Longleat's two baby Asian Small-clawed Otters are being taught to swim in a paddling pool - by the keeper they think is their mum. Deputy Head of Section at Animal Adventure, Beverley Allen, is rearing the pups and has bottle-fed the cute pair since they were born. The pair, named Sumalee and Kasem, are now being taught to swim ready to return to their birth parents. As Beverley explains "I started off putting them in the sink with a little bit of water when they were about nine weeks old. Then they progressed to my bath, where I could make the water a bit deeper to let them practice their breathing. Now they're splashing around quite happily in a paddling pool, with a few toys to encourage them to play." Baby otters need to be taught to swim, so while they might look a little surprised int he first half of the video, it's for their own good!
Photo credits: Longleat Safari Park
You can see pictures and video of these pups when they were just a few days old in this post from September.
Time to check back in on the New York Aquarium's noisy little orphan Sea Otter, Tazo! For those of you who are just jumping in to the Tazo saga, this little otter was rescued and rehabilitated by the Alaska SeaLife Center. In September, Tazo made a big move from Alaska to the New York Aquarium. Unlike many out-of-state transplants, Tazo seems to be adjusting to big city life just fine as evidenced in the video belows.
The Santa Barbara Zoo's otter pups we featured in September are nearly ready to meet the public - a November debut will soon be announced. With their tiny claws emerging and fully-opened eyes, they now to look like miniature versions of their parents. At this stage, they stay close to their parents and spend a lot of time huddling together in the den. However, they also periodically emerge to take swimming lessons in shallow water with their parents. In the wild, this species is threatened by habitat loss, hunting, and pollution.
Four of the world’s smallest otters have been born and successfully reared at the UK's Blackpool Zoo for the first time in its history. The quartet of Asian Small Clawed Otters are now out and about after spending their first two months being cared for in the holt by their mother. When they are born, they weigh around 50g, are toothless, practically immobile and their eyes are still closed. Once their eyes open, usually at around 40 days, they begin to venture out and explore their surroundings. Classified as vulnerable in the wild, the species hails from the mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh, Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Photographer Claire Copley caught these candid shot of one of the pups doing some thorough paw cleaning.
The WCS's New York Aquarium has just released a new video of everybody's favorite feisty pup - Tazo the orphan Sea Otter! Rescued and rehabilitated by the Alaska SeaLife Center back in August, Tazo continues to exhibit the talkative, troublemaking spirit evident in previous videos. While the pup is not yet on exhibit, he will most likely make a public debut later this year.
Second photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher / WCS NY Aquarium
For the first time in over 20 years, the Santa Barbara Zoo is hearing the high pitched squeals of baby Asian Small-clawed Otter pups. Eventually these otters will be among the most playful and active of baby animals, but for now they are safe and cozy in the den with their parents. Over the next three months, their eyes will fully open, their claws will emerge and they will get swimming lessons in shallow water with their parents as instructors. This vulnerable species was bred at the Santa Barbara Zoo as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquarium's (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP) to ensure healthy genetic diversity for this species in North American zoos.
Longleat Safari Park in the UK is delighted to announce the birth of two otter pups although contrary to normal Longleat practice, the pups are being totally hand reared as human intervention became necessary to save the tiny two. Deputy Head of Section, Beverley Allen, took up the role of mum to the intrepid pups. “We try and maintain a hands off approach with any newborn at Longleat as nine times out of ten, mum is the best bet” explained Beverley. “We soon realized however that mum, Rosie, was just not producing enough milk and we’d have to step in to save their young lives”.
“I have to admit that being full time mum to two pups is pretty hard work. I’m feeding them by hand every 3½ hours on artificial puppy rearing milk, which is the next best thing to mum’s milk.
“They are now around four weeks old and their eyes should be opening in the next week or so. They’re completely helpless at the moment and are entirely reliant on me to look after them."
This trio of 9-week-old Asian Small-Clawed Otters pups was photographed yesterday at the UK's Blackpool Zoo by photographer khandog. This species forms monogamous pairs for life and young pups like these are fully weaned only at 14 months - that's a lot of baby otter time! Is that a yawn in the last picture or just munching on otter kibble?
Photos taken yesterday by Lolls Marshall at the UK's Blackpool Zoo turn up the dial on one of the most coveted ZooBorns in our lineup: the baby Asian Small-clawed Otter. It might come as a surprise but otter pups don't know how to swim at birth, so mom must pay careful attention to each pup, training it for the aquatic life ahead. These little guys have clearly taken their first plunge although their expressions suggest that they have mixed feelings about being wet.
Little Sea Otter pup #502 arrived at the Monterey Bay Aquarium after being discovered weak, sick and alone on a California beach. After four weeks of antibiotics delivered via frozen clams and a behind the scenes introduction to a surrogate mother named Joy, #502 went on exhibit to the public last week. She got her temporary numerical name because she was the 502nd Sea Otter rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's SORAC program since its founding in 1984. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing nature of #502's medical treatment, she cannot be released back into the wild because she won't have the necessary wild-otter skills. Eventually she may be introduced to another orphan turned education animal, the not-to-be-missed Kit, who we met earlier in the summer.
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