Otter females are called bitches or sows, and their offspring are called pups. The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp (being descriptive of their often playful nature) or, when in water, raft. The feces of otters are typically identified by their distinctive aroma, the smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish; these are known as spraints. The gestation period in otters is about 60 to 86 days. The newborn pup is cared for by the bitch, dog and older offspring. Bitch otters reach sexual maturity at approximately two years of
Mammal the metatherian "Sinodelphys", both dated to 125 million years ago. [[Epipubic]] bones, a feature that strongly influenced the reproduction of most mammal clades, are first found in [[Tritylodontidae]], suggesting that it is a synapomorphy between them and [[mammaliformes]]. They are omnipresent in non-placental mammaliformes, though "[[Megazostrodon]]" and "[[Erythrotherium]]" appear to have lacked them. It has been suggested that the original function of [[lactation]] ([[milk]] production) was to keep eggs moist. Much of the argument is based on monotremes, the egg-laying mammals. Therian mammals took over the medium- to large-sized ecological niches in the [[Cenozoic]], after the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]] approximately