The information below comes from
Davis and Rowe-Rowe in Otters: Proceedings of the First Working Meeting of the Otter Specialist Group (1977),
Chanin (1985) and
Somer & Purves(1996).
Predators
Unusually for an otter, the spotted-neck is definitely not top of the food chain. That position is reserved for crocodiles (more than 2' long), eagles and pythons, all of which prey on these animals.
Competitors
The spotted-necked otter is sympatric with the Cape Clawless Otter
(Aonyx capensis) and the water mongoose (Atilax palludinosus),
which occupy similar ecological niches. Resourses seem, however, to be partitioned
between them - although they have the same range of prey, the spotted-neck concentrates
more on fish, the Cape Clawless on crabs, and the mongoose on birds and mammals.
In addition, when the Spotted-Neck takes crabs, they are small (less than 50mm
across the carapace), caught in the mouth, whereas the larger, finger-oriented
Cape Clawless catches large crabs by mouth and paw.
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