Cardiff University Otter Project

We are a national scheme collecting otters found dead in England, Scotland and Wales for post-mortem examination. We use the archive of specimens and data to conduct a wide range of research, on chemical contamination of the environment, genetics / genomics, and health. We collaborate widely with other research institutions and conservation organisations. Most otters we receive (ca. 85%) are killed in road traffic accidents, and our data has been used to guide mitigation on roads, reducing the number of future casualties.