North American River Otter Pups Make Their Detroit Zoo Debut
The three new additions showed off their aquatic skills today, under the watchful eye of a Farmington Hills swimming coach.
The first otter pups born at the Detroit Zoo in almost 50 years made their aquatic debut today, with help from the Mercy High Marlins swimming program. Detroit Zoological Society Executive Director Ron Kagan said the pups – males Slyde and Bobby and female Emmy – were born March 20 to mother Whisker, 9, and father Lucius, 6. The triplets double the zoo's river otter population, at a time when their species has suffered "significant declines, as a result of fur trapping, water pollution, habitat destruction, pesticides and other threats," according to a Detroit Zoo press release. Otters are natural swimmers, but their mothers start giving them lessons at around two months of age, Kagan said. To judge their progress, the zoo called in an …
In this Article:
