It is hard to guess what a Southern river otter weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Southern river otter (Lontra provocax) on average weights 7.5 kg (16.53 lbs).
The Southern river otter is from the family Mustelidae (genus: Lontra). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 59 cm (2′ 0″).
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The southern river otter (Lontra provocax) is a species of otter that lives in Chile and Argentina. Although called a “river otter”, it inhabits both marine and freshwater environments. It sometimes is considered a subspecies of Lontra canadensis. The southern river otter is listed as endangered, due to illegal hunting, water pollution, and habitat loss.
Animals of the same family as a Southern river otter
We found other animals of the Mustelidae family:
- Asian small-clawed otter bringing 3.53 kilos (7.78 lbs) to the scale
- Cameroon clawless otter bringing 21.6 kilos (47.62 lbs) to the scale
- Hooded skunk bringing 1.1 kilos (2.43 lbs) to the scale
- Amazon weasel with a weight of 268 grams
- African striped weasel with a weight of 308 grams
- Wolverine bringing 12.8 kilos (28.22 lbs) to the scale
- Mountain weasel with a weight of 180 grams
- Lesser grison bringing 1 kilos (2.2 lbs) to the scale
- European polecat with a weight of 980 grams
- Palawan stink badger bringing 2.5 kilos (5.51 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Southern river otter
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Lontra provocax:
- Culpeo with a weight of 8.62 kilos (19 lbs)
- Hog badger with a weight of 8.17 kilos (18.01 lbs)
- Moor macaque with a weight of 7.29 kilos (16.07 lbs)
- Black-backed jackal with a weight of 8.29 kilos (18.28 lbs)
- Black crested gibbon with a weight of 6.43 kilos (14.18 lbs)
- Purple-faced langur with a weight of 7.53 kilos (16.6 lbs)
- Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo with a weight of 7.98 kilos (17.59 lbs)
- Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo with a weight of 6.65 kilos (14.66 lbs)
- Northern white-cheeked gibbon with a weight of 7.32 kilos (16.14 lbs)
- North American river otter with a weight of 8.09 kilos (17.84 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Southern river otter
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Southern river otter:
- Asian small-clawed otter with a size of 51.6 cm (1′ 9″)
- European badger with a size of 70.7 cm (2′ 4″)
- François’ langur with a size of 58.9 cm (2′ 0″)
- Black-and-white ruffed lemur with a size of 54.7 cm (1′ 10″)
- South American coati with a size of 52.8 cm (1′ 9″)
- Southern muriqui with a size of 57.8 cm (1′ 11″)
- Ursine tree-kangaroo with a size of 62.4 cm (2′ 1″)
- Andean mountain cat with a size of 60.2 cm (2′ 0″)
- Crab-eating mongoose with a size of 50.8 cm (1′ 8″)
- Ground pangolin with a size of 48.9 cm (1′ 8″)