International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management

exposed to similar situations as just aforementioned [partial improvements in enclosure
conditions] and reports indicated that their behavioral health improved as well. No additional or
detailed information was available.)
**When the percentage of day-time hours that an otter spends on land vs. in the water or
terrestrial and aquatic activities are studied in captivity, the following must be taken into
account and analyzed when results are interpreted and conclusions are drawn. The
presence and extent/degree of appropriate and inappropriate enclosure designs and furnishings
(i.e. esp. whether the recommended land to water ratios, land and floor substrates, and deep
digging areas are offered), husbandry and management practices, and particular/non-typical life
events (i.e. whether parents are rearing cubs or otters are in unusual/unfamiliar circumstances
etc.) must be evaluated. Natural environmental conditions (i.e. weather conditions, e.g. such as
extended rainy, hot, or very cold periods etc.), how much exposure animals have had in their past
to inappropriate and/or appropriate enclosure conditions, animal health and social structure must
also be evaluated. These factors can significantly affect otter behavior and activities and
therefore the results of such studies. When one or more of these factors are not accounted
for, misleading conclusions can be made that other captive otters will or should also act in
similar ways in other conditions, whether these conditions are similar to those in the study or
not. Behavior exhibited by otters kept in inappropriate enclosure conditions or by those
that did not recover to 100% normality and health after they were offered appropriate
conditions, may also be misinterpreted as being completely normal healthy behavior, when
the relevant factors are not taken into consideration.
**Specific considerations must also be accounted for when attempts are made to compare
the percentage of day-time hours that a wild otter spends on land vs. in the water to that of
the same in otters in captivity. Such comparisons can not accurately be made on the premise
that captive and wild otters should act similarly, because such a premise is incorrect. (The
same/similar considerations should also be taken into account when other particular terrestrial
and aquatic activity/behavior studies are compared.) In captivity, otters live in a very different
environment compared to the natural habitat that their wild relatives live in. A giant otter or any
otter species in the wild will act, at least in certain aspects, differently than its relative held in
captivity. This is because on a daily basis a wild otter encounters and must respond to (with a
wide variety of behaviors) a very different situation than a captive otter. The unpredictability
and varied and challenging conditions found in the wild can never be fully replicated in
captivity. (Of course although it is important to provide these conditions to the greatest degree
that is possible in captivity.) E.g. giant otters in captivity are not dependent upon fishing or
searching for fish over a large expanse or significantly varied and highly challenging
environment to acquire their food. It can be reasoned that when live fish are regularly offered in
most any pool in captivity, regardless of how complex or how large a pool in captivity could
realistically be, otters would need to spend much less time hunting for fish in that pool,
compared to the time that they or their wild relatives would need to spend hunting for fish in the
natural world. Captive held otters also do not have to swim throughout an expansive,
unpredictable and challenging territory to patrol their enclosure area for intruders, reach old
campsites/dens (to maintain or use them) or locate areas for new ones etc.. In comparison, giant
otters in the wild are faced with these daily challenges and this will affect the amount of time a
wild giant otter must spend in the water. (Group social structure, environmental conditions, the
occurrence of cub-rearing etc. must be evaluated when land and water activity/behavior studies
are carried out in the wild as well.)
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