Zoo Duisburg's Giant otters

Part One

Otter News is very excited to bring our followers this excellent series on Zoo Duisburg and the Giant otters in their care.  We extend sincere appreciation to author Ms. Béatrice Dumiche, Mr. Ulrich Kluckner, Dr. Jochen Reiter, Dr. Wolfgang Gettmann and all others involved in the production of this series.

Written & Submitted by Béatrice Dumiche

 

Giant otter catching some sun

Thanks to Dr. Wolfgang Gettmann, the director of the Aquazoo Düsseldorf, we had the opportunity to visit the otter displays at Zoo Duisburg where they breed two social species: the Asian Short-clawed otter, the smallest one; who is at home in many zoos all over the world and the giant otter, the biggest one; who is endangered and is still represented only in about 20 zoos worldwide. The Short-clawed otters live in South-East Asia on river banks and in the muddy zones of lakes, in rice fields or tea plantations. They can grow up to 55 cm/21 in plus a tail measuring 35 cm/14 in and weigh to 6 kg/13lb. The giant otters live in South American rivers and reach a size of 140 cm/4.5 ft plus a tail of 70 cm/2.2 ft and a weight of 32 kg/70 lbs. Both are predators feeding on fish and crabs, the giant otter mostly on fish and the Short-clawed otter rather on crabs. The latter are thus very useful as they help protect the rice plantations from crabs and keep an ecological balance there. The gestation takes two months for both species. Both can live up to 20 years under human care. Breeding both is of great interest as it allows for behavior comparisons and study of their antics which contributes to a better general knowledge on otters. Dr. Jochen Reiter, the head curator of Zoo Duisburg and Mr. Ulrich Kluckner, the head keeper of the otters, provided extensive information about the history of the zoo and its general conservation policy as far as they are related to the outstanding role their otter exhibits play on a regional and international level.



Giant otter exclosure

More than one million visitors a year come to Zoo Duisburg which is among the most frequented in Germany and is situated in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen which is the most populated of the whole country.  That’s why it has a local function in a highly industrialized and urbanized region: it serves as a green spot where leisure and educational activities are thematically linked. The Zoo’s beginnings in 1934 were quite modest on a surface of just a few hectares and the Zoo was almost totally destroyed 10 years later during World War II. So, it was a new start of sorts when the rebuilding process began in 1946 until it ended in the last major expansion in 1960 when the grounds were extended to 16 hectares/40 acres with the particularity that they were divided into two halves by a crossing highway which has been overbridged. However, this wasn’t an obstacle for the Zoo’s development according to the standards of modern contemporary zoos which founded its international reputation. It is conceived as a walk through different landscapes which enables visitors to experience an encounter with many rare and precious animals of all continents in their natural surroundings. 

Zoo Duisburg’s leadership relied on traditional know-how in animal care which was required for the breeding of rare species which was been promoted at the Zoo very early. This success is associated with the names of the different directors who are thoughtfully memorialized through many statues and plaques scattered throughout the garden area. In 1965, under the impulse of Dr. Wolfgang Gewalt, Duisburg became the first Zoo in Germany to have a dolphin exhibit and, in 1978, it had its first success in breeding bottle-nosed dolphins. Dr. Reinhard Frese introduced the koalas in 1994; who reproduced one year later and the zoo, which is still the only one keeping koalas in Germany, plays a significant role for their breeding worldwide. The situation  was much more complicated with the giant otters. Zoo Duisburg had one of the oldest displays in Germany – existing for 38 years – but, as there were such a few zoos exhibiting giant otters, it was very challenging to develop a stable breeding even with a team of experienced and skilled biologists and keepers. So, the first reproduction took place recently, in 2009, when the general situation changed and advantageous circumstances transpired.

Giant otters enjoying lunch

The breakthrough is owed indeed to the creation of the International Studbook, an electronic data bank which endows any zoo taking part in the breeding program with a complete survey of the giant otter population under human care worldwide. Each individual is listed in the Studbook with its date of birth and the identity of its parents. The register will keep the animals’ track till its death. It prevents inbreeding and overbreeding because it allows a scientifically based exchange of animals for reproduction purposes between the partner zoos. Thanks to this program Zoo Duisburg received a couple of giant otters: Maldito, the male born in 2007, from Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg; and the female, Amana born in 2005, from nearby Dortmund Zoo.  The pair, beyond all the technical selection which brought them together, really matched and were reproducing regularly, creating a very stable and prolific breed. “You can see they love each other and they have fun together! Plus, they are mature enough to be at the head of a large family, being a model for their descendants”, stated Mr. Kluckner.  He insists on the development of socialization by the exemplarity of education for this species, which lives in bonded clans, as a real integral part of the breeding program. He told us that, when Amana came to the zoo and gave birth to her first litter, she didn’t know how to handle her pups properly.  “She just never learned it and it was our only female who took her cubs by the waists and not by the neck until Maldito showed it to her. Now, there are descendants of different litters living here in this pen – a male from 2010 and a male and a female from 2011 and four pups from November 2012. We don’t know the gender [of these] yet – and one can see how the mum uses the adolescents to help her to foster the younger cubs when she needs some rest. So each of the youngsters, it may be a male or a female, is initiated to nursing, and will be transmitting this knowledge…to its own family in another zoo. That’s also the reason why we’re not continuing the common practice of isolating the father after a birth until the mother and the pups [are]…to be bonded. They belong together as members of a large family where [each member] can get into a situation where he must assume the responsibilities of the other to allow the group to function normally.  They don’t need any complementary occupation: we don’t give them any toys nor do we train them in any way. We may refine the environment of the pen sometimes as we did [on one occasion] when I seized the opportunity to claim for the otters the large tree trunks which had been removed from the elephant exhibit; but in fact, [the environment] is various enough to stimulate their activity and let them improve the whole span of their natural behavior. You can watch them diving and playing together or chasing their fish as if they were in the wild.”



Giant otter exhibit tree trunks

Series continues throughout Giant otter month - stay tuned....

 

Follow Otter News daily-Click Here