Otter News Archive

Baby otters make debut at Palm Beach Zoo

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27th April 2010

Sonja Isger

Orlando Sentinal, Orlando, Florida, USA

Time to meet Sully and Louise's babies, er... pups. They're 4 months old, 7 pounds each and made their debut in a big river tank at the Palm Beach Zoo on Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Jessie and Wyatt are North American river otters who were born at the zoo on Dec. 23.

They opened their eyes in January.

By late February, Louise was teaching them how to swim in a tub provided by the zookeepers. And true to North American river otter form, they were swimming like pros in a week, according to zoo officials.

Louise, 10, was born at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo and has been a local since she was a year old. Sully was a wild one... no, really, he was born in the wild and donated to the zoo by the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in 2002.

River otters are members of the weasel family. They hunt at night. They prefer fish, but will also eat turtles, crayfish and amphibians.

Mostly they look pretty cool as they glide through the water with their webbed feet and water repellent fur. They can hold their breath underwater for eight minutes.