We were delighted to celebrate a birthday recently when our beautiful female otter was six!

At six years old Ruby, who is a mother to four female otter pups with Dad Noodles, which were born in February, is in the prime of her life. To celebrate our zoo keepers set up some enrichment for our otters with a rope hanging above their pool with several fish attached to it. This encouraged our otters to use their senses and claws in a more challenging manner to they could get to their shared birthday feast!

Out of the 13 species of otters in the world, the Asian short clawed otter is the smallest, reaching less than a metre in length when fully grown. Native to South East Asian countries, such as India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia, these animals are found in habitats where there is water and land, and thus have a varied omnivorous diet. They are very social animals and live in family groups of around a dozen individuals. A range of vocalisations are used to communicate with each other, and they each have a role to play in their social structures. Otters form a monogamous bond and pair for life. Whilst the female will remain the more dominant of the two, the bond between the alphas is strong and without this bond they would not be able to breed successfully. The alpha pair is the only ones that breed within the group, and the youngsters help out with looking after their younger siblings.

As our babies grow they will learn to swim and, as they grow in confidence they will explore their enclosure more fully.

The Asian short clawed otter in the wild is listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Ours at Flamingo Land are part of the European Breeding Programme, so we are pleased with the success in the otter den and how well the pups are growing up.

We look forward to enjoying many more Happy Birthdays with our otter family!