Meet Shedd’s Newest Arrival

After yesterday's post on the baby's first crawl (to the family dog), I figured we'd covered all the interesting animal news of the week.

Wrong.

From Chicagoist:

Meet the latest arrival from Shedd Aquarium, a five-week-old orphaned southern sea otter pup. The female pup came to the Shedd from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a leading authority for the rescue and conservation of the endangered species.

The pup was discovered Sept. 30 on Coastways Beach in California between the San Mateo and Santa Cruz county line. A person on an evening walk heard the otter’s cry and notified The Marine Mammal Center, who contacted Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Program. Scientists from the program could not retrieve the pup because of her remote location and impending darkness but were able to rescue her the following day. She had been separated from her mother for at least 16 hours and weighed one kilogram when she was rescued. “This meant it was critical that we begin to get calories into her as quickly as possible,” said Karl Mayer, Animal Care Coordinator for the Sea Otter Program.

 

Enough background. Let's go to the video:

On a personal note to my daughter, Molly--no, we can't get one.