Multiple River Otters Found on Southwestern Japan Island

May 29, 2018

Tokyo- Multiple river otters have been found to live on the island of Tsushima in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Nagasaki, the Environment Ministry said Monday.

The creatures were discovered in research conducted after the first wild river otter in Japan for 38 years was found on the island last year.

But they are unlikely to be Japanese river otters, a native species that has been declared extinct, the ministry said.

Based on DNA extracted from ten feces, collected between July last year and January this year, the ministry determined the creatures were one female Eurasian otter and two males, one of which was the otter found last year.

According to the ministry, it is highly likely that the newly discovered male and female are related by blood, such as a parent and child, as they share similar genes.

The ministry said that it believes the river otters washed ashore from South Korea, due to factors such as an ocean current flowing from the country to Tsushima and an increase in the number of such otters in South Korea.

It called for residents to provide information and warned them to refrain from capturing the otters or entering the animals' habitat.

"If more male and female otters are discovered, breeding may happen on Tsushima," a ministry official said. Jiji Press