Adelaide Zoo instals new wooden waterslides for otter enrichment

Adelaide Zoo has installed two new wooden waterslides to provide stimulation for its six Asian Small-clawed Otters.

Measuring just over a metre long and dipping into the pool for fun, the slides have not only increased the time the otters spend on peak public view but are proving highly stimulating, important for these intelligent animals says keeper Jade Koek.

Food flung onto the logs by the keepers (and otters dine very well indeed with whitebait, boiled eggs, whiting, salmon and yabbies on occasion all on the menu) is key to the enrichment philosophy which has been abetted enormously by the logs which have been carved and fashioned, painstakingly and brilliantly, courtesy of two volunteers from BEEZA (Behaviour and Environmental Enrichment of Zoo Animals) Glen and Barry..

The very happy otter family is made up of mum and dad Kalaya and Bao and their pups - two boys and two girls.

Keeper Koek has looked after the family for the past four years and shares “They’re nearly always together, about 95% of the time.

“They look, and are, cute indeed but it’s the constant activity that catches the eye. Otters, it seems don’t sit still. A good chaos.”

The noise, a shrill excitable shrieking, is contagious with Koek adding “I hear them all the time. I’m like the waitress who always hears the ding bell.”

The sounds tie in with the enriching philosophy behind looking after many of the zoo’s residents says Koek. Meal times provide a particular insight.

Five or six times every day a decent sized crowd will gather in front of the glass fronted otter habitat. Feeding time is a big deal.

“It’s enriching – if you feed them at the same time every day they come to expect it and rely on it. They have fast metabolisms and need to eat regularly,” says Koek.

There is an added physical benefit too – the otters continually rubbing themselves on the logs, to release the natural skin oils - “waterproofing themselves” with Koek advising “they make look wet but dry quickly.”