Will Johnson: Can you describe for us what a giant otter looks like?
Peter Gros: Well, they're pretty amazing looking little miniature, high-speed submarines. They're about six feet long, very slender. They've got very silky brown fur with arbitrary white patches along their chest. They're perfectly designed for maneuverability underwater, and they get to be as much as 70 pounds. So they're just amazing animals.

Will Johnson: Where do giant otters live Peter? What are their homes like?
Peter Gros: They live in the swampy areas of southwest Brazil in an area called the Pantanal, which is one of the world's largest wetland areas. It's about half the size of Texas, and around October every year it becomes flooded. Giant otters spend most of their lives fishing in these huge, flooded areas amongst 2,000 other species of plants and animals that inhabit the Pantanal.

Will Johnson: Are giant otters solitary or do they live in families?
Peter Gros: Oh, they're very much a family animal. They live in large family groups with one dominant male who acts as the leader and keeps the others in line. They hunt together in a group and he teaches them. They have a very intricate communication system with a variety of snorts and screams and whistles that they all have to learn to communicate.

Will Johnson: What do they eat?
Peter Gros: Well primarily they eat fish. It's amazing the footage that is shot as they're fishing, which shows clearly what they do that is so unique. They work together in a family unit to catch piranha, and they all work together to herd them so they're easy to catch.

Will Johnson: Do they have any natural predators?
Peter Gros: Unfortunately, their nice silky fur is very popular with locals in terms of hunting and trapping to sell the furs. But natural predators I would say would be large snakes, constrictors, and sometimes crocodilians will eat them.

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