Which of our five sea otters might you see when our sea otter exhibit re-opened March 23? We never know for sure! That's because they all have important jobs behind the scenes as part of our Sea Otter Research and Conservation program. But here's our "A" team: five female otters that you may encounter when you visit.
When she was 11 weeks old, Kit made her debut in 2010 as the youngest pup ever raised on exhibit. After visiting friends at another aquarium, Kit's come home and we're hoping she'll be a great mom. Welcome back!
Four-year-old Gidget is one of two new otters you'll see on exhibit. A shy animal, she was rescued by our staff in October 2008. Now she's back as an exhibit animal and potential surrogate mother for other stranded wild pups!
At 1 ½ years old, Ivy's our youngest otter, and is new to our exhibit. She has a lot to learn from Gidget and our three older adult females. Let's just say she's already doing a cracking good job! (Notice the stone between her paws. She uses that to crack open shell fish.)
Rescued in 1999 as a four-week-old pup, Rosa has a mellow personality (by sea otter standards!) and has become a successful surrogate mom to young pups. In fact, several otters she cared for are now thriving in the wild.
Abby was rescued as a newborn in 2007 by the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Rescue Center and made her way here in 2012. Abby likes to play with artificial kelp, take ice baths—and stick her tongue out!
QUESTIONS FOR GOD
(answers given by elementary school children)
What ingredients are mothers made of?
God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
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They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string I think.
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Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
We're related.
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God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.
I need to get back down there one of these days and see the latest exhibits. Parker would have so much fun in the kid zone.
ReplyDeleteThey are so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love otters so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Don :-}