Baby river otters don’t know how to swim when they’re born! In this April 2013 video from the Oregon Zoo, meet Molalla the Baby River Otter and his mother Tilly as she gives him a few lessons.
“It might look kind of scary to a casual observer,” (keeper Becca) Van Beek said. “She’ll grab Mo by the scruff of the neck and dunk him in the water. But that’s a very natural behavior. Baby otters are extremely buoyant, so Mo has built-in water wings for his swim lessons. This is how baby otters learn to swim, and it’s exactly what we’ve been hoping to see.”
Related reading: sea otter vs river otter. Then watch videos of more babies and a few more otters.
Thanks, Michael.
This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.
Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.