International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management

abnormally frequent or excessive, it should not be determined as harmful. Parents at Dortmund
Zoo (Sykes-Gatz pers. obs.), Hagenbeck Tierpark (Flügger pers. comm.) and Cali Zoo
(Corredor pers. comm.) have all been observed to carry out these behaviors. In at least the first
days after parturition, mothers have also been seen to be a little protective over their cubs when
the father tries to become involved with the cubs. This as well should not be seen as abnormal
behavior. Soon afterwards, the father will become equally involved (and his involvement well
accepted by his mate) in the care of the cubs. As well, under normal and non-stressful
situations, it can appear, esp. when giant otter parenting behavior has not been observed before,
that both parents can sometimes treat their cubs roughly or even overly roughly. This kind of
behavior can be carried out whether parents are in the nestbox, on the land, or in the water. This
is especially evident although when parents are teaching cubs to swim (see below). This seems
to be normal behavior for giant otters. Although, caution should be taken when parents are
actually too rough with their cubs (e.g. their behaviors become excessive or severe). The cause
of such problems should be identified and resolved if possible, i.e. without causing disturbance
to the otters. Giant otter parents, of course, treat cubs very gently as well.
See Chapter 2 Section 10C for information on family/social structure in captivity and how it can
affect breeding and cub-rearing success. E.g. the discussion of whether juveniles and sub-adults
should be left with their parents when new litters are born is presented within this section.
Chapter 2 Section 10A-B describes the negative affects that human disturbances have on
parental behavior and cub-rearing success. Chapter 2 Sections 10A-B and Section 3 describe the
negative affects that inappropriate enclosure conditions can have on parental behavior and cubrearing
success.
Estrus, Delayed Implantation & Mating Behaviors:
Estrus can occur once every 3 months and immediately after litter loss (Hagenbeck &
Wünnemann 1992). “When the breeding pair was rearing its offspring together, it mated again
in the first week after the birth of the cubs [i.e. postpartum estrus].” (Wunnemann1995 b ). “…we
were able to repeat the observation that the otter came into estrus for 3-5 days approximately 5-
7 days postpartum and later, after the repeated loss of pups, a new litter was born without further
mating. (Born: 12-26-9); Estrus 1-1 through 1-6-92; Loss of pups 9-2 through 9-4-92; next birth
4-13-92.) After the loss of the pups no new mating took place….A calculation of the gestation
period from the above mentioned example would yield 94-103 days. The interval between loss
of the pups and the birth of the new litter was 63 days. It is possible that the otter produced a
reserve litter with the postnatal estrus, made available relatively quickly by the loss of the first
litter. The supposition is that there is a type of delayed implantation, such as is known to exist
in several species when there is a strong temperature difference between summer and winter.”
(translation of Flügger 1997). [In the wild, giant otters normally only give birth to one litter a
year.] The aforementioned events occurred at Hagenbeck Tierpark.
As well, at Hagenbeck Tierpark, “…the observed mating periods lasted from 1-8 days. All
matings that I saw took place in the water, but there are also two observations of mating on
land…When a litter died matings could occur immediately and the shortest time between the
birth of two litters was 74 days.” (Wünnemann 1995 b )
At Sao Paulo Zoo, “We maintained the couple together, expecting a new mating to occur and
this happened on December 27 th , 1970. We verified, therefore that 108 days elapsed between
the preceding birth and the new fertilization. Copulation is preceded by a courtship that lasts
about 30 minutes; the male pursues the female, she dodges, escapes or lets the male catch her,
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