The state of Otter species and exhibits in US zoos

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Does anybody know if there are species of otters besides these in North American zoos?
North American river otters
Giant otters
Sea otters
Spot-necked otters
Small-clawed otters

I know that San Diego had a Eurasian river otter, but I think it has passed on to the great river in the sky.

Is there any consensus on where the great US otter exhibits are?

My picks would be (limited to zoos I have experienced):
Sea Otter: Monterey Aquarium
North American river otter: Oakland Zoo
Short-clawed otter: The Smithsonian National Zoo and Disney's Animal Kingdom
Spot-necked otter: San Diego Zoo and Reid Park Zoo in Tucson
Giant otter: no vote. Hopefully LA Zoo Rain Forest of the Americas in a couple years, but not yet.

Are other otter species kept in European, Asian, and other parts of the world zoos? Where are the favorite otter exhibits in Europe and Asia?

Are there any examples of otters being superstar anchors of exhibits? It seems like they are almost always supporting players (e.g. sea otters in Minnesota's Russian Grizzly Coast, giant otters in Miami's Amazon complex, spot-necked otters in San Diego's African jungle exhibit). Otters seems perpetually popular...why are they not star attractions?
 
DavidBrown said:
Are other otter species kept in European, Asian, and other parts of the world zoos?
Click to expand...

In Europe (numbers in brackets are number of collections listed on Zootierliste.de):

Eurasian Otter (100, plus 1 in Israel with ssp. seistanica) - common

Asian Short-clawed Otter (190) - VERY common

Canadian (North American River) Otter (25) - infrequent but around

Giant Otter (9) - rare but expanding

Northern Sea Otter (1) - down to 3 animals and gathered together at Lisbon Oceanarium

Smooth-coated Otter (3) - recently imported to the UK but breeding well so far and will hopefully expand

Spot-necked Otter (1) - breeding pair plus offspring at Bioparc Valencia
 
Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia has African Clawless Otters. Not really a great exhibit for them though. Philadelphia Zoo has a really nice Giant Otter exhibit.
 
Besides the species you mentioned, the only other in the USA, according to ISIS are: Marine Otter at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, and African Clawless Otter at San Diego Zoo.
 
KCZooFan said:
Besides the species you mentioned, the only other in the USA, according to ISIS are: Marine Otter at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt this, can anyone confirm my suspicion?

Smooth-coats and spotted-necked otters are the rarities in Europe.

Hamburg has a quirky exhibit for their giants, with an aquarium standing upright in it but it's not very large.

All in all, I've seen some decent otter exhibits but never one that stood out for me... (kinda weird when i think about it...)
 
Another interesting thread David...

There are plenty of excellent otter exhibits in North American zoos, and along with wolves and some bear species they seem to be a mammal that is not difficult to design a superb habitat for. A dozen zoos with great river otter exhibits include Buffalo, Maryland, Saint Louis, Oakland, Oregon, Fort Worth, North Carolina, Lincoln Park, Oklahoma City, Cameron Park, Kansas City and Woodland Park; 7 zoos with above average Asian small-clawed otter exhibits include National Zoo, Dallas, Columbus, Memphis, San Antonio, Cleveland and DAK; excellent giant otter exhibits can be found in Miami and Philadelphia; and perhaps the two biggest and best sea otter exhibits can be found at Minnesota Zoo and Oregon Coast Aquarium but there are also solid ones at Monterey Bay Aquarium and San Diego SeaWorld.

That adds up to 25 above average to brilliant otter exhibits and I've seen them all in person...but no doubt I've failed to include at least a few more truly excellent habitats as there are many to be found in North American zoos and aquariums.
 
Neotropical river otters are fairly common in South American collections. Marine otters are also kept in Huachipa Zoo in Peru, and I think the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre in Cambodia still has a hairy-nosed otter. There are also some photos online of a Southern river otter at the Belize Zoo.
 
Last edited:
From the photos I have seen, Moody Gardens at Galveston currently seems to have the best giant otter enclosure in the states. Philadelphia's is unfortunately just atrocious.
 
