First Tiny Steps for Otter Cubs
Staff at Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park recently welcomed three new arrivals when, for the first time in the Wildlife Park’s history, a pair of Asian short clawed otters produced cubs.

The Wildlife Park has been trying to breed this species for a number of years and was delighted when their current pair finally produced a healthy litter of cubs.

Keepers were first alerted to the presence of the babies in late March but because of the secretive nature of these animals were not able to confirm how many young had been born until several weeks later when all three young were seen together for the first time.

The parents have now begun to bring the cubs out of the holt and all the family can often be seen in the outside enclosure, usually at public feeding times.

As their name suggests Asian short clawed otters are found throughout southern Asia including India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.  Their main threats in the wild are pollution and hunting for their pelts and livers.