It’s been about 11 weeks since our Cape clawless otter pup was born in Bear Canyon (see Hali’s blog, Otter Pup Arrives) and I know there are many of you anxious to get a viewing. Well, any time now you will get that chance as this brave little girl (determined by exam on May 3) is starting to venture out of her den area.

On Monday afternoon, May 21, our afternoon keeper reported that there was a huge group of visitors congregated around the exhibit as she was leaving for the day. She asked what was going on and was told that the otter pup had been swimming briefly. She was so disappointed that she just missed it, but was excited to learn of the news.

The next day, with my camera ready, I cleaned the exhibit in my usual routine and spread the otter food out all over the exhibit to encourage mom to get some exercise foraging for her meal. I opened the door to the den area to release her on exhibit and patiently waited. Mama Sweet Otter came running out in her usual mealtime excitement, but this time baby was right on her heals. The pair first came over to the wall where I was standing to check if I was going to do a food toss. The whole time baby was climbing all over her mom like an insecure child wanting to be picked up. Sweet Otter paid no mind and turned toward the water to check out her water jug with fish waiting inside. Baby otter ran after her and, just like a wobbly toddler unsure of her footing and unable to stop her forward momentum; she plowed into the shallow water full speed. She swam around in a circle rather awkwardly and when her head popped up she started squeaking until mom came over to comfort her. Together they swam a little bit and then Sweet Otter went off to find more food.

Little pup wasn’t sure what to do and continued to vocalize during her mom’s hunt. I watched as Sweet Otter gathered several fish and then collected her pup and the two of them went back into the den for the rest of the day. It was such a privilege to view this early swim lesson and I can’t wait to see the pup’s comfort level continue to improve in the future. The next couple of days I didn’t see the pup come out to swim, so for now the sightings will be sporadic. It will only be a matter of time before she is out and about on a regular basis exploring and learning about her world.

This first documented swimming event is just one of many little steps in our pup’s maturation. As you may recall from my last blog, on April 24 the pup had just opened its eyes. Around this time we had been filling the pool to a shallow level, only about 5 to 8 inches at the deepest point. This was mostly for Sweet Otter to be able to clean her coat and have a little exercise, but always with the intention that the pup would start swimming lessons soon. The first week of May would mark the timeline that other zoos have documented first swims to occur.

On April 25, we started seeing the pup make attempts to leave the nest box located inside the den area. Sweet Otter wasn’t ready for this and kept pushing her baby right back into the box over the next week or so. During this time, Sweet Otter was finally starting to venture out of the den area while we were present, and we began to shut her out of the den area, separating her from the pup for very brief moments. This was in preparation for the upcoming pup exam and first vaccinations in which we would have to keep mom in the exhibit in order to handle the pup. Sweet Otter’s appetite had been increasing and she was more and more accepting of this as we rewarded her with yummy goodies on exhibit. Our efforts paid off, and when the vets came down for the exam on May 3, Sweet Otter willingly left the den area. The exam went smoothly and it was determined that the pup was a female. A weight was attempted, but due to a scale malfunction, it could not be obtained. That was okay though, because now we had worked up to being able to keep Sweet Otter out at any time in order to handle the pup. Just two days later, I weighed her and she was 5.71 pounds (a gain of almost 3 pounds from two weeks ago!).

One week after the pup’s exam, we finally started seeing her coming out of the nest box and attempting to follow Sweet Otter out of the den area. Her wobbly and unsteady little legs caused her to flop and fall a lot, but she seemed determined to start exploring. Every day she was gaining more control over her body and finally, on May 17, we witnessed her on exhibit with Sweet Otter, although not anywhere near the water. And then, two days later, the swimming had begun! As soon as we see more regular swimming and are confident that the pup can handle it, we will offer increasingly deeper pool depths.

Now, the biggest challenge comes with figuring out an appropriate name for this little girl. Since Cape clawless otters come from South Africa, I’ll be looking for an African name with an interesting meaning. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! And in the meantime, keep watching the otter exhibit in Bear Canyon for glimpses of this little cutie!

Hali Anderson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

Posted in Animal Stories, Default, General | Link to this post

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Scroll to the end to leave a comment. Pinging is not allowed.