Three rare otter pups have been cooling off in the hot weather by having their first \u201cswimming lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cute triplets were born at Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England, to first-time parents Bonita and Manu.<\/p>\n
Now, at 15 weeks old, the youngsters have had an unforgettable introduction to life in the water as they experience their very first swimming lessons.<\/p>\n
Three rare otter pups have been cooling off in the hot weather by having their first \u201cswimming lesson.\u201d Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
The cute triplets were born at Chester Zoo to first-time parents Bonita and Manu. Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
Led by mom Bonita and dad Manu, the pups were picked up one by one by the scruff of their neck and popped straight into the \u2018deep end\u2019 of the water.<\/p>\n
Zookeepers have named the two boys Uca and Yali after a region of the Amazon rainforest, while the female pup has been named Yara, which translates to \u2018river spirit\u2019 in Brazilian folklore.<\/p>\n
Frazer Walsh, keeper on the zoo\u2019s carnivore team, said: \u201cBonita and Manu\u2019s three pups have been quietly tucked up in a cosy den since being born.<\/p>\n
Now, at 15 weeks old, the youngsters have had an unforgettable introduction to life in the water as they experience their very first swimming lessons. Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
Led by mom Bonita and dad Manu, the pups were picked up one by one by the scruff of their neck and popped straight into the \u2018deep end\u2019 of the water. Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile giant otters look completely at home in the water, being born with webbed feet, a strong rudder-like tail, and two layers of fur that keep them waterproof, even they have to learn the basics when they\u2019re young.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut getting them into the water for the first time is a real family affair, and parents Manu and Bonita have taken a \u2018thrown in at the deep end\u2019 approach quite literally \u2013 gently grabbing the pups by the scruff of the neck and popping them straight into the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks a little dramatic, but it\u2019s exactly what they\u2019d do in the wild, and it\u2019s working brilliantly as the pups are already finding the confidence to swim independently \u2013 which is just fantastic to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three rare otter pups have been cooling off in the hot weather by having their first swimming lesson at Chester Zoo. Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
Giant otters are the world\u2019s largest species of otter.<\/p>\n
The species faces an uncertain future as conservationists estimate that between 2,000 and 5,000 remain across South America, with the otters already having disappeared from Uruguay.<\/p>\n
Their decline is blamed on deforestation, water pollution, and illegal hunting.<\/p>\n
Frazer Walsh, keeper on the zoo\u2019s carnivore team, said: \u201cBonita and Manu\u2019s three pups have been quietly tucked up in a cosy den since being born. Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
The pups were born as part of the international conservation breeding programme in European zoos in a bid to boost their numbers. Chester Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
The species is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction without urgent conservation action.<\/p>\n
The pups were born as part of the international conservation breeding programme in European zoos in a bid to boost their numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three rare otter pups have been cooling off in the hot weather by having their first \u201cswimming lesson.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,79,201,965,30519],"class_list":["post-673883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-science","tag-wildlife","tag-world-news","tag-zoos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673883","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=673883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}