Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge
Exploring the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina is an incredible way to see all sorts of wildlife. We were recently shooting a project about red wolf conservation, but took the opportunity to seek out some of the other animals living on the Refuge. Among black bears, bobcats, red wolves, foxes, and birds, there is a robust population of North American river otters living in the rivers, dykes, and streams throughout the area.
River Otters are part of the weasel family, making them related to badgers, wolverines, and even ferrets. One charactersitic of all weasels, are their scent glands. These glands give these animals a very distinct oder and allow them to communicate great distances by smell. Otters have some of the densest fur of any animal on earth, allowing them to swim around in the water in extreme temperatures. When diving, their fur traps air in between the skin and fur, keeping the animals warm as they hunt. Otters eat a diet of fish, amphibians, reptiles, and even birds.
To film these otters, we had inititally scope out locations for otters to likely be. Along the side of one of the draininage areas, we located what looked like the perfect den. We staked the area out for several hours and low and behold, a family of river otters came swimming up and plopped on land to enjoy a massive cuddle session. To film the sequence, we used telephoto lenses and kept our distance so we didn’t disturb the animals while they did their thing. It is important to be very quiet while filming wildlife or else you won’t get to experience incredible moments like this.
Telephoto lenses make all the difference when filming wildlife. Red wolf tracks in the sand in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Snow geese congregate along their migration route in Eastern North Carolina.
Shot for CBS Sunday Morning. Learn more about their Nature segments here.