Talk:North American river otter

message: Hello to all who visit hereafter!
I am an AP Biology student who is currently editing this article in the hopes that it will eventually reach Featured Article status. I welcome and encourage all who visit to contribute or criticize, albeit constructively, as they see fit. If you see anything that you think should be changed, then, by all means, let me know. I am completely open to suggestions and greatly thankful for any help that might come from the Wikipedia community.
My end goal, as noted earlier, is to nominate and pass this article to Featured Article standing in the coming months. While it will be a difficult road ahead, I hope those of you who took the time to read this will understand my undertaking and seek to help me expand and improve Wikipedia. Also, check out my user page, Wikitrevor, to learn more about my personal connection with this article, or Wikipedia:WikiProject AP Biology 2008 for my AP Biology Class Goals and Project Information. 
Cheers, --Wikitrevor (talk) 19:14, 12 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Welcome

message: I took this at the zoo today, wondered if you would find it useful. Tim Vickers (talk) 02:24, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Image

message: THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE OTTER'S BEHAVIOR OF REGURGITATING FISH SCALES AND BONES. THEY SEEM TO MARK THEIR TERRITORY WITH IT, AS WELL.  IS THIS COMMON? S.HEIGHTON24.67.223.87 (talk) 04:18, 1 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  NORTHERN OTTER 

message: Hello Wikipedia Users.
I am an AP Biology student in high school that has been tasked with adopting, editing, and enhancing an article in its beginning stages in order to ultimately promote it to Featured Article Status. Upon perusing for lucrative article choices, I came across the North American River Otter article. It seems to be teeming with potential for success. I would like to adopt it, if possible, and work with the Wiki-community to try and get it as far as FA status.
Regards, --Wikitrevor (talk) 19:17, 12 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Request for Article Adoption

message: * 
* http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/american-river-otter.html
* http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Lontra_canadensis.html  
* http://www.chattoogariver.org/index.php?quart=Sp2004&req=otter  
--Wikitrevor (talk) 18:35, 20 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Links and Potential References

message: Wikitrevor, I hope you don't feel like I'm intruding, but I'm trying to clean up some of your sources.  I think you have some solid content, but I don't want to see anyone cut you down over something menial such as citations.Strombollii (talk) 03:58, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, ignore that.  =]Strombollii (talk) 04:03, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

text: Of course.  I know how much they tend to --well-- suck.  If you have any pointed questions, feel free to ask me in class or drop me a note on the wiki.  Keep in mind, of course, that I'm no expert, and your mentor surely knows better than myself.  I'm just looking out for a fellow studentStrombollii (talk) 03:53, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Sources

message: Hi Wikitrevor, one of the best things is that there are two Featured Articles on otter species to compare with - Sea otter and Giant Otter, so modelling this one on those is a good place to start. First, amke sure you have all the content you want in it, and then work on the copyediting. I will try to note some things the article may be missing. Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:01, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The susceptibility and seasonal accessibility of prey animals mainly governs the food habits and prey predilection of the river otter - note that I normally wouldn't copyedit before judging whether any more content needed to come in but this needs rewording...nothing comes to mind straightaway..Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:13, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: No problem, it is now on my watchlist so I will drop back in a week or so to check how your going. Jim gives good advice below too. Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 23:37, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Articles to compare with 

message: An otter fan site -  who knew? - called Otterjoy. Has a lot of up to date news links about otters. Cheers! Wassupwestcoast (talk) 04:25, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  An otter fan site 

message: I was going over the references, examining the formatting that has been employed with them.  Generally, they're formatted well, utilizing all of the templates and MoS that is necessary.  That said, one thing did catch my eye.  The tendency to cross back and forth between journal links and page #s is a bit on the confusing side.  My recommendation to make the references easier to move over would be to put the journal links themselves in a separate "references" section, and then simply put page numbers in a "notes" section (as is done here).  I might be able to take a crack at it myself later in the week.  Best of luck and happy editing! Cam (Chat) 22:36, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Quick suggestion for reference formatting 

message: * Giant Otter
* Sea otter
Both are Featured Articles. We will have to model North American River Otter on them if we want this article to pass GA and FA status. Although making comparisons to other FA articles is supposed to *not* happen in the FA process, it does. If we can get river otter up to FA status, I think it might be the animal whose major groupings will all have FA articles: the sea otter, the giant otter, and the river otter are all representatives of the three major groupings of otters. Cheers, Wassupwestcoast (talk) 14:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: That's right. The window is open for us to come in and fill in the final major group. I think we have a very good shot at FA status. I've done some slight modeling after those FA's here and there, and some additional tweaking may be needed. We may have the general form cut out of it, now it's some chiseling to get it there. We're right around the corner the corner from GA (hopefully)!
Best regards, --Wikitrevor (talk) 16:32, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Exemplars 

