IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
©IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group
Volume 42 Issue 4 (August 2025)
Note from the Editor
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Dear Friends, Colleagues and Otter Enthusiasts!
It is August and we open again an issue four of the IUCN OSG Bulletin. That issue is in fact almost complete so most likely we will have another time five issues this year. Having five issues in one year also means that the whole team of volunteers has more work to do. More reviews are needed and I am thankful to all the reviewers proving timely and constructive reviews. I will name them all in the 1st issue of the next year`s edition. This also means more work for Gerard Schmidt and Claudio Chehebar that translate almost all abstracts into French and Spanish. On a side-note I want to mention that I really appreciate abstracts in local languages and I encourage all authors to provide one if it helps them in their daily work with officials or locals. I also want to thank Katie Foree who agreed in Peru at our last conference to check the language thereby reducing the burden for Lesley. Lesley and I want to thank all these scientists as we would not be able to have so many quality assured manuscripts.
I use this editorial as a second reminder that we continue to emphasize scientific rigor. Therfore I want to highlight stricter guidelines for photographic observations submitted for publication. These manuscripts should:
- Be no longer than 2 pages of text, plus supporting images
- Include a map showing the location in relation to the country
- Be accompanied by a written confirmation from the species coordinator affirming the novelty of the observation - no manuscript will be evaluated without this
Alternatively, I strongly encourage researchers to submit these observations to our long-running iNaturalist project: IUCN SSC OSG Otters of the World at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/iucn-osg-otters-of-the-world. Since 2014, this initiative has helped fill distribution gaps, provide early alerts for critical habitats, and raise awareness about the conservation needs of otters globally.
I want to thank Lesley for all her efforts to reduce the backlog while taking care that all references are complete and are correct. I really appreciate this shared project and to work with you Lesley!
