{"id":238126,"date":"2025-10-20T08:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T08:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/238126\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T08:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T08:11:09","slug":"newborn-giant-otters-add-to-worlds-largest-romp-in-new-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/238126\/","title":{"rendered":"Newborn giant otters add to world’s largest romp in New Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophie CridlandSouth of England<\/p>\n

\"YvonneYvonne West<\/p>\n

The three babies passed their health checks in October<\/p>\n

Three giant otter cubs born through a breeding programme have boosted the world’s largest captive population of the endangered species.<\/p>\n

New Forest Wildlife Park said the latest arrivals brought its giant otter population to over half of the UK’s entire captive population of 21, and “marked another milestone in the fight to save a species teetering on the brink in the wild”. <\/p>\n

Mum and dad, Ibera and Simuni, welcomed the cubs on 2 August and the babies passed their health check on 1 October.<\/p>\n

Giant otters are native to the Amazon basin and face increasing threats from habitat destruction, illegal hunting, and pollution<\/p>\n

At the age of 15, Simuni is believed to be the oldest giant otter in Europe to become a dad again.<\/p>\n

The park, which is also home to his mum and sister, has produced multiple generations with its breeding programme.<\/p>\n

One of the male cubs has already been nicknamed “mini Simuni” for having a similar light- coloured throat patch to his father’s.<\/p>\n

The cubs are most active and visible during the day, particularly after feeding times, when the adult otters bring them out to explore and play.<\/p>\n

Jason Palmer, curator of collections at the wildlife park, said that holding the world’s largest collection of giant otters was a responsibility they took seriously.<\/p>\n

“They are disappearing from their native Amazon habitat at an alarming rate, and what we’re achieving here in the New Forest all aids the species’ future,” he said. <\/p>\n

“Watching the new cubs learning to swim alongside their siblings isn’t just a nice thing to see; it’s a testament to what dedicated conservation can achieve. <\/p>\n

“Visitors are witnessing something quite unique when they see the large giant otter family.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophie CridlandSouth of England Yvonne West The three babies passed their health checks in October Three giant otter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-238126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}