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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At Dortmund Zoo, the father usually takes the cubs to the water when they are around 2 weeks<br />
old <strong>and</strong> the mother usually brings them back to the den (Gatz & Sykes Gatz pers. obs.). The<br />
swimming lessons can appear very rough, especially when the parents push the cubs under the<br />
water with their feet <strong>and</strong> let them come back up to the surface again on their own. The parents<br />
carry a cub by holding the cub’s neck in their mouth. The cub’s body is left hanging down<br />
when it is being carried.<br />
First Swim Alone:<br />
The cubs were able to swim at one month old <strong>and</strong> the cubs’ were seen swimming alone at 63<br />
days old at Sao Paulo Zoo while the mother stayed on dry l<strong>and</strong> (Autuori & Deutsch 1977).<br />
At Hagenbecks Tierpark, “At 67 days of age they left the nestbox <strong>and</strong> were seen entering the<br />
water for the first time [i.e. cubs entering the water on their own for the first time].” (Hagenbeck<br />
& Wünnemann 1992).<br />
First Eat Fish <strong>and</strong> Weaning Ages:<br />
At Hagenbecks Tierpark (Germany) giant otter cubs, at approximately 8 weeks old, mouthed<br />
<strong>and</strong> played with fish that the mother brought to them; although they only first started<br />
swallowing solid fish at 70 days of age (10 weeks old) (Hagenbeck <strong>and</strong> Wünnemann 1992).<br />
Later reports explain that two cubs, that were captive-born <strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>reared at Hagenbecks,<br />
ingested solid food at 3 months old, although it was found that they could not digest the fish<br />
properly when they were this age. “The feces contained a lot of undigested fat <strong>and</strong> protein <strong>and</strong><br />
the enzyme level of chymotrypsin was much lower than in adult animals” (Wünnemann 1995 b ).<br />
Wünnemann 1995 further reports, “At 70 days, the [giant otter] cubs will start to swallow solid<br />
food, although they start playing with it a long time before this time. However, they are<br />
dependent on their mother for at least four months [i.e. the first 4 months of the cubs’ life] <strong>and</strong><br />
will continue suckling up to the age of seven months”. The cubs continued nursing mother’s<br />
milk when they were around 6 1/2 months old, although only insignificant amounts were<br />
obtained <strong>and</strong> it provided little nutritional value.<br />
At Sao Paulo Zoo, the mother offered the cubs a live fish at 74 days old. The cubs played with<br />
the fish, but did not try to bite them. Later, the mother left a fish by the water’s edge, <strong>and</strong> the 90<br />
day old cub ate its first small bites of fish. At 107 days old a cub caught a fish on its own <strong>and</strong><br />
ate it (Autuori & Deutsch 1977).<br />
Interesting Side Note: At Dortmund Zoo the mother brought a fish to her 6 day old cub, placed it<br />
in front of the blind cub, <strong>and</strong> then she placed the fish on top of the cub’s back. After 2 minutes<br />
the mother removed the fish from the cub’s back <strong>and</strong> ate it (Sykes-Gatz, pers. obs.).<br />
See in Chapter 1 Section 5 <strong>and</strong> Chapter 5 the dates for weaning h<strong>and</strong>reared cubs <strong>and</strong> the<br />
scientific study that needs to be conducted on ages to wean cubs during h<strong>and</strong>rearing.<br />
Reports of Physical Development in Captivity:<br />
See the giant otter cub weight growth curve under Graph 2. See a complete listing of all<br />
reported individual cub weights <strong>and</strong> lengths in Table 6 <strong>and</strong> individual adult weights <strong>and</strong> lengths<br />
in Table 7. Also see the discussion in Chapter 1 Sections 4-5 <strong>and</strong> Chapter 5 about cub body<br />
weight <strong>and</strong> length measurements <strong>and</strong> corresponding age data that are needed for study.<br />
Following are some additional details about some of the individuals reported in Tables 6 <strong>and</strong> 7<br />
<strong>and</strong> additional information.<br />
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