As cute as they are, baby otters are also highly demanding, and moms carry the load. Mother otters teach pups how to groom themselves, to forage for tasty morsels like shellfish, to crack them open with a rock, to dive and even to swim. Baby otters hang around their moms for as long as eight to 11 months, compared to the mere four to six weeks that sea lions spend in their mothers’ care.

But what happens when juvenile white sharks attack female otters, mistaking them for blubbery pinnipeds? Or when bad weather separates mothers from their pups? The answer is an unfortunate population of orphan pups along the central California coast, with near-zero chance of making it.

“A five- to eight-week-old pup is not going to survive on its own,” says Erin Lundy, manager of conservation initiatives at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Unless another mother can step in.

Otter Surrogacy Programs

It turns out that a female otter in an aquarium can take on the role of teaching orphaned baby otters life lessons until they can be released back into the wild. This process of otter surrogacy was pioneered by Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2001. After 23 years, otter surrogacy is still going strong, with another surrogacy program at a partner institution, the Aquarium of the Pacific, becoming fully operational this year.

And SeaWorld San Diego continues to play a supportive role, making females from its otter program available for surrogacy in Long Beach and Monterey Bay, as well as taking in aging retired surrogates, thereby freeing up space in partner aquariums to foster more surrogate pairings.

While challenging and resource-intensive, otter surrogacy has yielded some notable results. For example, 75 percent of 64 otters paired with a surrogate mother at Monterey Bay Aquarium from 2001 to 2021 were successfully reintegrated into the wild.

Further, surrogacy-raised otters released by the aquarium into a nearby seven-mile estuary, the Elkhorn Slough, helped increase the population there from 20 to 150 between 2002 to 2015. The released otters also revived the slough’s ecosystem by reducing the crab population, which allowed slugs to feed on algae growing on seagrass, keeping the leaves clean and healthy.

Baby Otter Challenges

It’s not easy to raise orphan otters in captivity to go back into the wild, even with a surrogate providing maternal guidance. For one, it’s vital to prevent human interaction as much as possible, which is why surrogate mom and baby otters are housed outside of public viewing, in some cases shielded by a protective wall. Aquarium staff who care for the orphans wear a shroud and welding helmet to not be recognized.

Younger orphans also don’t eat solid food, which presents unique challenges.

“I have bottle-fed a baby sea otter, and it is very cute,” Lundy says. “They are tactile, typically sleeping on mom’s chest. The hardest thing is not to want to snuggle this animal.”

Plus, the occasional rowdy orphan can do some damage with its powerful shell-crushing teeth, which is why Lundy and other staffers wear protective Kevlar gloves when bottle-feeding.

Read More: 20 of the Most Adorable Animals To Help Make Anyone’s Day

Bonding Between Surrogate and Pup

Once the orphans can eat solid food, it’s time to pair them with a surrogate, that is, a permanent female resident of the aquarium unable to return to the wild. The two generally hit it off quickly but in some cases it takes a few days to bond.

Feeding happens when disguised aquarium staff drop shellfish from the other side of a protective wall into the otter pool and this is where the surrogate mom teaches her adopted pup key skills. Staff watch by camera.

“Mom will go down and check out what she likes,” sometimes taking the pup down with her, Lundy says. “I can’t see everything they’re doing but it seems like she is saying, ‘pick this up, it’s good.’ Then they’ll come up and eat side by side.”

Otters learning to eat crabs have provided some vivid memories for Lundy. The surrogate might snap off the leg to show the baby that there is meat inside, or the pup might delight in flinging the crab against the wall to break the shell.

“They remind me of little kids. They like to break things,” Lundy says. “They are very strong, very dexterous. They can unscrew screws.”

Releasing the Pups

After six to eight months, staff separate the baby from its adoptive mother and place it with its peers, adolescent otters. It’s a quick though sometimes wrenching transition, as the otter and his/her mom might be heard crying out to each other. But it’s usually just a day or so before the juvenile otter adjusts. Soon it’s release time, after which aquarium scientists will monitor the otter’s whereabouts and well-being for two weeks.

Long Beach’s surrogacy program took some time to be completed, due to covid delays and its infrastructure requirements, which include special pools with filtration that can accommodate the animals’ huge appetites and resulting defecation. But the results have the potential to be felt statewide.

“In our maximum capacity we can surrogate four pups a year; that’s six months at the pool per pup,” Lundy says. “By adopting Monterey Bay’s program, we have doubled capacity to rehabilitate sea otter pups in California.”

Read More: Cubs, Goslings, Shark Pups and Other Odd Terms for Baby Animals

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