Question for otter experts

[vole-woman]

I found last night what looked exactly like otter spraint under a bridge where otters (and mink) nornally spraint - it was extremely fresh! However, it smelt a bit grim. I'm well used to the smell of otter spraint and this just doesn't smell right. Then again, it doesn't look right for mink (the scats are very different).

My question for otter experts is, does otter poo always smell the same way?

[The Woodman]

The only time I've noticed a really different smell is when I took in a young male otter a couple of years ago. He had been in a scrape with a dominant male I think and was quite disorientated. There were many bites around the back end which is typical of such fighting. From the outset, his spraints were vile, the smell was eye wateringly bad and the vet said it was due to a bacterial infection.

This is the beast on the vets table.



I've also noticed that when the anal jelly or more liquid spraints are very fresh they often contain small bubbles that disappear with ageing.

[vole-woman]

Gosh. Did he survive?

Well, the spraint's dried out now (I put it in a pot and brought it home) and now it smells like standard otter. So the overpowering smell might have been because it was so very fresh. It certainly wasn't the sweetish smell I usually associate with otter! Stunk out the greenhouse (and I notice that no woodmice have been in overnight).

[The Woodman]

I think there'll be two main components of the total smell of the spraint. One will be from the content of the mass i.e. undigestible remains of prey and the other, individual scent from the animals glands.

When we smell a spraint we smell the scent gland substance hence the generic descriptions quoted e.g. jasmine tea, etc. To an otter, however, the smell will be as individual as our faces to us.

The fish/amphibian bones may have some smell but I suspect the anal gland substance overpowers anything else. The digestive system must be very efficient as you never see much other than bones, scales, feathers and the like.

Also the biggest spraints are produced early in the active period. When there's nothing left in the gut and the otter has to leave a calling card, a blob of anal jelly will do the trick. This can be dark or clear and I think that the clear stuff is the result of a totally purged gut - there's often not of it to see either - sometimes the equivalent volume of half a pea.

[vole-woman]

I think, too, each human probably smells a thing differently, it's a slightly subjective sense.

These spraints are proper full things, full of fish bones, and crumbly/granular in texture. Looked to me as though this otter had just eaten a very good meal. The mink scat I've been seeing is black and tarry, denser and twisted and contains much more fur.

[The Woodman]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

I think, too, each human probably smells a thing differently, it's a slightly subjective sense.

Very much so, I agree. Scent is a fascinating subject.

[STYRBJORN]

Must you? You pair have just ruined my breakfast.

Ric

[vole-woman]

Ah, geroff, Ric. You can't call yourself a naturalist till you can get enthusastic about animal poo.

[STYRBJORN]

Well yes but. Soft-boiled eggs, soldiers, and pongy bits don't turn me on. If they do it for you OK but it seems a load of c**p to me! Excremental experimentation is not high (groan) on my priority list.

Ric

[vole-woman]

It's the whole tracking business I love. I love the idea there there are all these secret messages from an invisible parallel world, if you just part the grass or check under a bridge. My kids can ID loads of different mammal scats (though they keep this quiet among friends).