FRESH-WATER AVAILABILITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF CAPE CLAWLESS OTTER SPRAINTS AND RESTING PLACES ALONG THE SOUTH-WEST COAST OF SOUTH-AFRICA

This paper relates use of the marine habitat by Aonyx capensis, as sho wn by the use of resting and sprainting sites, to the presence or abse nce of fresh water. This paper tests the null hypothesis that spraints and couches of A. capensis are randomly distributed with regard to fr eshwater availability. Dependence on freshwater sources by coastal A. capensis has important conservation implications. Reduced stream flow or seasonal drying up of sources, resulting from increased human activ ities, can negatively affect continued otter occurrence along a coastl ine. Occurrence of spraints, couches and resting places along the sout h-west coast, South Africa, was found to be closely tied to freshwater sources. It is hypothesised from the results of this study that A. ca pensis, like the Eurasian otter Lutra lutra, needs fresh water to use marine habitats. The results indicate that monitoring freshwater point s along similar coasts would indicate whether otters were present in t he general area or not - a time-saving method of determining otter dis tribution on a large scale. Monitoring only mouths of rivers is possib le, as most spraints and couches were located very close to fresh wate r.