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World Otter Day Celebrations
May 28 is World Otter Day! The Cincinnati Zoo is home to North American river otters, Asian small-clawed otters, and will soon welcome sea otters! This day was created to help draw attention to otters, celebrate them, and raise awareness and support for their conservation globally.
We will be celebrating on-site with special keeper chats, training sessions, and more!
World Otter Day Schedule
Visit the Zoo on May 28 from 10 am – 3 pm to meet otter keepers and volunteers to learn more about these amazing animals! Participate in a kid-friendly scavenger hunt, learn to identify the otters, get stickers and stamps and more! Visit both habitats and get a stamp to be signed up to win an art piece created by an otter!
Keeper Chats
During these chats, you will learn more about the otters at the Zoo, and have a chance to see otter enrichment or training sessions!
| Asian Small-Clawed Otters | 11am | Elephant Trek |
| North American River Otters | 12pm | Wolf Woods |
| Asian Small-Clawed Otters | 1pm | Elephant Trek |
| North American River Otters | 2pm | Wolf Woods |
Meet the Otters
Sugar
Sugar is too smart for her own good! She is very sassy and stubborn. She loves to train when she is in the mood, and she is a quick learner.
Favorite Food
Her favorite food would be her hard boiled eggs – she loves eggs!
Favorite Enrichment
Her favorite enrichment to play with include feeder tubes and anything she can tip over! She also loves to take substrates from all over and pack them into her nest box.
Wesley
Wesley is very chill and relaxed. He loves to train because it means extra snacks. He isn’t always as quick as Sugar when it comes to learning something new, but he tries his best and his effort is priceless.
Favorite Food
His favorite food is shrimp, smelt or hard boiled eggs.
Favorite Enrichment
His favorite enrichment to play with is feeder tubes, frozen fish popsicles or his firehose hammock because he loves to take naps in it!
Munti
Munti is a brave and outspoken gal! She too can be sassy at times, and very spunky. She loves getting into her burlap bags, and rolling around on the firehose beds.
Favorite Food
Her favorite food is shrimp, or worms.
Favorite Enrichment
Her favorite enrichment items are pvc feeder tubes, and forage piles made of wood shavings, or rocks/pebbles with diet items scattered within it. Over the winter, Munti also loved piles of snow!
Flounder
Flounder is a gentleman. He is very patient and sweet. He is a bit more cautious about new things versus Munti. He loves to be in the water, diving deep in their pool for food or enrichment items.
Favorite Food
His favorite food is capelin, krill or shrimp.
Favorite Enrichment
His favorite enrichment items are forage balls that we place diet items inside, puzzle feeders and live fish feedings. He loves just about any enrichment we place in the water!
Four New Pups
On May 9, Munti the Asian small-clawed otter gave birth to four pups! Cincinnati Zoo veterinary staff and animal care team conducted a wellness check. All four pups appear to be males and healthy.
The otter family will remain off habitat for several weeks while they bond and care for their pups behind the scenes.
Asian Small-Clawed Otters
Asian-small clawed otters are the smallest out of all 13 species of otters. They are about 2 to 3 feet in length and can weigh up to 10 pounds. As the name suggests, they have small, partially webbed claws that they use to manipulate food and prey. Unlike many other otters, with their claws not being fully webbed, this gives them greater dexterity.
Like many species, the number of these otters in the wild are declining. It is estimated that their population has dropped by about 30% in the past 30 years. Under the IUCN Red List, the Asian small-clawed otter is listed as ‘Vulnerable’. The biggest threats they face in the wild are habitat loss, the illegal pet trade, and farmers who consider them as pests on their land. Much of their habitat is being destroyed to build roads and farmland.
North American River Otters
Ranging over much of North America, the river otter survives anywhere with access to abundant prey and clean water. With a streamlined body, webbed feet, muscular tail, flexible body, and waterproof fur, otters are designed for swimming in search of fish, crayfish, and other aquatic creatures to eat.
Otters den in a riverbank burrow, under a rock pile, in a thicket, or even in another animal’s home such as a beaver’s lodge. The river otter is famous for its playful antics – mud sliding, water sports and manipulating objects – which increases coordination and sharpens hunting skills.
Coming Soon
Sea Otter Coast is the future home to sea otters at the Cincinnati Zoo! This habitat features a massive underwater viewing area where visitors will get close up opportunities to see sea otters play, eat, swim, and engage in enrichment activities.
Fun Facts
- Sea otters are the heaviest species of otter.
- The densest fur of any animal on earth!
- They have no fat on their body.
- They hide snacks in their armpits.
- They have retractable claws like cats.
- The maximum depth they will go is 300 ft.
- Southern sea otters and the population in Alaska are threatened.
- A group of otters is called a raft!
- Their fur keeps them from sinking.
