River otter pups born earlier this year now on exhibit at Oakland Zoo

OAKLAND, Calif. -- River otter pups born earlier this year are now on exhibit for public viewing at the Oakland Zoo.

A combined litter of six pups that two North American river otters gave birth to will be exhibited in the Wayne and Gladys Valley Children's Zoo, according to zoo officials.

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The pups have been off exhibit while nursing and growing. The pups do not go into the exhibit until they are good enough swimmers because it is not instinctual to the animal, zoo officials said.

The newly born pups bring the number of otters at the zoo to nine. The mothers of the pups, Rose and Ginger, are mother and daughter.

Rose, the younger of the two at 4 years old, is a first-time mother who gave birth to three pups -- two males, Eno and Sikwa, and a female, Kai -- on Jan. 25, zoo officials said.

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Ginger, a 9-year-old otter, gave birth to three more otters on Feb. 20 -- two females, Ashkii and Sudali, and a male, Victor.

The father of both litters, Wyatt, is the zoo's only adult male otter, zoo officials said. He came to Oakland two years ago from a Texas zoo.

"North American river otters are in high demand in zoos and Oakland Zoo's breeding success means that these charismatic little guys will eventually get to charm even more children in other zoos across the country," Margaret Rousser, a zoological manager at the Oakland Zoo, said in a statement.

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