Otters are not celebrity animals, so why do zoos have to keep them?

"Look, this is water lǎn!"

"What is this? Oh... this is called water lài."

Just stand outside the otter house in Guangzhou Zoo for 10 minutes and you can hear various pronunciations of the name otter [tǎ].

Visitors can see three otters at the Guangzhou Zoo, but many people are still unfamiliar with them - if you are lucky, you can see them eating and swimming when you pass by; if the otters hide in places that are difficult to find, most people will just take a look and leave.

Zhuang Zhuang, who is tickling, has recently been adopted by the freeze-dried fruit tea brand Otter Ton Ton

Pandas and elephants are the star animals in the zoo, but otters are not. However, Dr. Huang from the Science Department of Guangzhou Zoo told us that otters are the animals they must keep.

Otters are native to our land, and even in the Pearl River Delta where Guangzhou Zoo is located. At Guangzhou Zoo, "native species" is a high priority standard - even if these native species are not so popular with tourists, they still want to reserve a place for native species. Take otters, for example. This animal has been closely associated with us for more than 2,000 years, but due to factors such as hunting and environmental damage in the past, it is now difficult to find them in the wild, and many people don't know much about them. The zoo is a window for people to get to know otters again.

Otters in the zoo have different temperaments

The Otter House at Guangzhou Zoo is located at the northernmost end of the park. There are five Asian small-clawed otters here - Zhuangzhuang, Diandian and Awei on display. Kankan and Niuniu are timid and live where tourists cannot see.

Outside the otter house, you can see the introduction of these five otters.

Although these five little guys look similar, they all have their own personalities and tempers. Zhuangzhuang is a steady person who is happy as long as he has food. Awei was rescued and is not that afraid of people. Diandian is more timid and often hides. Kankan, who lives next door, is Diandian's younger brother. The two siblings often share food through a small window.

The brother and sister looked through the small window

Look, this is Ah Wei. At the beginning of the video, it was pooping with its tail up , and then it slid into the water and paddled happily. Otters are animals that are very good at entertaining themselves, and Ah Wei likes paddling very much. When it rolls in the water, it is smooth and beautiful, and some tourists come here specifically for this.

About half of the otter house in Guangzhou Zoo is a pool, with tree trunks for otters to play and climb, and stones to simulate the environment of caves. Otters in the wild like to stay in hidden and winding places, so the house tries to simulate their environment and needs in the wild, and allows them to choose for themselves - whether to be exposed to humans or hide, which requires giving animals space to decide for themselves.

Happy swimming｜Photography: David

The area outside the pool is mostly sandy, where otters dry themselves after coming out of the water. There are also small wooden boxes on land, with hay in them to keep them out of the water, which is where they sleep. If visitors don't see otters in the otter house, they are probably sleeping in wooden boxes.

The one hiding in the wooden house is Diandian, and the one outside is Awei

Guangzhou Zoo started to introduce otters 7 or 8 years ago, and has been constantly exploring dietary ratios, living environments, etc. They admit that their own otter house is not good enough - insufficient land area, too small building, insufficient sunlight, too low glass to prevent tourists from feeding, etc., are all problems that need to be improved.

The pipes can be used for hiding or climbing, which is also part of the museum's enrichment. Photo: David

In addition to improving the living environment for the otters in the park, Guangzhou Zoo also hopes to optimize the display boards in the Otter House so that visitors can "understand" the otters when they watch them.

Recently, in order to welcome the "World Otter Day" (the last Wednesday of May every year), Guangzhou Zoo cooperated with a freeze-dried fruit tea brand to promote the theme event " My City Has Otters ", which introduced the relationship between otters and humans, the habits of otters in the wild, and various interesting knowledge in a more vivid and clear way. These contents not only let tourists know the name of otters, but also combine on-site observations to understand why this species is special and important, and the significance of protecting otters - protecting otters is protecting freshwater resources.

Comparison of the Otter House before and after renovation

Animal neighbors for more than 2,000 years,

Gradually forgotten by us

Most otters in zoos are Asian small-clawed otters, while there are three species of otters in the wild in China, namely the Eurasian otter , the Asian small-clawed otter and the smooth-coated otter . The Eurasian otter has the widest distribution range, mainly concentrated in the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the northeast, the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi and the hilly areas in the southeast of Guizhou, and has also been recorded in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the southeast coast. Although the Asian small-clawed otter can be seen in zoos, there are few records in the wild; the smooth-coated otter has not been seen for many years.

However, many people know otters through the otter emojis and short videos that have become popular in recent years. In the short videos, otters are treated as private pets and kept in cafes to entertain guests (I would like to emphasize that the three species of otters in China are all national second-level protected animals, and private breeding is illegal! ). These short videos make many people think that otters are just cute animals that have suddenly become popular, but they ignore the fact that otters have always lived on the same land as us.

They are not strange animals, they have always been our neighbors｜Photo: Mason

The Japanese "Otters Festival" wine that people are familiar with now is named after the behavior of otters arranging fish on the shore after catching them; but the record of the Otters Festival actually existed in China's "Book of Rites" more than 2,000 years ago: "The east wind thaws the ice, hibernating insects begin to stir, fish come out of the ice, and otters offer fish sacrifices." People at that time used the Otters Festival as one of the phenological signs of the Rain Water solar term, which shows that otters are easy to observe . In the earlier Neolithic Age, there are also traces of otters in cultural relics of this period.

Ancient Chinese people used otters, and this limited use did not affect the otter population. However, in the 19th century, the demand for hunting otters for fur increased sharply, and coupled with the destruction of their habitats, the number of otters decreased sharply. They disappeared in many places , and these creatures that had shared the land with us for generations gradually became unfamiliar species and were even forgotten by us.

Now, all three species of otters in China are listed as Class II protected animals. With environmental protection, otters have gradually returned in recent years. Wild Eurasian otters have been found in the Pearl River Delta, Zhejiang coastal islands, and Qinghai Sanjiangyuan. This not only shows that otters have returned, but also that our freshwater environment is gradually getting better.

Otters have high requirements for water quality | Photo: Capybara

What message does the zoo convey to visitors?

The fact that otters are gradually being forgotten is one of the reasons why Guangzhou Zoo pays special attention to native animals.

Guangzhou Zoo is located in Yuexiu District, with convenient transportation and cheap tickets. It is a childhood memory of many Guangzhou people. Dr. Huang from the Science Department of the Zoo told us that many people first saw otters in the zoo. Therefore, the zoo is a good opportunity for everyone to get to know their natural neighbors again - this is the social responsibility of public zoos, which is different from commercial zoos, and is one of the meanings of the existence of zoos.

In which cities can you see otters in zoos? Please check this map

Modern zoos have four major social functions: animal protection, scientific research, public education and entertainment and leisure.

Entertainment and leisure are the most intuitive, and many people go to the zoo hoping to gain a sense of novelty. But this can easily lead to a deviation in public attention - star animals get more and more attention, while other animals are easily ignored, even if they may be closer to us or even more endangered.

Therefore, what zoos need to do is not only to display animals, but also to think about what information these exhibitions will convey to visitors . Exhibiting native animals can help visitors better understand and pay attention to the nature around us; exhibiting endangered species can more directly convey the concept of nature protection; exhibiting animals that are not so perfect and young is a reflection of the life journey of birth, aging, illness and death that animals, like humans, will experience... Every animal has the right and meaning to exist in nature, and deserves attention.

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)