Rare Eurasian otter spotted in Sabah

PETALING JAYA – The rare and elusive Eurasian otter has been sighted again – 11 years after its last confirmed appearance in Sabah.

Once thought to have been possibly eradicated from Malaysia, the Eurasian otter at the Tangkulap Forest Reserve in Sabah was captured on camera trap photos by Panthera, a conservation group studying wild cats.

Mr Tee Thye Lim, project coordinator for Panthera Malaysia, said the last confirmed sighting of the animal in Malaysia was in 2014, near the Danum Valley Field Centre in Sabah.

In contrast to Tangkulap Forest Reserve, which was previously a logged forest, the Danum Valley forest is relatively undisturbed.

“Historically, there has been little evidence confirming the presence of the Eurasian otter in Malaysia,” Mr Tee said in an e-mail interview.

“This lack of records may partly be due to difficulties in distinguishing them from other otter species in the region, as well as a limited number of camera trap studies focused on wetlands.”

The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is considered a rare species across Malaysia, he added.

With this sighting, Tangkulap is now the only known location in Malaysia where all four native otter species – the smooth coated otter, the Asian small-clawed otter, the hairy-nosed otter and the Eurasian otter – coexist.

The Eurasian otter has been classified as “near threatened” under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species in 2020.

Panthera works in the region to conduct monitoring surveys, determine population numbers of small cat species, and understand how they are affected by logging, agricultural expansion and poaching.

In response to a question about whether the sighting could be due to an improvement in river and water quality in Tangkulap, Mr Tee said: “At this stage, we haven’t had the opportunity to establish the kind of long-term environmental monitoring data that would allow us to make assumptions or pinpoint direct ecological impacts.”

He added that the Tangkulap Forest Reserve has suffered significant degradation over the past 20 years due to widespread logging, despite all logging licences being officially revoked in 2003.

“The recent discovery of all four otter species within this reserve indicates the success of the Forest Management Plan developed by the Sabah Forestry Department for this area,” said Mr Tee.

This emphasises the reserve’s great ecological importance and confirms its role as a key conservation priority, he said.

However, Mr Tee cautioned that despite this remarkable biodiversity, aquatic habitats essential for otters and flat-headed cats are often under-represented in standard camera trap studies.

“This is mainly due to inherent challenges such as frequent flooding and the resulting equipment loss,” he said.

“While we recognise the strong link between these aquatic apex predators and good water quality, broader landscape-level threats remain unaddressed.”

He added that human activities, including illegal fishing, habitat encroachment, hunting and agricultural water pollution, pose significant risks that could lead to the extinction of these aquatic-dependent species.

“At the same time, our understanding of their movement ecology in wet environments is still limited, leaving our knowledge of these vital species incomplete,” he said.

To ensure the success of conservation efforts, Malaysia’s immediate focus, he said, must be to thoroughly identify and understand the specific threats facing these aquatic top predators in this particular landscape.

“This essential knowledge will be key in developing targeted and impactful conservation strategies.” THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK