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 Mammal Mammals ( from Latin "mamma" "breast") are vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia, and characterized by the presence of mammary glands, which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young; a neocortex (a region of the brain); hair; and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which they diverged in the late Triassic. There are around 5,450 species of mammals. The largest orders are the rodents, bats and Soricomorpha (shrews and allies). The next three are the Primates (apes, monkeys, and allies), the Cetartiodactyla (whales and even-toed ungulates), and the Carnivora (cats,