Congo clawless otter

The Congo clawless otter, also known as the Cameroon clawless otter and by the scientific name Lutra congica, is a mustelid that was formerly recognised as a subspecies of the African clawless otter. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Uganda, and possibly Burundi and Nigeria. Its natural habitats include tropical moist lowland and montane forest, mangrove forest, swamps, rivers, freshwater lakes, marshes, estuaries and rocky and sandy shores. Very little is known about it. It is a large otter found only in the middle belt of Africa and is believed to spend much more time on land than other otters, feeding on fairly soft prey such as small land vertebrates, frogs and eggs. An individual maintains a territory that it marks with scent and patrols. It is threatened by loss and degradation of riparian and freshwater habitats.