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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emaining 3 institutions bred otters, but they did not rear them successfully. These zoos were<br />
Chestnut Centre, who only had aborted pre-mature fetuses, Parque del Este in Caracas, who did<br />
not mention that they provided privacy for any of their 9 failed litters, <strong>and</strong> Dortmund Zoo where<br />
no litter is expected to survive (see above). These three zoos do not fit into the “successful”<br />
category, so information from these zoos was not used to base conclusions on. Although the<br />
number of total known zoos that have bred otters is small, this has to be compared to the small<br />
population <strong>and</strong> small number of holding zoos that have existed historically. This also has to be<br />
compared to the small number of animals that are/were held as mated pairs. For example worldwide,<br />
between 2002 <strong>and</strong> 2003 there were only 25 otters (or 51%) that were in a mated situation,<br />
out of the total of 49 otters who were 2 years old or older.<br />
In 1971, Sao Paulo Zoo found <strong>and</strong> published later (Autuori <strong>and</strong> Deutsch 1977), that when they<br />
provided isolation from human disturbances <strong>and</strong> presence, a litter was reared with success. Sao<br />
Paulo did not achieve this until they used this method during cub-rearing. (No further reports<br />
about management methods used for two litters born after their success were available.)<br />
Twenty-one years later another zoo (Hagenbecks Tierpark) first published their research<br />
(Hagenbeck <strong>and</strong> Wünnemann 1992) stating that when parents were rearing litters, privacy from<br />
human disturbance <strong>and</strong> presence was the most important management factor needed to promote<br />
successful cub-rearing at their institution. (They too did not have success until <strong>and</strong> unless they<br />
used this method.) “Despite optimal feeding, comprehensive vaccinations <strong>and</strong> control of<br />
parasites breeding results have been unsatisfactory….In total there were 42 otter pups born [i.e.<br />
from one of their multiple breeding pairs], of which 6 (14.2%) were either still born or did not<br />
survive the first two days of life. Sadly, only nine animals reached adulthood. There were<br />
multifaceted causes of death. Foremost among necropsy results are malnutrition,<br />
bronchopneumonia <strong>and</strong> enteritis. We suspect, based on our unfortunate experiences, that the<br />
actual cause of death in almost all cases involved stress to the mother animal <strong>and</strong> consequent<br />
milk deficiency. Secondary causes were pups weakened due to various microorganism<br />
infestations.” (translation of Flügger 1997). “Normally, giant otters are curious of visitors <strong>and</strong><br />
don’t feel disturbed by their presence. This changes completely when they have cubs. At this<br />
time they are more vulnerable against disturbance than all felid mothers (!)…” (Wünnemann<br />
1995). Hagenbeck was the first zoo to use video cameras (with microphones) to monitor giant<br />
otter cub development <strong>and</strong> health <strong>and</strong> parental care without disturbance to the parents. In 1992,<br />
they recommended that this management technique be used at other institutions as well <strong>and</strong> they<br />
discussed these points in their future publications, based on continuing research at Hagenbecks<br />
Tierpark (Wünnemann 1995; Flügger 1997).<br />
The other zoos, with successfully reared litters demonstrated or found that isolation from human<br />
disturbance <strong>and</strong> presence promoted successful cub-rearing, but from what is known at this time<br />
(September 2003), they did not publish anything about these matters. It is important to note that<br />
none of these zoos, unless the “exhibit design” alone naturally permitted isolation, had<br />
successful litters until <strong>and</strong> unless this management method was purposely offered when parents<br />
were rearing litters.<br />
Since the first successfully reared litter in Sao Paulo in 1971, 27 more years passed before it was<br />
found that privacy from human disturbances <strong>and</strong> presence during cub-rearing is the most<br />
important management factor responsible for successful parent-rearing of giant otter litters in<br />
zoos world-wide <strong>and</strong> historically (Sykes 1997-99; Sykes-Gatz 1998/2002 <strong>and</strong> 2001 &<br />
unpublished reports, 2003).<br />
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