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| Your question will be passed to the most appropriate person to answer it, and a response will be emailed to you, and also appear here. Because we are a diverse, international group, many of whom work in the field, replies may take a while to arrive! |
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Previous Questions and Answers
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| Many of the questions we get are very technical or specific to a certain situation. Below are a selection of more general questions that may be of interest to readers. |
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Nanette, Northern Cape, South Africa, 8 February 2012
We live on the Vaalriver in the Northern Cape (SA). At early hours of the morning the clawless otters looks like adults and young, will gather on the grass near river. It looks as if they go in trance like state while lifting their tails and squirting, steam in a bow. Afterwards they will role in the excretion. Please could you explain the behavior.
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This is called group sprainting (sprainting is the "otter" word for defaecation). All otter species except sea otters use their faeces and urine to mark their territory, and probably to convey information to other otters. Social species, such as clawless otters, also use it to bond the group by smell .....
...In depth answer (8 February 2012) |
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Frank and Diane Lenarchich, Barber Lake, Wisconsin, USA, 13 October 2011
We live on Barber Lake in northern Wisconsin and see groups of otters fairy often. The other day, as both of our dogs were standing on our pier barking, a group of 4 otters started swimming directly to them! I called the dogs and they came to me on the shore and the otters swam off. But one dog (big black lab) went back in the water to play. All otters swam towards him and then one broke off to meet my dog face to face. I was screaming his name to "come" but he's a very friendly dog. The otter swam under water, the dog yelped loudly, and he swam to shore, crying all the way. He ran to me and he didn't appear to have any injuries. An hour later I saw he had a very small bite/scratch just below his butt-hole! I suppose this is what happened when the otter went down under water! He stayed far away from the water after that! This happened on 10-12-11. Any comments? Was it playful or aggressive? The otters kept coming toward us so I guess the dogs thought they were wanting
to play.
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Your dog was very lucky to have gotten away so lightly! Four otters would have been a mother and three young otters - otters stay with their mother till they are 18 months old and look full-grown. It would have been the mother that approached your dog, definitely not playing but defending her young and territory.. ...
...In depth answer (13 October 2011) |
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Diane Tomecek, Denver, Colorado, USA, 1 October 2011
What year was the lontra (New World) vs. lutra (Old World) distinction accepted by scientists and researchers?
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in brief, the New World Lutras became Lontras in 1998 but it took about ten years to become the normal usage. ...
...In depth answer (2 October 2011) |
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