Protection and monitoring of the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) in Cantão State Park, Tocantins, Brazil

In 2010, the Instituto Araguaia, a local NGO, started a program to protect and monitor giant otters, and to use them as an umbrella and flagship species for the conservation of the Cantao ecosystem. As part of the program, a census was carried out to determine the giant otter population of a group of 16 lakes in the park, and this population was monitored over a 28-month period spanning three breeding seasons, between September 2010 and December 2012.