Introduction

Despite being a highly endangered species, the giant otter nevertheless remains largely unstudied (Forster–Turley et al., 1990). The current project was initiated in July 1990 by the Frankfurt Zoological Society with the objective of widening the knowledge and understanding of these rare animals and developing a plan for their conservation. After 2.5 years of continuous fieldwork, the project was followed by an annual, 2 month field work period including a monitoring programme, and public relations work during the non–fieldwork period. This chapter provides an overview of the results of the research and conservation project on the giant otter.

Study area

The main part of the study was carried out in south–eastern Peru in the Department of Madre de Dios (Fig. 20.1). The size of the area is approximately 85 000 km2, from the Andes in the west to the Brazilian and Bolivian borders. Most rivers are white–water rivers with low visibility, sandy beaches and frequent meanders that eventually erode into oxbow lakes. The Madre de Dios basin is characterized by several major rivers 200 m or more in width and a network of medium–sized and small streams. Water volumes vary considerably between the rainy season and the dry season. The annual average temperature is 24 °C with a maximum temperature of 36 °C and a minimum of 13 °C, influenced by cold Antarctic winds.