International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management

have been housed together and then temporarily separated, i.e. from 1 day to 8 months, have had
very serious fights upon reintroduction and in at least one case the re-introduction attempt was
aborted. (See Section 10C for these experiences). E.g. injuries and/or deaths were reported by
several zoos/institutions when unfamiliar giant otters were introduced or temporarily separated
giant otters were re-introduced. Aggression and fighting occurred between these otters upon
introduction. (Many were introduced without proper introduction techniques, e.g. no visual
introduction was conducted before the animals were put together in physical full-contact. See
Chapter 1 Section 3 for more details.) Females and males fought against their own sex, females
fought males, young otters fought against other unfamiliar young otters, and adults fought
against unfamiliar young animals. (On at least two occasions, the otters that were already
housed/living together, were separated and then re-introduced. On a few occasions the otters
that were previously living adjacent to and in visual-acoustic-olfactory contact of one another,
were introduced physically. In other cases the otters had previously been unfamiliar with each
other.) (Trebbau 1972; Brasilia Zoo, pers. comm., Lazzarini, pers. comm.; Karanambo Ranch,
pers. comm. via Karl Kranz; Georgetown Zoo, pers. comm. via Karl Kranz; Vera da Silva, pers.
comm.; Pimentel, pers. comm. 1999; Flügger 1997; Duisburg Zoo, pers. comm.; Dortmund Zoo,
Sykes-Gatz unpublished reports & pers. obs. & Gatz, pers. obs.) See Section 10C for more
information on introduction experiences.
Tension, stress, nervousness, dominant behavior, and fights may occur between
individuals during the introduction period, even when introductions are appropriately
conducted and enclosures are appropriately furnished and designed. Some otters have
been introduced without problem and in at least one case, they have been unable to be
paired successfully, and in a couple cases the female nearly killed the male, all during
proper introduction techniques. It seems giant otters show individual preferences when
accepting a mate (Hagenbeck & Wünnemann 1992; Lazzarini pers. comm.). The individual
“personality type” (i.e. very dominant, submissive, patient, nervous etc.) of each otter can affect
pairing success, therefore this should be considered when selecting possible mates and partners
as well. It should be noted, that in some cases, introductions may not be able to be successfully
accomplished or partners may not be able to be permanently paired.
Introduction gates and fences, also called "howdy gates" and "howdy fences", that can
separate indoor and/or outdoor enclosure areas, should be used for visual introductions.
(See Section 8 for introduction fence designs.) The larger the area that the introduction can
take place, the better. For example, an introduction fence 5 m (16.41 ft) long worked very
well to introduce unfamiliar otters, where as much smaller areas, such as only twice the size of
an animal shift door or a little larger, produced much poorer results during visual introductions
(Sykes-Gatz unpublished reports & pers. obs. & Gatz pers. obs., Dortmund Zoo). [Note: when
dens are the only areas where visual introduction can take place, they should be as large in
size as possible, have fences/lattice and animal shift doors that are well located (to connect
dens/tunnels to make the den area larger etc.), and fence/lattice containment barriers with the
recommended mesh size necessary for introductions. The fence/lattice should be used as a
containment barrier for at least one side of the den that connects with a larger enclosure area or
another den. Larger divisible enclosure areas although should be provided in addition to
dens to promote visual introduction success because small areas, such as dens, do not have
enough space to allow for appropriate visual introductions. Also, though the otters should
be rotated and exposed to each separable area within the enclosure during the visual
introduction, so that both are familiar with all enclosure areas, both otters will at some time be
confined in the small area of the dens, which could become stressful and frustrating. These
animals should be given at least a reasonable size living area during the introduction period and
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