Trail cameras capture return of rare species after more than 80 years: 'It's been amazing to watch'

These little critters were caught on camera, and it's good news for England.

According to The Independent, a trail cam in Ewhurst Park in Hampshire, England, caught an amazing sight — a mother otter and her pup. They're seen grooming, playing, and swimming together.

It's the first otter sighting in the park for over 80 years, and it's a big win for conservationists.

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Otters nearly went extinct in England in the 1950s due to "industrial chemicals and pesticides which caused death and reproductive failure in the mammals, but have slowly recovered since the 1970s, following bans on the chemicals and legal protection," according to NewsBreak.

"It's been amazing to watch as nature has started to take front and centre stage across the park," Mandy Lieu, an environmentalist who owns Ewhurst Park, said.

Otters aren't the only animals coming back to the park. Over 90 different species, like beavers and butterflies, are becoming more prevalent in the park.

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Otters can be tough for conservationists to track since they're nocturnal. Trail cameras are just one of many tools researchers use to monitor populations and behavior, and sometimes, they catch these incredible sightings, too.

A trail camera in Northern India recorded a wandering Pallas's Cat, an elusive wild cat that's been notoriously difficult to spot. Another camera in Arizona captured a jaguar, whose population is plummeting, but the sight of one gives conservationists a lot of hope.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List reports over 40,000 species currently at risk of extinction. But preservation and conservation efforts are working, and the otters are proof of that.

The head of ecology at Ewhurst Park, Fiona Kenny, is thrilled with the conservation efforts at Ewhurst.

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"Our ambition here at Ewhurst Park is to restore ecological processes and systems within the landscape so that it can function properly and provide for its inhabitants with minimal management," she said, per NewsBreak. "The level of nature recovery we saw in 2024 has been incredible which really confirms that we're on the right track."