Spraint
Otter dung
Spraint is the dung of the otter. The word is derived from Old French.
Spraints are typically identified by smell and are known for their distinct odors, the smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish. The Eurasian otter's spraints are black and slimy, 3-10 cm (1-4 in) long and deposited in groups of up to four in prominent locations near water. They contain scales, shells and bones of water creatures. Because of the decline of otters in Britain, several surveys have been made to record the distribution of the animal, usually by recording the presence of spraint.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Spraint”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Epreinte de loutre.jpg by Capber fabrice, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lutra lutra 01 by-dpc.jpg by David Perez, CC BY 3.0
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