Turns out you can learn a lot from the moment duty calls for one of the Chesapeake Bay’s cutest, furriest apex predators.

In today’s episode of “Matt About Town,” we’re highlighting an ongoing study being conducted at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, where scientists are examining otter poop in an effort to better understand how our Chesapeake ecosystem is fairing.

You heard us right. We’re getting our hands a little dirty, hiking the trails of SERC’s campus, for the gross stuff (which is actually the utterly fascinating stuff!).

Come along on this adventure to learn about how the study of the North American River Otter actually impacts us as humans quite a bit. Along the way, you’ll see what makes this project unlike any other science experiment you’ve ever seen before, and why SERC is such a uniquely perfect place for a study like this to occur.

To learn more about this study, and all the projects happening at SERC, you can visit their website.

And tune in next week on Monday, on WTOP’s social media platforms exclusively, for the part III conclusion of our exploration at SERC, discussing how scientists actually examine the animal/parasite DNA in these otter waste samples using state of the art lab equipment.

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