DNA testing of 15 otter droppings has confirmed that otters are breeding in Meijendel and Berkheide, where an adult female, a male and a single young animal now form a family.
The first otter appeared on a wildlife camera in the Natura 2000 area in late 2024, a young female that had travelled about 40 kilometres from the Nieuwkoopse Plassen.
A year later, cameras filmed an otter with three young, which already suggested that the animals had bred in the dunes.
Researchers at Wageningen Environmental Research identified three different otters in the droppings.
The young animal is the offspring of the female known from the earlier footage and an adult male that is genetically linked to the northern core population around De Wieden and Weerribben.
What happened to the other two young is unclear, since they were seen on camera but left no usable DNA.
Amy van Nobelen, a nature monitoring specialist at the water company Dunea, said the discovery shows that otters can reach new habitats despite motorways and other barriers.
Researchers say the area’s size, water quality and food supply leave room for nine to eleven otters, and the population could grow further in the coming years.
