Cardiff University Otter Project

Cardiff University Otter Project We rely on reports of otter carcasses. Please check our website for what to do if you have found one. Location mapping is used to guide mitigation work on roads.

A unique long-term monitoring project, CUOP has conducted over two thousand post-mortem examinations of otters found dead in England or Wales since 1992. Samples and data are archived, providing an extensive and invaluable resource. Research is carried out in diverse fields including health, genetics, toxicology, parasitology, chemical communication and diet. As top of the aquatic food chain, the otter is a key indicator of the health of aquatic systems; it is also a charismatic species that can be used to drive conservation initiatives. As an EU protected species, monitoring and conservation are a legislative requirement; due to its elusive nature, live-monitoring is extremely difficult and valuable insights can be gained from carcasses that would be unattainable in other ways. Currently CUOP is the only such national monitoring project in Europe; interest has been expressed by other European researchers and conservationists in using CUOP as a model system to guide similar initiatives. Wider networking and sharing of expertise, data and samples could benefit research programmes and conservation initiatives across the continent.

Michael Sheen’s new documentary “Buried” shines a spotlight on Wales’ unfortunate history of chemical waste dumping and ...
30/09/2026

Michael Sheen’s new documentary “Buried” shines a spotlight on Wales’ unfortunate history of chemical waste dumping and the lasting environmental and health concerns it has created.

The documentary focuses on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of toxic chemicals that were banned due to their persistence in the environment, their ability to accumulate in wildlife and people, and their toxicity. The documentary highlights multiple sites across Wales where historical dumping has left a worrying legacy, and examines the potential health impacts in affected communities.

Documentaries such as Buried play an important role in raising awareness of the lasting environmental health impacts of PCBs. Our own research shows that despite having been banned over 40 years ago, PCB concentrations in Wales are now increasing, possibly due to remobilisation from contaminated sediments. As top predator, otters are a useful indicator of chemicals which build up through food chains, and we use them to track long-term trends in environmental contamination.

We hope that increased awareness will help drive action to address the legacy of PCB contamination, while avoiding similar environmental and health impacts from emerging pollutants such as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).

You can read our paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.127354.

You can watch the full documentary here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002zkql/buried-with-michael-sheen.

Cardiff University School of Biosciences Environment Agency Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Natural Resources Wales

Introducing Louise, one of our new placement students for this year! otterproject cardiff cardiffuniversity ca...
25/09/2026

Introducing Louise, one of our new placement students for this year!

otterproject cardiff cardiffuniversity cardiffuniversityotterproject ukwildlife cardiffbiosciences

Introducing Keira, one of our new placement students for this year!
23/09/2026

Introducing Keira, one of our new placement students for this year!

📣 We’ve surpassed 5000 otters in our records 📣While the death of our wildlife can be upsetting to hear about, this also ...
21/09/2026

📣 We’ve surpassed 5000 otters in our records 📣

While the death of our wildlife can be upsetting to hear about, this also means that we have samples and data from 5000 individuals that can be used to support conservation efforts as well as otter, wildlife, and environmental research!

We are so grateful to all our volunteers and partner organisations for taking the time and effort to contribute to our archives; a project on this scale would not be possible without all of you! 🦦

The 5000th otter was delivered by the Somerset Otter Group 🦦

Introducing one of our new placements students!
16/09/2026

Introducing one of our new placements students!

Introducing one of our new placement students!
15/09/2026

Introducing one of our new placement students!

🚨NEW PAPER🚨https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-026-02127-2How old is an otter cub? Determining cub age is important for ident...
13/08/2026

🚨NEW PAPER🚨
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-026-02127-2

How old is an otter cub? Determining cub age is important for identifying and protecting breeding sites and targeting seasonal surveys, but reliable ageing methods have been lacking.

In this new paper, led by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University in collaboration with the Cardiff University Otter Project, the authors present a novel method that estimates cub size relative to their mother using pixel measurements from camera-trap footage. The method was validated using domestic ferrets of known length, then applied to footage from an otter natal den to generate growth curves for three litters, from first emergence (ca. two months old) to at least seven months old.

The method was sufficiently accurate to estimate birth season, and the authors hope in future to collate crowd-sourced video and photographs of otter families from across the Eurasian otter range, to investigate regional variation in breeding seasonality.

Anecdotally, it has been suggested by field observers that tail: body length ratio might be used to indicate cub age. Data from CUOP were used to disprove this - analysis of length data from over three thousand individuals, from tiny foetuses recovered in utero, to adult otters, showed that the ratio remains remarkably constant as otters grow.

Another engagement event 😃!
06/08/2026

Another engagement event 😃!

We would like to give a huge thank you to our 2025-26 placement year students, Sorrel, Sophie, and Sandy. Since Septembe...
03/08/2026

We would like to give a huge thank you to our 2025-26 placement year students, Sorrel, Sophie, and Sandy. Since September, they have helped lead several local engagement events and assisted in performing 194 postmortems. They have played a crucial role in the project over the past academic year, and we wish them all the very best for the future!

Excellent advice about responsible sharing and interacting with otter content - equally applicable to other wildlife.
01/08/2026

Excellent advice about responsible sharing and interacting with otter content - equally applicable to other wildlife.

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