North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) is a large (1.3 m), heavy-bodied member of the weasel family that is distributed throughout Canada and the U.S., though it has been extirpated from many areas in the interior U.S. It occurs in New Mexico, largely due to reintroductions, in various sections of the Rio Grande. They inhabit permanent water bodies with low sediment loads and abundant food in semidesert shrubland to subalpine forest ecosystems. They feed on fish and crustaceans.