An Oregon Zoo Otter Mom Is Getting Her Baby Summer-Ready with Some Serious Swim Lessons — Watch
A doting river otter mother is working on getting her baby ready for summer swims.
Thirteen-year-old North American river otter Tilly recently started teaching her pup Mo to swim at their home in the Oregon Zoo. Footage from the swimming lessons might shock some because Tilly and her son really dive into the task. In a video from the lessons, Tilly pulls her pup through the water by his neck scruff.
Mo was born in late January and only took his first dip in April, with his mom's help.
Becca Van Beek, a zookeeper at the Oregon Zoo, explained to SWNS that swimming doesn't come naturally to river otter pups; they have to be taught by their mothers.
"So far, Tilly's been an amazing teacher. It might look kind of scary to a casual observer, but it's a very natural behavior," Van Beek told the outlet.
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"Baby otters are extremely buoyant, so Mo has built-in water wings for his swim lessons," the keeper added.
River otters are dependent on their mothers when they're born, and it can take up to five weeks for them to walk on their own and fully open their eyes.
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Mo, named after the Molalla River in northwest Oregon's Clackamas County, is the first river otter to be born at the Oregon Zoo.
Both Tilly and the pup's father, B.C., are rescue animals who had a rough start to life.
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Tilly was found wounded, malnourished, and orphaned near Johnson Creek, Oregon, in mid-2009.
B.C. was found orphaned near Star City, Arkansas, in late 2009 and brought to Oregon Zoo as a companion for Tilly.
Due to extreme habitat destruction and water pollution, river otters are considered rare outside the Pacific Northwest, so Mo's birth was significant to the species.
