Referred to as neer nai, or pant kutta (water dog) in several local languages, the otter builds its lair among the large stones and boulders of the lakes it inhabits. Apart from fish, it will also eat crabs and other crustaceans which it can find.
There are two types of otter found in India, the common, Lutra !aria, which prefers mountain streams and resides in Kashmir, the Himalaya, Assam and in south India, and the smooth Indian, Lutra perspicillata, which is found mostly in the plains all the way from the Himalayan foothills to the south. Otters, give birth to cubs after a gestation period of 61 days. The young are brought up in a holt, or burrow, dug near the water’s edge which serves as a nursery and a safe hideaway while the parents are out hunting.