message: I sincerely appreciate the beneficial contributions made by everyone to North American River Otter. Thanks to DanaBoomer for the GA Nomination support, Wassupwestcoast for helping me expand and edit the article, Shyamal for the synthesis of a range map, JimmyButler (my teacher) for his guidance, and all those who improved this article in any way.
Best regards,--Wikitrevor (talk) 02:48, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: GA Achievement

message: isn't it lutra canadensisn instead of lontra canadenses.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smartpotatoe (talk • contribs) 19:38, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Latin name

message: On the otter project. The sub-heading for each food type "fish" "birds" "mammals" etc... seems excessive  or perhaps disconnected. Is there a way to summaries their diet under one heading. That much detail on food sources seems cumbersome. If you note in the talk above - Wassup - provide links to the two other otter articles - both of which are FA. I really suggest setting yours up using their subheadings. This may require significant restructuring as well as deletion and addition of text; however, it is your best shot at FA.
Once you get things set up; maybe you can recruit some experts that contributed to the other otters FA. This does not have to occur in a vacuum. Collaboration - it seems has been the key to success of the other FAs in this project.  Band of Beavers? Very funny.--Croatancrazy (talk) 02:02, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Re-group 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on North American river otter. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/ID/fauna/Volume1/A-112.004.023.001%20Lutra%20canadensis_E.pdf
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Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 09:30, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: It's just that the main image :File:LutraCanadensis fullres.jpg is a featured picture. Why not use a different one which shows the full body like :File:River Otter at the National Zoo.jpg? Esagurton (talk) 07:23, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: because the featured picture is an infinitely better photo… changing the image to a full body shot only makes sense if the image is better. I don't understand what you mean by your first sentence – I'm not insisting the picture remain just because it's a featured picture, but because it's a better choice for the article. Rhinopias (talk) 21:41, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text:  Begging you pardon, if you don't mind. Are there any images of the highest quality that show a full body shot? Esagurton (talk) 12:19, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: I doubt there are ones that are also licensed appropriately—WP:IUP#COPYRIGHT. If you find one that you think is, you can post it here. Rhinopias (talk) 18:24, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  About the Main Image  

message: Hey there,
Thanks for all the work on this article... I learned a lot!
However, there's a lot of biology/ecology jargon in this article (epithet, Mya, anterior, extirpate, vibrissae, pelage, senescent, etc.) that can be replaced by common English words without a significant loss of a meaning. That diminishes the readability of the article for the average reader.
I would like to go through this article and replace the jargon with common words, linking to other articles where the distinction is meaningful (extirpate --> locally extinct, for example, but with a link) or just plain replacing the jargon where it's not ("Fur of older river otters may become white-tipped" instead of "senescent").
Is anyone concerned about that before I proceed?
Thanks,
Arcataroger (talk) 19:03, 27 January 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: All of that sounds like fair game to me.  Not speaking as a major contributor here -- but as a copyeditor myself, I second the motion. Gould363 (talk) 01:15, 28 January 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, thanks! I've started the copyediting (see diff) and will continue working on it over the next few weeks. Arcataroger (talk) 19:14, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

text:  And for non-mobile users, here's a "normal" diff for the same changes. - dcljr (talk) 23:45, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mind if I simplify some of the jargon? 

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thread_title:  Copyright problem removed 

message: North American river otter#Taxonomy and evolution says "the genus Lontra includes all the New World river otters.", but this is not true, as the giant otter is in the New World, too, but is placed in another genus. --NGC 54 (talk｜contribs) 22:22, 7 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lontra 

message: North American river otter#Description says "Its body length ranges from 66 to 107 centimetres (26 to 42 in).", but the cited source says "Head and body, 21.75 to 31.5 in (55 to 80 cm)". See also this source who provides the length without tail for males as 685 mm (1,129 mm total length and 444 m tail length) and for females as 620 mm (978 mm total length and 358 m tail length). However, this source says that 137 cm is the maximum total length for males, usually 122 cm, and for females 112 cm. --NGC 54 (talk｜contribs) 21:09, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: I have found this source (cited at List of mustelids#Subfamily Lutrinae) that says "100-153 cm (body 66-107 cm; tail 31-46 cm)". --NGC 54 (talk｜contribs) 16:08, 30 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Body length 

message: — Assignment last updated by Multibear41 (talk) 03:57, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: California Natural History

message: The range map is extremely outdated. The current red list map included essentially all of the contiguous United States. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12302/164577078 216.82.47.231 (talk) 17:03, 12 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Range Map