Designing a Home for Otters

The newest addition to The Living Planet Aquarium is the North American River Otter exhibit. These playful and curious creatures are so captivating that you may not pay much attention to their carefully-designed habitat. Two months and much thought and creativity went into building the perfect home for the otters.

Aquarium staff used many resources of information to help them with this huge task. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums sets standards for animal welfare and management, including very specific and detailed information about how exhibits should be designed for different animal species. Utilizing these guidelines along with examples from other aquariums and organizations that have river otters, the staff designed a safe, appealing, and engaging habitat.

To make sure the otters felt at home, the exhibit was designed with natural otter habitat and behavior, as well as their safety, in mind. The exhibit has about a three-to-one ratio of land to water, a good mixture for otters. Since otters love to swim, a variety of water areas were provided, including a stream, two pools of different sizes, and a log slide. To prevent standing water, which can harbor bacteria, all water areas are filtered and the entire exhibit slopes downward toward a floor drain. Rocks, made of Styrofoam and concrete, provide places for the otters to climb. Real logs, leaves, bark, and river rocks are plentiful in the exhibit, natural touches that help make this truly a home for the otters.

A major consideration when designing the exhibit was how to make it guest-friendly. The largest pool and the stream were placed next to the viewing windows in the hopes that the otters would show off their water play to visitors. A pop-up window provides visitors with an up-close-and-personal experience, and the otters don't seem to mind. In fact, they've claimed that area as a favorite place to snooze.

The otters are settling in to their new home very well. They've explored every area, climbing all over the rocks and swimming in every pool. They love to sleep in the piles of bark and leaves. The only thing they have not yet mastered is the log slide. The otters will walk up and down the log, but haven't quite figured out what it's designed for. The staff is hopeful that one day they will. In the meantime, the otters have found many other ways to entertain themselves and visitors in their new home at the aquarium.

Photo courtesy of Long Island Aquarium & Exhibit Center, Riverhead, NY

While they get accustomed to their new surroundings, The Living Planet Aquarium is conducting a naming contest for our three new residents. Cast your vote between March 18^th and April 15^th by visiting www.thelivingplanet.com.

The river otter exhibit is made possible by

Traveling by Bucket

Behind the scenes at the Living Planet Aquarium, the husbandry staff have been hard at work “bucket training” the Giant Pacific Octopus. Bucket training is the process by which they teach the octopus to enter a special bucket for transport between her holding tank, where she lives while she's not on display, and her exhibit tank. The purpose of this training is to make the transition less stressful. Once the training is complete, the octopus will choose to enter the bucket and is accustomed to being inside of it while it is moved. This makes transport a lot smoother and does not produce responses such as inking, which indicate the octopus is stressed.

Bucket training is done slowly in stages, allowing the animal to become comfortable with each step before progressing to the next. Each step can take days, weeks, or longer. The process involves rewards for behaviors that lead the octopus closer to the desired goal. The trainer begins by introducing the bucket to the tank for a few hours so the octopus can check it out. The octopus is rewarded with food for touching the bucket, putting an arm inside, etc. The further she gets into the bucket, the more reward she receives. After the octopus is used to being inside the bucket, the trainer will begin tilting the bucket and moving it up and down. The next step is to take the bucket completely out of the water and set it on top of the tank. Finally, the lid is introduced. Once the octopus is comfortable being inside the closed bucket, she is ready to be moved. For the Living Planet's octopus, the entire process took about a month.

When training an octopus, it is important to remember that they are very smart. This can be helpful, but it can also make the process tricky. The Living Planet's octopus is not only intelligent, but playful and very active. Even after she had learned how to travel inside the bucket, she would sometimes sneak out an arm or two before the lid was put on. The husbandry team enjoys working with this frisky member of the aquarium family, antics and all. Now that she is fully bucket trained, she doesn't need to worry about getting from one tank to the other, but can concentrate on inspiring visitors with her unique characteristics and fun personality. She is now on display in the Ocean Explorer exhibit hall, so don't forget to visit her the next time you're at the aquarium.