River Otter, Devon predominantly rural area, with small cattle, sheep and dairy farms. The largest town in the Otter Valley is Honiton. Tourism and leisure play important roles in the economy. For much of its length, the river flows through two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) – The Blackdown Hills AONB (to the north of Honiton) and East Devon AONB (to the south of Ottery St Mary). The river passes through or by Upottery, Rawridge, Monkton, Honiton, Alfington, Ottery St Mary, Tipton St John, Newton Poppleford and Otterton before reaching the Otter Estuary to the east of Budleigh Salterton. The Otter Estuary
North American river otter Mya have been found in the US Midwest, however fossils of the modern river otter did not appear in North America until about 1.9 Mya. The earliest known fossil of "Lontra canadensis", found in the US Midwest, is from the Irvingtonian stage (1,800,000 to 300,000 years ago). The oldest fossil record of an Old World river otter comes from the late Pliocene epoch (3.6 to 1.8 Mya). The New World river otters originated from the Old World river otters after a migration across the Bering Land Bridge, which existed off and on between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago. The