Sea Otter Surrogacy Pairs Childless Otters with Orphan Pups

As cute as they’re, child otters are additionally extremely demanding, and mothers carry the load. Mom otters educate pups the best way to groom themselves, to forage for tasty morsels like shellfish, to crack them open with a rock, to dive and even to swim. Child otters cling round their mothers for so long as eight to 11 months, in comparison with the mere 4 to 6 weeks that sea lions spend of their moms’ care.

However what occurs when juvenile white sharks assault feminine otters, mistaking them for blubbery pinnipeds? Or when dangerous climate separates moms from their pups? The reply is an unlucky inhabitants of orphan pups alongside the central California coast, with near-zero likelihood of creating it.

“A five- to eight-week-old pup isn’t going to outlive by itself,” says Erin Lundy, supervisor of conservation initiatives on the Aquarium of the Pacific in Lengthy Seaside. Until one other mom can step in.

Otter Surrogacy Packages

It seems {that a} feminine otter in an aquarium can tackle the function of instructing orphaned child otters life classes till they are often launched again into the wild. This means of otter surrogacy was pioneered by Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2001. After 23 years, otter surrogacy remains to be going sturdy, with one other surrogacy program at a companion establishment, the Aquarium of the Pacific, changing into absolutely operational this yr.

And SeaWorld San Diego continues to play a supportive function, making females from its otter program obtainable for surrogacy in Lengthy Seaside and Monterey Bay, in addition to taking in growing older retired surrogates, thereby liberating up house in companion aquariums to foster extra surrogate pairings.

Whereas difficult and resource-intensive, otter surrogacy has yielded some notable outcomes. For instance, 75 % of 64 otters paired with a surrogate mom at Monterey Bay Aquarium from 2001 to 2021 have been efficiently reintegrated into the wild.

Additional, surrogacy-raised otters launched by the aquarium into a close-by seven-mile estuary, the Elkhorn Slough, helped improve the inhabitants there from 20 to 150 between 2002 to 2015. The launched otters additionally revived the slough’s ecosystem by lowering the crab inhabitants, which allowed slugs to feed on algae rising on seagrass, conserving the leaves clear and wholesome.

Child Otter Challenges

It’s not straightforward to boost orphan otters in captivity to return into the wild, even with a surrogate offering maternal steering. For one, it’s very important to stop human interplay as a lot as attainable, which is why surrogate mother and child otters are housed outdoors of public viewing, in some circumstances shielded by a protecting wall. Aquarium employees who take care of the orphans put on a shroud and welding helmet to not be acknowledged.

Youthful orphans additionally don’t eat strong meals, which presents distinctive challenges.

“I’ve bottle-fed a child sea otter, and it is vitally cute,” Lundy says. “They’re tactile, usually sleeping on mother’s chest. The toughest factor is to not need to snuggle this animal.”

Plus, the occasional rowdy orphan can do some harm with its highly effective shell-crushing enamel, which is why Lundy and different staffers put on protecting Kevlar gloves when bottle-feeding.

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Bonding Between Surrogate and Pup

As soon as the orphans can eat strong meals, it’s time to pair them with a surrogate, that’s, a everlasting feminine resident of the aquarium unable to return to the wild. The 2 usually hit it off rapidly however in some circumstances it takes a number of days to bond.

Feeding occurs when disguised aquarium employees drop shellfish from the opposite facet of a protecting wall into the otter pool and that is the place the surrogate mother teaches her adopted pup key abilities. Workers watch by digital camera.

“Mother will go down and take a look at what she likes,” typically taking the pup down along with her, Lundy says. “I can’t see all the pieces they’re doing but it surely looks like she is saying, ‘decide this up, it’s good.’ Then they’ll come up and eat facet by facet.”

Otters studying to eat crabs have supplied some vivid recollections for Lundy. The surrogate may snap off the leg to indicate the child that there’s meat inside, or the pup may enjoyment of flinging the crab in opposition to the wall to interrupt the shell.

“They remind me of little youngsters. They like to interrupt issues,” Lundy says. “They’re very sturdy, very dexterous. They will unscrew screws.”

Releasing the Pups

After six to eight months, employees separate the child from its adoptive mom and place it with its friends, adolescent otters. It’s a fast although typically wrenching transition, because the otter and his/her mother may be heard crying out to one another. Nevertheless it’s often only a day or so earlier than the juvenile otter adjusts. Quickly it’s launch time, after which aquarium scientists will monitor the otter’s whereabouts and well-being for 2 weeks.

Lengthy Seaside’s surrogacy program took a while to be accomplished, resulting from covid delays and its infrastructure necessities, which embody particular swimming pools with filtration that may accommodate the animals’ large appetites and ensuing defecation. However the outcomes have the potential to be felt statewide.

“In our most capability we will surrogate 4 pups a yr; that’s six months on the pool per pup,” Lundy says. “By adopting Monterey Bay’s program, now we have doubled capability to rehabilitate sea otter pups in California.”

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