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Please note: On Wednesday April 24 at Franklin Park Zoo and Thursday, April 25 at Stone Zoo, volunteers, zoo employees and local emergency responders will take part in routine animal escape exercises. While the exercise is occurring, guests have the opportunity to participate in the evacuation portion, and may be asked to move to certain areas within the Zoo for a brief period of time (not to exceed 10 minutes). These exercises are an important part of our preparedness training, and we appreciate your participation and understanding. If you have any questions about what to expect, please don't hesitate to contact us at 617-989-2000 or info@zoonewengland.org.

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Welcome to the Kids' Corner

All About Animals

Playful Otters

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    Otter Goggles:

    Otters are watertight! They can close their nostrils and ears to shut out water completely while diving. This way, they'll never end up with water up their nose or get “swimmer’s ear!”

     

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    What's Cooking?

    Curious creatures, otters have been known to follow scent trails up to 100 miles long just to find out where the smell came from!

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    Cool Coat!

    Otters' waterproof coats and insulating layers of fat help them survive the frigid water temperatures. They also have super thick body hair; a Canadian scientist counted 40,000 hairs on just one square inch of an otter’s body!

You can visit Sushi and Dunkin year-round! If you don’t see them swimming in their pool – look for them sleeping in their grassy nests in various locations throughout the exhibit.

 

About North American River Otters

conservation status: near threatened

Geographic Range:

range map

Class: Mammalia  
Order: Carnivora   
Family: Mustelidae  
Genus: Lontra  
Species: canadensis 

Otters are champion swimmers. As they glide through the water, they hold their forelegs back against their cylindrical bodies and use their tail as a rudder. Thick coats and a layer of fat waterproof and insulate the otter from cold water and temperatures. They're even able to close off their ears and nostrils while diving, making them watertight.

There's So Much More to See

Franklin Park Zoo's Animals Stone Zoo's Animals