Tien, one of the park's Asian small-clawed otters.The Asian small-clawed otter, Amblonyx cinerea , is small and deceptively cute. Don't be fooled by their looks though, the otters that we have at SeaWorld average 6.5 pounds and can be very destructive in their exhibits. Some male otters like to scent everything in the exhibit. This means stomping all over the plants. They also rip the plants apart to use them for bedding. This is the benefit of having naturalized exhibits for the otters because we can observe some of these behaviors.
We like that the otters find their exhibits reinforcing, but we also want the exhibit to look presentable. Plants have to be hardy to survive the attentions of an Asian small-clawed otter. This year we are beginning the first stages of prepping one of the two otter exhibits for opening day at the park, Saturday, Feb. 27.
In the smaller exhibit, not much made it through last year between the heat and attentions of the otters.This is something we do every year, but the amount of work needed can vary. This year the first steps will be getting some spots on the wall repainted and filling in areas with new dirt and some new rock work. Fortunately, the second otter exhibit has plants that have taken really well, so little work needs to be done this year.
Both otter exhibits were originally concrete deck and pools,
This is what the smaller otter exhibit looked like before our staff naturalized it. but the Animal Care staff built waterfalls and added dirt, rocks and plants in the early 1990's.
Smaller exhibit after its original redesign.Be sure to check back in a few weeks for part two of the exhibit upgrade! That's the fun part that involves picking and placing plants in the exhibit.
