International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management

seen entering the shelter alone, but pushed by its mother towards the entrance.…” (Autuori &
Deutsch 1977).
At Dortmund Zoo, both the mother and father, together, or only one or the other, would leave
the nestbox with the cubs in it, to get fish. Sometimes the father would bring the mother fish as
well; i.e. he would take the fish into the nestbox and place it in front of her (Sykes-Gatz & Gatz
pers. obs.). The parents, either both or one or the other, would also carry the cubs to different
nestboxes occasionally and they were not showing stress during these times. Sometimes they
would move the cubs one to three times in a day or not at all during the day. This was observed
with young cubs and cubs as old as 2 ½ months old. If the cubs were moved 4 or more times
per day this was considered not normal to excessive behavior (dependent on the frequency
moved and in what time period) and was caused because parents were stressed by a disturbance
(Sykes-Gatz unpublished report & pers. obs.).
Determining Cub Sex:
At Hagenbeck Tierpark, the cubs’ sex could be determined by week 10 (Hagenbeck &
Wünnemann 1992).
When Parents First Take Cubs To The Water:
Giant otter parents expose their cubs to the water, closely monitor and stay next to/near their
cubs while they are in the water and they teach their cubs how to swim. The training for
swimming can look very rough; i.e. parents will take cubs into the pool, push them underwater
and then help bring them back up to the surface again. This is reported in the wild as well as in
captivity.
At Hagenbeck Tierpark, “The parents may start between the 20 th and 60th day to take the cubs
to the water. This training looks very rough.” (Wünnemann 1995). Hagenbeck Tierpark also
reports that the parents, especially the father, took the cubs when they were 3-4 weeks old, out
of the den and then took them into the water. “So the cubs learned swimming at an extreme
early age.” (Wünnemann 1995 b ).
At Sao Paulo Zoo, the cubs were taken to the water when they were 13 days old. (The parents
were separated after mating, so only the mother reared the cubs.) The cubs were not let go
when they were put in the water at this age. “…when the young were 20 days old, the female
took them, one by one, into the water where she would let them go, staying by their side. On
the first days the small animal is submerged and is incapable of coming to the surface. The
female brings it up with one of her front feet, but letting it go soon after. This behavior is
repeated several times until the mother holds the young otter by the scruff of its neck and takes
it back into the shelter. Soon afterwards, the mother comes out with another small animal – and
repeats the procedure as described above. Each young suffers this treatment twice or three
times a day. After a few days the little ariranhas are able to come back to the surface without
any help from their mother. They then are capable of keeping their heads partly out of water but
their whole body remains underwater in a vertical position. The female remains beside the
young animal all the time. The mother then pushes the young one underwater, pressing its head
down by using her front foot and thus forcing the small otter to go down under the surface. This
procedure is repeated identically with both young. The small otters started to swim [at 31 days
old] when their bodies maintained a horizontal position. The female swims alongside the young
ariranha and forces it to go underwater several times by pushing it down.” (Autuori & Deutsch
1977.)
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