South Americans giant otters are one of the most endangered otter species world wide. Nevertheless they had been rarely studied. Hopefully 1996 will be an extraordinary year for this amazonian flagship species: It seemed that interest in the “river wolves” is increasing. Besides film projects and public relation campaigns several research projects are planned or started recently. We will give the address of the project leaders in order to stimulate communication among each other. Any additional information is welcome, the following list might not be complete.

Peru

A: The long-term research and conservation project from the Frankfurt Zoological Society is going on in its 6th year including annual monitoring of the Manu National Park population, field data analysis and realization of the conservation program in Peru. A new leaflet for identification of the two neotropical otter species in the rainforest has been published in Spanish, a colouring booklet for children is being prepared and a observation tower for tourists will be established in the following months.
Christof Schenck/Elke Staib; Frankfurt Zoological Society; Alfred-Brehm-Platz 16; 60316 Frankfurt/Germany, Tel.: ++49/69/439349, Fax: (0)69/439348.

B: “The plight of the giant otter”, Msc. Project (Behavioural ecology, habitat associations and distribution in Lake Cocococha and Katicocha/Tambopata)
Saffra Kelley, Manchester Metropolitan University, 12 Westminster Ave., Whalley Range, Manchester, M16 OAN / Great Britain.

C: Expedition to the Rio de las Piedras (preliminary survey of giant otter occurrence)
Jessica Groenendijk, Tesselschadestraat 3-1, 1054 ET, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Tel.: 0031 20 61 82 6993

Suriname

Evaluation and development of a conservation plan for a rainforest area in West Suriname (Kaburi-Creek - where N. Duplaix did her famous preliminary work on giant otters)
Dr. Paul Bühler / Oro Verde, Brandhof 15, 74417 Gschwend, Germany, Tel.: 0049/7972-481

Colombia

Status, behaviour and autecology of the giant otter in the river Miriti-Parana, Colombian Amazon.
Beltran S., Diaz J., Foundation Omacha, Cra 5a No. 5-50, Apto. 406, A.A. 13011, Bogota/Colombia, Tel.: 337 0915

Ecuador

A: Distribution and ecology of giant otters in the Yasuni National Park. Msc. project
Victor Uteras, Ignacio Araya, Casilla 17 17 51, Quito Ecuador, Tel./Fax: 0053 2 430903

B: Yacu Pacha, Dr. Lorenzo von Fersen, Am Tiergarten 30, 90480 Nürnberg / Germany, Fax: 0049 911 546365

ZOOS

Germany

A: Underwater communication in giant otters (Hagenbecks Tierpark, Hamburg).
Massoud Yasseri, Christof Schenck, Elke Staib
Zoologisches Institut, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20416 Hamburg, Germany, Tel.: 0049 040 4123 3942, Fax: ++/4123 3937

B: New captive breeding program Hagenbecks Tierpark / Zoo Duisburg

USA

Giant otters (two males from Hagenbeck) will be held in the Philadelphia Zoo and a public relation campaign has been started:
Zoological Society of Philadelphia, 3400 West Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104-1196, USA

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