Suraj Baral

1 Introduction Out of 13 otter species recorded worldwide, three species—Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), Asian Small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus), and Smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)—are currently present in Nepal (Acharya and Rajbhandari 2011; Shrestha et al. 2025; Acharya et al. 2023). The Asian small-clawed otter, however, has only just been rediscovered in the country in 2025, which was first recorded in 1839 (Hodgson 1839; Shrestha et al. 2025).

1 INTRODUCTION Landscape functional connectivity refers to the frequency of animal movement between isolated habitat patches, facilitating vital ecological processes such as gene flow, migration, and predator–prey interactions (Ayram et al., 2016; Fahrig, 2003; Fletcher et al., 2018). Poor connectivity increases the extinction risks due to inbreeding depression and limited movement options during adverse conditions (Koen et al., 2014; O'Grady et al., 2006).

RESEARCH ARTICLE Previous Next Online Early Suraj Baral A B C * , Amar Kunwar D , Dipendra Adhikari E F , Kanti Kandel G , Dev Narayan Mandal H , Arjun Thapa F , Dinesh Neupane C I and Tej B. Thapa A + Author Affiliations - Author Affiliations A Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. B International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC), Monitor Lizard Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland.