Tuesday 5 January 2016

January 2016 Mammal of the Month - The Otter



Otter - photo credit: Becky Thomas
Season's greetings everyone and wishing you all the very best for 2016.

Our first Mammal of the Month for the new year is.... the otter.

Our top five facts for this often secretive species are:

* They can live up to 10 years in the wild.

* Young are born in dens called holts and the mother looks after the cubs alone.

* They can have very large territories - up to 20 km of river!

* Their poo is called spraint - it smells sweet and musky and is often the only way you know that an otter is in the area.

* After almost disappearing from much of Britain in the last century they are now making an impressive come-back - BMG even has a record from very close to the Oracle Shopping Centre in the centre of Reading.

Find out more about the species on the Mammal Society's fact sheet at:

Otter fact sheet

and please record any sightings (of them or their signs) at:

BMG recording