Introduction

In Africa the Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra, occurs in streams flowing from the Atlas Mountains in the three north African countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. There are no otters in the arid Sahara region. Three endemic otters occur in the areas of sub–Saharan Africa that receive an annual rainfall in excess of about 500 mm. They are the Cape clawless otter, Aonyx capensis, the Congo clawless otter, Aonyx congica, and the spotted–necked otter, Lutra maculicollis. Occurring in all of the habitats in which the otters have been recorded is a fourth endemic amphibious carnivore, the water mongoose, Atilax paludinosus (Fig. 13.1). In this chapter we will not deal with the Eurasian otter. In order to synthesize much recent work on African otters and water mongooses, particularly in southern Africa, a review concerning diet, foraging behaviour and coexistence of African otters and the water mongoose is presented in this chapter.

Very little information is available on Aonyx congica. It occurs in rain forests and lowland swamp forests of the Congo River Basin, as well as the forests and wetland areas of Rwanda, Burundi and south–western Uganda (Rowe–Rowe, 1990). Pygmies in the Ituri Forest of Zaire stated that A. congica lives on fish and crabs (Capaneto & Germi, 1989), while Baranga (1995) associated the distribution of this otter with habitats in which there was an abundance of freshwater crabs, giant earthworms, mudfish and clawed toads (Xenopus sp.).