{"id":7816,"date":"2017-01-29T12:41:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T18:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=7816"},"modified":"2017-01-29T12:41:58","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T18:41:58","slug":"word-of-the-day-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2017\/01\/29\/word-of-the-day-83\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spraint<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Spraint<\/b> is the dung<\/a> of the otter<\/a>.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Spraints are typically identified by smell and are known for their distinct aromas, the smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish.[2]<\/a><\/sup> The European otter<\/a>‘s spraints are black and slimy, 3\u201310\u00a0cm (1\u20134\u00a0in) long and deposited in groups of up to four in prominent locations near water. They contain scales, shells and bones of water creatures.[3]<\/a><\/sup> 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. [4]<\/a><\/sup> Further, there is some evidence that spraint density is correlated with otter density. [Wikipedia<\/strong><\/em><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Noted in NewScientist’s Feedback<\/a><\/strong><\/em> column.<\/p>\n

ON THE subject of spraint, our colleagues previously announced the news that dogs habitually orientate north-south when relieving themselves (17\/24\/31 December 2016, p 44<\/a>). Steve Martin sees a useful application: \u201cIf you are exploring, take your dog with you and you will never get lost.\u201d Just remember to give it a big feed first.<\/p>\n

Vivien Harrison, meanwhile, cautions that the correct breed is necessary. \u201cMy brother informs me that his dog doesn\u2019t orientate itself north-south when it defecates,\u201d she says, \u201cas it is not a shih tzu pointer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In proper Minnesota fashion, I now moan Uff-da<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spraint: Spraint is the dung of the otter.[1] Spraints are typically identified by smell and are known for their distinct aromas, the smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish.[2] The European otter‘s spraints are black and slimy, 3\u201310\u00a0cm (1\u20134\u00a0in) long and deposited \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7817,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7816\/revisions\/7817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}