A new, Asian small-clawed otter, born on Aug. 26, will soon be making his public debut, the Denver Zoo announced Friday.
Zoo officials said they are leaving it up to Jilin (JEE-Lin) to decide when he will venture out into the public. Presently under the care of his mother, Asha, and father, Bugsy, Jilin is said to be getting comfortable in the El Pomar Foundation Village Hall in Toyota Elephant Passage.
Viewing of the pup may be limited for the next few weeks, but keepers expect him to be out during the holiday Zoo Lights.
Asha came to Denver Zoo from Smithsonian’s Zoo National in 2012. Bugsy, who arrived here in 2013, is from Zoo Atlanta. Both were born in 2005. The name Jilin, which is also a Chinese province formerly known as Kirin, pays homage to one of Denver Zoo’s other Asian small-clawed otters, Barry Kirin.
As their name suggests, Asian small-clawed otters have very short claws that do not extend past the fleshy pads of their partly webbed toes. This makes their forepaws very agile. The otters forage with their sensitive paws to locate prey in murky water or mud. They also have stiff whiskers called “vibrissae” that can detect the movement of prey in the water. Once they find prey, they catch it with their paws, not with their mouths like other otters.
Asian small-clawed otters are the smallest, and most social, of all otters, living in extended family groups of up to 20 individuals.
