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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another during their separation. This male successfully bred with other females when he was<br />
separated from his sister. When this male although was put back together with his female<br />
sibling they never bred. During the long periods that this brother <strong>and</strong> sister were kept together,<br />
no litters were born. It is interesting to note that the sister, during separation bred <strong>and</strong> bore<br />
litters (that did not live) with another male. It may also be possible, that if unrelated giant<br />
otters are reared together or introduced well before they reach sexual maturity, <strong>and</strong> they<br />
reach sexual maturity together, they will not breed. It is therefore not advisable to keep<br />
otters in the aforementioned situations.<br />
It is advisable to remove cubs from the parents, when the cubs reach 6 months old.<br />
(Captive cubs are normally fully weaned at an age of six months.) Although, because of<br />
limited available data <strong>and</strong> limited experiences (Corredor, pers. comm. 2003, Brasilia Zoo,<br />
pers. comm. 2002, Flügger 1997) a specific guideline cannot yet be made. Many factors can<br />
affect how successfully juvenile <strong>and</strong> sub-adult siblings (<strong>and</strong> adult siblings) are able to co-exist<br />
with <strong>and</strong> help care for their younger siblings, this therefore affects cub-rearing success. The<br />
success of the few institutions (Corredor, pers. comm. 2003, Brasilia Zoo, pers. comm. 2002,<br />
Flügger 1997) which have experienced this situation has shown that more cubs have died in<br />
such situations than survived. The experiences at each institution are reported below.<br />
Flügger (1997) found it necessary to remove offspring from the parents when the offspring<br />
reached six months old. This is because at Hagenbecks Tierpark, three one-year-old offspring<br />
from the previous litter played too roughly with the new cubs <strong>and</strong> parents were not able to<br />
defend the young cubs from the exhausting play-ways of the older cubs. The younger cubs died<br />
at 17, 23, <strong>and</strong> 27 days old. In another litter, three 6.5 month-old cubs, from the previous litter,<br />
competed with the new cubs for the mother’s milk. The younger cubs died at 3, 9, <strong>and</strong> 60 days<br />
old at which time the remaining 3 cubs were h<strong>and</strong>reared (of which one died at 3 months old<br />
after 4 ½ weeks of h<strong>and</strong>rearing). (Note: the three cubs were emaciated at the time that they<br />
were pulled for h<strong>and</strong>rearing.) In both cases, it was presumed that the mother failed to lactate<br />
sufficient amounts of milk because of the stress. Litter losses resulted in these cases, because of<br />
the stress this type of disturbance caused the parents, the competition for the milk supply <strong>and</strong> the<br />
affects of the exhausting play-ways on the cubs. The older siblings created the<br />
stresses/disturbances. It is assumed that these otters were housed only or primarily in an indoor<br />
enclosure during the period in which the successive litters were reared (esp. as these litters were<br />
reared during the cold months in Germany). Note: an outdoor enclosure of 255 m² [2, 744.8 ft²]<br />
was also available when it was warm enough for the animals to have outdoor access.<br />
At Cali Zoo, in at least two successive litters, of which 3 cubs were born in one litter <strong>and</strong> 1 cub<br />
was born in the following litter, 2 cubs survived, one from each litter, when juveniles <strong>and</strong>/or<br />
subadults were also present (Corredor, pers. comm.). This is a 50% success rate for these<br />
particular two litters. Although it is important to note that two of these cubs died of a bacterial<br />
infection caused by the wet/very damp conditions within the dens. Updated records showed that<br />
two following litters, reared by the same parents <strong>and</strong> in a group with a similar social structure as<br />
aforementioned, failed to survive.<br />
It is interesting to note that no births were reported to occur at one institution for a 2 year<br />
period, during which the breeding pair was housed with their offspring, until the offspring<br />
reached 2 years old (Brasilia Zoo, pers. comm. 2002). Concerns/reports were that some of the<br />
births were suspected to have been undetected (i.e. cubs were eaten <strong>and</strong> no remains were found)<br />
at this institution in the past <strong>and</strong> this suggested that more litters may have been born than were<br />
recorded (Louzada da Silva, pers. comm.). I.e. the cubs were born <strong>and</strong> raised in natural<br />
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