Zoo Visit = Three Kinds of Otters!

Last Saturday, it actually got up into the 40s (!!), so we took advantage of the comparatively warm weather with a trip to the Minnesota Zoo.

We hadn’t been about a year and a half (cough*conversion*cough) -- our last time was with the Little Cowboy -- so it was great to re-up our membership and check out everything new! In particular, we were looking forward to seeing the Russia’s Grizzly Coast exhibit, home to Capers. :)

Even on a “warm” winter day like last Saturday, it’s still heavenly to walk into the humidity of the Tropics Trail -- check out those orchids!


The Tropics Trail is also home to the zoo’s Asian small-clawed otters, the smallest species in the otter family.

Around the corner on the recently refurbished Minnesota Trail, Emmet and a friend woke up long enough to say hi …

… and then went back to sleep.
The northern gray wolves came right up to the windows of their new Minnesota Trail habitat.

On Russia’s Grizzly Coast, the Amur leopards and the grizzly bears were snoozing in easy viewing range, too.

And of course, something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time: getting to meet the zoo’s new sea otters! As you can see from the pics below, they were completely rambunctious -- terrific to watch, a little challenging to photograph.

I mean, seriously: don't those underwater shots look like the famous pic of the Loch Ness Monster's flipper? Maybe Nessie is a giant otter. :)

Otters Love Halloween

Sugar Shock Alert!

After seeing all the awesome videos popping up on Addie's blog, I did some googling this morning to learn how to post video clips here. To test, I went back to one of my favorite clips from CuteOverload!: otters holding hands.



When I first saw this clip earlier this year, I think I had a little seizure. I was at work, and I'm sooooo glad I have an office with a door to shut, because otherwise, someone would have called 911. :)

Ottermania!

It's no secret: As much as I adore nearly all aminals, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be otters. (Rabbits are a very close second, in part because they actually pass through my backyard sometimes.) So because otters don't hang out under my pine tree, where do I get my otter fix? That's what this posting is all about.

Emmet and Capers

While the Minnesota Zoo doesn't specifically acknowledge him as such, this is Emmet.

He's a North American River Otter whom M adopted for me as a birthday gift. There's a photo of him on our fridge and on my desk at work. It's to the point that our friends who take their kids to the zoo will drop me a line afterward to let me know how Emmet is doing.

Separately, the Minnesota Zoo has announced that one of the main attractions of their new "Russia’s Grizzly Coast" exhibit (opening in 2008) will be an orphaned otter pup named Capers (right). Seriously, can you believe how adorable he is? Sugar shock, I tell ya.

According to the zoo's Web site, Capers was rescued in Alaska when he was two weeks old. He was immediately taken to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward -- which Mason visited on his trip around the world in 2000 -- where he was taken care of by the rehabilitation staff. Capers then came to Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, and from there came to the MN Zoo; staff members from both institutions are now working together to teach him to "be an otter." Visit the MN Zoo Web site to learn more about Capers and Russia's Grizzly Coast.

Sasha and Jasper
These two are at home with me. The photo to the right is sort of what they used to look like until they got snuggled too hard -- these days, they're a little squished. Do I feel bad about falling asleep with these two at my age? Nope. :) When I'm sick, M brings them downstairs to watch TV with me on the couch. They even go on business trips with me.

AND, as you can see from the photo to the left, sometimes they come out to play when we have friends over and drink a bunch of wine and spend too much time acquiring ridiculous tunes online (the theme from "He-Man," anyone?)

Cute Overload!
A newer source of otter joy for me has been a blog called Cute Overload! (Yes, there really is an exclamation point in the name, like "Jeopardy!") M sent me a CO posting one day when I was really cranky; I think it was part pick-me-up, part joke. Little did he know that I would become a full-blown CO addict! In addition to the outstanding photos of rabbits, puppies, hedgehogs, etc. (supplemented by copy that is equal parts smart and silly), CO frequently posts video clips. In the last few weeks, two otter video clips have been posted: one of a Sasha-type teaching a Jasper-type how to swim, and one of (can you believe it?) two otters napping and holding hands. It's so adorable that it's almost annoying.

Almost.