Written by Diane Tomecek
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| Barry Kirin peeking at visitors from his perch |
What do elephants, tapirs, fishing cats and Asian Small-clawed otters have in common? They are all residents of the Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit at The Denver Zoo which opened its passageways to the public on June 1st of this year. By no means is this an exclusive list of animals, but the exhibit features Asian elephants, Malayan tapirs, the endangered fishing cat as well as Asian Small-clawed otters. The Zoo itself is also home to the North American River otter – I was there to visit and learn about both.
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| Otto relaxing in his den |
Ashley Snow, one of the staff zookeepers, was kind enough to facilitate my visit and we began with the Asian Small-clawed otters at Toyota Elephant Passage. Before heading over to the new exhibit, though, Ashley shared with me the sad news that the resident female North American River otter, Ariel, had just died the previous night. She was 18 and had been at the Zoo since 2005. Her partner, Otto, the male is now 14 and was a rescue from Louisiana. The story will circle back to the North American River otter, Otto, in Otter News' next blog post about The Denver Zoo.
On our trek over to the Asian Small-clawed otter exhibit, Ashley pointed out many interesting features of Toyota Elephant Passage. The exhibit has been themed into three distinct habitat areas - The Preserve, the Asian Village, and the Village Outpost. Each area has a specific purpose to educate about the animals within the themed sections. The Preserve gives an up-close and personal feel of being out in the wild with Asian elephants, rhinos and tapirs while the Asian Village details the individual animal habitats and finally the Village Outpost is purposed with driving home the conflicts that exist between these animals and the people of the Asian Villages.
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| Map of The Denver Zoological Gardens (Toyota Elephant Passage along the middle-back portion) |
The Denver Zoo has employed a state-of-the-art concept at the Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit and the term, passage, is driven home even more distinctly by the concept. Throughout the exhibit, the fences and gates can be interlocked, creating a passageway for animals to be moved easily between land areas. Therefore, elephants exchange their habitat with rhinos, which exchange theirs for the tapirs’ and so forth. It creates a living environment similar to what these animals would encounter in the wild as they continuously roam and engage with one another throughout their Asian homes. The passageways also aid in enrichment for the animals as they are able to encounter differing sights and smells of the various habitats.
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| Asian Small-clawed otter exhibit |
The Asian Small-clawed otter exhibit is tucked into one of the main animal habitat enclosures within Toyota Elephant Passage. The Zoo has two otters (1:1) – Barry Kirin and Asha. Barry Kirin came from the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and Asha was transferred from the National Zoo in Washington DC. Both otters are quite interactive and enjoy their training session with Zookeepers, Matt Lenyo and Laura Morrell, during the first stop on the tour. So neither are distracted, they are separated into different holding areas for the training session. Asha was quite adventurous, climbing up a section of her enclosure, possibly believing she is ½ otter and ½ fishing cat, her exhibit neighbor.
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| During training, Asha practices her climbing ability trying to capture the training wand |
To those who have not seen these otters in person, it is quite fascinating to see the dexterity of their paws. They are very tactile and quite similar to human hands yet quite different from many other otter species. Watching the pair behind the scenes was endearing and informative – both are talkative and “chirpy”, what their vocal sounds are called by staff. Asha is a bit more chirpy, but Barry Kirin will get in on the act if he can’t see Asha for a moment.
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| Barry Kirin checks things out and plays with his enrichment |
The otter antics continue as our tour migrates to the front of the exhibit, where Matt tosses some live fish and crayfish in for the pair. Barry Kirin catches most of the live fish almost immediately, but Asha decides she would like to have a go with the crayfish. She bounds around with it, playing with her food before eating it, taking a pinch to the face at times, but eventually winning out to consume the crayfish. Laura relays that the pair “hunt” each day in this fashion; often catching their prey, washing it and then eating it, comically known by the Zookeepers as the “catch it, wash it, eat it” method. In addition to crayfish, blue gill provides an entertaining enrichment for the otters as it is a larger fish and they are able to play with it. The two are given other typical otter food such as smelt, capelin, herring, minnows and various insects. Interestingly, because of their high metabolic rate and because they become full quickly, they need many small meals per day.
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| Asha with her crayfish |
The enclosure and behind the scenes holding area are quite extensive for these two little ones. They have two separate pools connected by a stream within the enclosure as well as ample space to haul out, i.e. come ashore. They have a large rock to climb to partake in naps at its crest as well as to get some extra exercise. Barry Kirin enjoys his relaxation time on the rock as he often sits on his hind quarters, rubs his belly and awaits Asha. Asha enjoys running throughout the exhibit collecting small rocks which she believes to be crown jewels! Additionally, Asha believes she is the interior decorator for the exhibit. Zookeeper Laura described that Asha rearranges any furniture or toys staff have given the pair, moving the items around in a “nose-to-nose” tumbling fashion.
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| Asha |
Asian Small-clawed otters’ status on the IUCN’s red list is Vulnerable and they still face many issues in their home ranges. The Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit sheds light to the dilemmas for Asha and Barry Kirin’s relatives in Asia. Habitats are still being infiltrated and there is less and less space for these otters; local resident fishermen often exploit the otters to assist them in fishing; they still remain hunted for their pelts; and they are extremely sensitive to river pollution. In addition to the external environment that affects this otter species, they are prone to kidney stones. Researchers are conducting studies in this arena, but nothing has been determined to be the leading cause of the kidney stone development. It has been conjectured that food has an impact, but even newborn pups have been known to have the calcification that can eventually lead to the stones.
Consider these conservation issues and even the dilemmas facing Asian small-clawed otters overcoming their kidney stone ailments when visiting The Denver Zoo, especially the new exhibit. Otter News gives many compliments to the messaging of Toyota Elephant Passage and encourages our readers to visit if they are ever in the Denver area. For more information on The Denver Zoo or Toyota Elephant Passage, visit www.denverzoo.org.
Otter News sends its sincere appreciation to Ashley Snow, Matt Lenyo and Laura Morrell for their time and willingness to discuss their otters with us!
Coming Soon….Otter News’ feature on Otto, the North American River otter at the Zoo. Ashley Snow has developed many interesting features to the holding area for Otto (and his past mate, Ariel), as well as their enrichment program.
