18th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
River Otter devouring piranha, Yasuni National Park, Ecuador 2019

We were staying at the Napo Wildlife Center, an indigenously-owned eco-lodge in Ecuador's Yasuni National Park. While exploring (via large canoe) a small tributary to the massive Napo River, we came across a large family of river otters, teaching their young how to fish. This ferocious-looking adult river otter had just captured a piranha, and was making quick work of devouring it.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 06.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2020
Photo Location: Ecuador
Copyright: © Philip Schwartz