Illinois Hiker Shares Video of a Squadron of Otters in the Woods

I've spent plenty of my free time in the woods of Illinois yet have never seen an otter. I am apparently in the minority as a hiker in Illinois just dropped a fun video showing what appears to be a small squadron of otters heading toward a stream.

I just came across this video shared by Darin DeNeal on YouTube which is fairly self-explanatory. It's 4 otters enthusiastically heading to their favorite water source.

Wildlife Illinois talks about how common it is to see river otters in Illinois as most are found near the Mississippi River. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says it's really hard to NOT see an otter in the state as they're in nearly all large rivers, streams and lakes.

This is an interesting time of year for otters as the state of Illinois says their mating season is in the summer, but the gestation time for the little ones to develop before they're born is 9 months which means February and March are the prime months when you'll see baby otters in the wild.

I certainly did not wake up today planning to learn so much about river otters in Illinois, but that's exactly what's happened thanks to an innocent video share.