: Least Concern (global) 2 assessments share this position; they are listed separately in the table below.2004: Least Concern (global)2008: Least Concern (global)2015: Least Concern (global)2021: Least Concern (global)
  • published global assessment
Vertical position is the IUCN risk order, not a measured quantity: the gaps between categories are equal on the page and not in nature. 6 global assessments are drawn at 5 positions: one position carries more than one assessment of the same category in the same year, and the table below lists them separately. The dashed step crosses the 2001 revision of the Red List criteria: the category codes on either side match, the criteria behind them do not, so the step is shown and not measured.

Category movement since listing: not scored. Gate 3: the baseline category LR/lc comes from a pre-2001 Red List system and is not on the modern ordinal scale. How this is defined and why some species are not scored

YearCategoryMeaningScopeStatus
2021LCLeast ConcernGlobalcurrent for this scope
2015LCLeast ConcernGlobal
2008LCLeast ConcernGlobal
2004LCLeast ConcernGlobal
2000LR/lcLower Risk, least concern (1994 system)Global
2000LR/lcLower Risk, least concern (1994 system)Globala republished version of the 2000 assessment

Reported catch derived

NAMMCO catch exports dated 11 June 2025. A reported zero is stored as zero, distinct from an unknown.

No NAMMCO catch records for this species. NAMMCO reports on a subset of marine mammals, so an absence here is expected for most species and does not mean no catch occurred.

Illegal trade seizures derived

Seizure records whose reported taxon resolves to this species.

What the seizure source records

14 seizure records name this species. Matching is on the taxon the source reported, case aside, and each record below shows the reported name, so a match that is not literal can be seen for what it is. Across the whole compilation, 225 of 919 rows match one of the 43 species and the rest name other taxa.

Quantities are unitless. The source gives no date or place, so the table shows the product and the reported taxon.

Top 8 of 9. Records per product, not a quantity.
ProductReported as
clawLontra canadensis
dead animalLontra canadensis
garmentlontra canadensis
garmentLontra canadensis
hairLontra canadensis
livelontra canadensis
liveLontra canadensis
skinLontra canadensis
skinlontra canadensis
skin pieceLontra canadensis
skin piecelontra canadensis
skulllontra canadensis
skullLontra canadensis
toothLontra canadensis

References withheld

Machine-proposed bindings. Shown only where an expert has signed the profile and the binding is live.

No references are recorded for this species: none is shown, and none was machine-proposed for review.

Timeline curated

Curated events. Those with no corroborating table in this database are marked.

DateEventTypeCorroboration
2021IUCN Red List Assessment (2021)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2015IUCN Red List Assessment (2015)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2012-12-07EU Decision: Positiveeu_decisioncurated
2010-02-16EU Decision: Positiveeu_decisioncurated
2008IUCN Red List Assessment (2008)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2004-06-15CITES Trade: garmentscites_tradechecked against cites_trade_records
2004IUCN Red List Assessment (2004)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2000IUCN Red List Assessment (2000)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1977-02-04Listed in CITES Appendix IIcites_listingchecked against cites_listings

Events marked curated are not matched by a row in a corroborating table, either because none applies or because the table holds no such row, and rest on the curator alone. They are shown, and marked, rather than presented as equivalent to a table-checked fact.