Cute Otters

I am extremely excited because my local aquarium, The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA has a new otter! Maggie the otter is too old to be put in the surrogate mom program that would teach her the skills to survive in the wild but fortunately she has a great caretaker, Hugh Ryono. I hope to make the trip over to the aquarium soon to see their new addition as soon as she's on exhibit!

Click here to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific web site

Nuka was two months old when rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Unfortunately, Nuka passed away yesterday.

Here's another video of the otter pups born at the Columbus Zoo.

Click here to visit the official Columbus Zoo website

Here is an amazing otter video shot by our friend Kawausosu. Rarely do you get to see otters interacting with their pups like this!

Click here to visit Kawausosu's web site

Even though we would all prefer to see sea otters only in the wild sometimes they need our help due to being abandoned at a young age or if they are injured. Many aquariums and zoos around the world like the Shedd Aquarium rescue otters and nurse them back to health.

From YouTube: This video demonstrates the connection between enrichment and training. Our sea otters at the Shedd Aquarium were all rescued as pups from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. As orphans they did not have the survival skills to make it on their own in the wild, so they were placed in our care at Shedd. Part of our agreement to house these otters was to take blood samples regularly to study the long-term effects of the oil spill. Understandably, such frequent blood sampling caused the otters to originally shy away from our medical area. To combat that, we chose to make the area where we took blood into the most fun play area possible. This music video shows the creative variety of enrichment we used to make the medical area as much fun as possible. It worked great, the otters obviously had fun and we were able to contribute blood samples for this important study for a full year!

Click here to visit the Shedd Aquarium web site

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! What better way to celebrate the day than with a picture of a proud otter mother holding up her little pup. (Source - Radikal Foto)

Here's an early Mother's Day video for all of you from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Click here to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium web site

The Binghamton Zoo in New York celebrated the birth of their first otter pup! If you're a mother, be sure to go to the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park for their special Mother's Day event where mothers get in free and are will also receive a $25 manicure gift certificate. (source - ZooBorns)

Click here to visit the Binghamton Zoo Website

The lucky residents of Austin, MN were able to view some otters this February playing in the icy water. It's a good thing their fur provides excellent insulation against the winter weather.

Imagine owning your own island that's surrounded by adorable sea otters. Well, now you can actually own it if you want to live in Canada. I wish I had the money because who better to own Sea Otter Island than the #1 otter fan in the world?

Click here to read more at SeaOtterIsland.com