International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management
International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management
International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management
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described below <strong>and</strong> in Section 12 below.) The stress caused by human disturbances <strong>and</strong><br />
presence has resulted in the loss of a critically significant number of giant otter cubs.<br />
Historically <strong>and</strong> internationally (from 1968-2002), records show that most of the captive-born<br />
giant otter cub deaths reported (where full cub history was known), died because parents,<br />
stressed by disturbances, failed to properly care for their cubs. No institution has ever reared<br />
their giant otter cubs successfully unless privacy was offered during cub-rearing. Even<br />
parents that had already reared one or more litters successfully with seclusion, did not<br />
rear their following litters successfully unless they were offered this method. (I.e. without<br />
this method they ate or neglected their cubs <strong>and</strong> litter loss resulted because of disturbances to<br />
the parents.) See Chapter 1 for more information about these issues.<br />
Observations of wild giant otters in Peru:<br />
“<strong>Giant</strong> otters are highly susceptible to disturbances [esp. during cubrearing]….The<br />
reason for the minimal reproductive success of the Cocha<br />
Salvador group <strong>and</strong> the birth of a litter outside of the normal season can be<br />
related to human disturbances.” (Translation from Staib 2002). In the wild giant<br />
otters are more nervous when they have cubs. They are also nervous when<br />
anything unusual occurs in their environment, this includes the presence of<br />
humans (Schenck 1996; Schenck et al 2003).<br />
Baker et al. (1996) reviewed evidence from mammals that psychological stress, particularly for<br />
Carnivora, to the parents is often responsible for the parents’ failure to rear litters successfully.<br />
After giving birth, captive carnivore parents can be especially vulnerable to disturbances<br />
<strong>and</strong> normal human activity, which did not bother them before parturition. At the time of<br />
parturition <strong>and</strong> during cub-rearing, stress to the parents can be caused by human<br />
disturbances (visual <strong>and</strong> acoustic) <strong>and</strong> presence (visitors <strong>and</strong> zoos staff) or any changes to<br />
the parents’ “social” or “physical environment”.<br />
The following behaviors, caused because giant otter parents were stressed by disturbance, have<br />
been reported to occur during cub-rearing (Autuori & Deutsch 1977; Hagenbeck & Wünnemann<br />
1992; Gatz, pers. obs. 1996-2002; Flügger 1997 & pers. comm.; Sykes 1998/2002; Sykes-Gatz<br />
2001, unpublished reports 1999-2003 & pers. obs). Parents physically abused, i.e. bit, injured,<br />
threw, slammed around, nearly drowned, rolled <strong>and</strong> laid on, suffocated to death by laying on,<br />
or/<strong>and</strong> ate their cubs. They also failed to properly care for <strong>and</strong> neglected or excessively<br />
h<strong>and</strong>led their cubs in other ways. They repeatedly carried their cubs around the enclosure<br />
or moved them from one nestbox or place to another within a short time period or performed<br />
these actions too many times or even excessively throughout the day. (Note: this indicates that<br />
the parents are uncomfortable <strong>and</strong> they do not feel that their cubs are safe in a particular area, so<br />
they move their cubs in attempts to find a safer feeling place. It is also simply just a reaction to<br />
stress.) They also excessively moved, pushed, slammed around, h<strong>and</strong>led, <strong>and</strong> toileted their<br />
cubs. Mothers’ were suspected to have failed to lactate sufficient amounts of milk due to<br />
stress <strong>and</strong> they were observed to press their bodies flat to the ground as a reaction to stress,<br />
so that the cubs could not nurse sufficiently during those times. When parents became<br />
nervous in behavior, because of a disturbance, they did not lie still long enough so that the<br />
cubs could nurse or the mother left the cubs unattended for too long. (E.g. the cubs were<br />
crying because they were hungry or felt alone <strong>and</strong> the mother did not return to nurse or pay<br />
attention to them frequently enough.) During these times, the cubs had little or no chance to<br />
nurse. [Very young giant otter cubs, from birth to at least 7 days old when the remaining cub<br />
was pulled for h<strong>and</strong>rearing, nursed frequently during each hour of the day (Sykes-Gatz, pers.<br />
147