Otters seem to be animals that people don't intend to go see, but end up spending a lot of time watching them. They probably are one of the most active interesting animals in the zoo, certainly everyone can agree the most playful. They aren't a huge megafauna or anything, but they can certainly add to a set of exhibits.

As for best exhibits:

North American River Otter: Maryland(voted best by the people here, can't beat a tunnel and multiple viewing), Woodland Park Zoo(only one viewing area, but the most naturalistic)
Spotted-Necked Otter: San Diego Zoo(largest, two sides, mixed-exhibit, ideal water depth for species, deteriorating, was once well planted, has underwater viewing but a failure in design b/c it doesn't work)
Giant Otter: Miami Metrozoo (haven't been to but according to pictures, is probably the best, Philadelphia is big and good for underwater viewing but no plants and small exhibit space.
Cape Clawless Otter: San Diego (acceptable enclosure, no other ones)
Asian Small-Clawed Otter: National Zoo and Dallas (haven't been to either, went to National Zoo before construction was completed)
Sea Otter: Definitely Minnesota

And San Diego did have an Eurasian otter mixed with Francois langurs in the, now closed, mesh exhibit by the koalas.
 
I would agree with Saro on Moody Gardens being the best GRO in the US. I have a friend who is a GRO keeper and her jaw just dropped when she saw the exhibit. She thought it was for hoofstock it was so big.
 
Otter Lord said:
Otters seem to be animals that people don't intend to go see, but end up spending a lot of time watching them. They probably are one of the most active interesting animals in the zoo, certainly everyone can agree the most playful. They aren't a huge megafauna or anything, but they can certainly add to a set of exhibits.
Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone for your input, information, and opinions on otter exhibits. That Moody Gardens giant otter exhibit does look quite cool. Hopefully the LA Zoo can rise to the occasion and build a high quality exhibit also.

Otter Lord brings up an interesting point about how otters are active, engaging species that many people enjoy, but probably don't go to the zoo to specifically see. I wonder if this is because it may be hit and miss whether you can actually see them much of the time. Unlike giraffes, elephants, gorillas, etc. that still look impressive when they are just standing or sitting around, otters tend to be hiding if they are not swimming and running around.

Has anybody seen any otter species in the wild? I know people who have seen giant otters in the Amazon. Their main memory of them were the very loud and eerie sounds they make when they scream through the jungle.
 
DavidBrown said:
Has anybody seen any otter species in the wild? I know people who have seen giant otters in the Amazon. Their main memory of them were the very loud and eerie sounds they make when they scream through the jungle.
Click to expand...

I've seen a Eurasian otter in the River Severn which was extremely lucky, one of the highlights of my life regarding animal watching! :)
 
I recently saw the Giant otter exhibit at Moody Gardens, and I think it's the best otter exhibit (for any species) in the country, and I have seen most of the ones mentioned in this thread. Moody gardens has a very small collection, but what they lack in numbers and variety, they make up for in presentation. Well worth a trip
 
DavidBrown said:
Has anybody seen any otter species in the wild? I know people who have seen giant otters in the Amazon. Their main memory of them were the very loud and eerie sounds they make when they scream through the jungle.
Click to expand...

I've been lucky enough to see giant otters in the Brazilian pantanal last year and a neotropical river otter in Ecuador in 2006.
 
Cape clawless otters are also kept at Toledo Zoo, as far as I know
 
We were at Toledo today and were just going to post this its a decent exhibit but the lone female otter is not on public display.

Also Chicago Brookfield has a nice Asian Small Clawed exhibit in the Fragile Rainforest

Team Tapir
 
Captive breeding of both hairy-nosed and marine otters might turn out to be useful insurance policies for each species.

Asiatic short-clawed otters in the UK are now seemingly semi-obligatory exhibit species for any collection open to the public. But then Henry Williamson and Gavin Maxwell have turned us into a nation of lutrophiles, and our own native species is a reclusive animal.
 
IanRRobinson said:
But then Henry Williamson and Gavin Maxwell have turned us into a nation of lutrophiles, and our own native species is a reclusive animal.
Click to expand...

This is an interesting observation about "lutraphily". Perhaps there is a regional component to otter love and "superstardom".

Californians tend to love sea otters...I wonder if this is more so here than other places where they are not native?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top