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Home > Videos & Photos > Baby Boom > Giant Otter

On July 15th the newest member of our Otter family, Thor, had his first swimming lesson. Thor was born on 3 May, 2011 and has had some swimming lessons in our indoor otter facility. The baby swam with his entire family in their exhibit pool located at Carnivore Kingdom this morning. Our mother otter takes the baby by the scruff of the neck and swims through the water, moving in and out of the water for longer bouts of time to allow the baby to adjust to holding his breath. The baby will go very still while mom is carrying him through the water and he will then become an active swimmer as he gains confidence and better lung control. The entire family will assist in teaching the baby to swim along with the dad otter. The baby will get better and better with his swimming technique and be a great swimmer by the end of the summer. We welcome everyone to come and check out the newest member of our otter family in Carnivore Kingdom at the Philadelphia Zoo.





Giant otters live in the rainforests and rivers of South America and are known in the Amazon region as the ‘lobo del rio’ which means ‘the river wolf’. Although their main diet consists of crabs, fish and small snakes, the giant otter has also been known to occasionally snack on small caiman alligators! Giant otters live in families and are very social and playful. Come join in on their energetic fun as we welcome our new otter pup born on May 3.