FORT FISHER, NC (WWAY) — One of the three female otters born at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher has a new home.
Mae, Stella and Selene are Asian small-clawed otters born in May 2022. Mae was transferred this month to another facility in Florida to be a companion for a solo male.
“It is natural behavior for a mother Asian small-clawed otter as the dominant female in the romp, to make the decision to move out mature female otter offspring. We fully anticipate her sisters, now also mature, will be ready to leave the nest soon,” said Shannon Anderson, the aquarium’s lead otter keeper.
Mae’s younger siblings born January 2023 are consist of female Gemma and males, Kai and Ren. While the family of eight is now a family of seven, the antics continue in Otters on the Edge. Visitors can see the family and their neighbors, Asta and Ray, a mother-son duo.
The NCAFF says the Asian small-clawed otter births were important to the success of the Aquarium’s work through the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Plan Program.
Leia, who is five, was among fewer than 20 breeding female otters in the AZA SSP Program in the United States. Asian small-clawed otters are a vulnerable species in their native habitats of Indonesia, southern China, southern India, Southeast Asia, and the Philippines.
It was exciting for the Aquarium team, volunteers and the community when the first litter of otter pups was born and to have a second successful birth in less than a year, just kept the spotlight on the otters.
“The family dynamic and high-energy of the Asian small-clawed otters creates a connection for all of us along with the community. While our team will certainly miss Mae, knowing that we were successful in supporting her growth and readiness to leave the nest is very rewarding,” said Hap Fatzinger, NCAFF, director.
Among social mammals, it’s an ordinary course of events that individuals of one sex or the other leave the birth group as they approach sexual maturity, the aquarium said in a news release. This serves to minimize inbreeding, forcing maturing individuals to find mates in some other social group away from their siblings, cousins, and other kin.