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Rocky, Capers & Jasper Make Great Crowd Pleasers at Minnesota

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Rocky, Capers & Jasper Make Great Crowd Pleasers at Minnesota Rocky, Capers & Jasper make great crowd pleasers at Minnesota Zoo When most people think of aquariums with sea otters, they tend North American to assume the facility will be on a coast or near a large body of river otters & inland water. One very obvious exception, however, is the Asian Small- Minnesota Zoo. The good folks there will readily admit that clawed otters call they’re about 1,500 miles from the nearest ocean, but that they’re also home to three of the coolest sea otters around – Minnesota Zoo Rocky, Capers & Jasper. home too! When SOFT visited Minnesota Zoo, located in Apple Valley (a The North American river otter southeast suburb in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area), exhibit, part of the Medtronic we were excited to learn that the facility is home to not only sea Minnesota Trail, had a deep otters, but also two other species of otter: North American river pool and shallow stream sup- ported by the exhibits recirculat- and Asian small-clawed otters. Needless to say, spending an ing water system. Rocks, tree entire day at Minnesota Zoo was time well spent! limbs and other naturalistic fea- When we swung over to the sea otter exhibit, we were tures (some real, some simulat- pleasantly surprised to note the basis for the overall area: ed) litter the exhibit, providing lots of opportunity for enrich- Russia’s Grizzly Coast. Most sea otter exhibits we’ve seen focus ment for Bobby & Nena, the on the North American coast and its inhabitants. The Minnesota male and female North Ameri- Zoo approach, however, takes on the western side of the Pacific can river otters there. Ocean. Wild boar, Amur leopards, Brown (Grizzly) bears and The Asian small-clawed otters other inhabitants of eastern Russia join the sea otter in exhibits have their own exhibit and pool that play on the lush dense forests and craggy coasts of that area within the Tropics Trail, region. As mentioned, it is a different and well-done exploration which is housed within an envi- of the not often discussed Russian sea otter habitat. ronmentally-controlled building with many other sub-exhibits We arrived during feeding time for Rocky, Capers and Jasper, that mesh into the overall tropi- which is always a fun and interactive time for visitors. The zoo cal exhibit. The family unit— has developed a list of the “Top 10 Reasons Sea Otters Are So composed of parents Curly Amazing” detailing a myriad of sea otter characteristics (born in 1993) and Laura Lee including their role as keystone species, their ability to use tools (born in 2000) and their two litters of offspring from 2007 and their need to eat 25-30% of and 2008—were piled into one their body weight per day. For snoozy mass during SOFT’s Rocky, Capers & Jasper, who visit. weigh approximately 70 pounds, this translates to their needing to eat 15-18 pounds of food per day. While we awaited our contact, trainer Jenny Beem, we noticed the attention to detail in the exhibit, both inside and out. The exterior areas are decorated to look like a Russian expedition and Quick Fact: Minnesota Zoo created Fish Smart They partner with Twin City restaurants and businesses to only provide sus- tainable or good seafood choices to customers. Capers munches some ice! The zoo also participates in Seafood Watch. the attention to detail (including Cyrillic text on faux crates) make you feel like you’ve stepped into that area. Inside the exhibit, which features a large double-pool arrangement set in front of faux and natural rocks intended to simulate a craggy coast line, the three northern sea otters have ample room to swim and rough-house with one another. Once we were joined by Jenny, we learned that Capers arrived at Minnesota Zoo first, in December 2006 after being rescued as a lone pup by the Alaska SeaLife Center and spending some time at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. Jasper, another abandoned pup rescued by Alaska SeaLife Center, arrived in August 2007. Along with Jasper came Rocky, who was rescued by Alaska SeaLife Center at about the same time. Like any animal or human, they each have their own personality, Jenny told us. Rocky is the big boy that loves his toys, often carrying enrichment items all over the exhibit and interacting with them long after the others have moved onto other things. He also tends to be a bit of a food thief; maybe it’s his playful spirit. Capers is into ice – eating it, playing with it, rolling around in it, chasing it, chomping it, you name it. Jasper is the social butterfly, often spending time near the glass so he can observe and interact with visitors and zoo staff. While we watched the three males make their way around their large exhibit space, Jenny explained how Minnesota Zoo still considers itself a relatively new facility in the sea otter world and, because of that, remains energetic about enhancing their interactions with, enrichment of and care for their three charges. She pointed out that their main pool in the exhibit is connected with the keeper areas and pools behind the scenes and invited us back to see what goes on back there. But that’s a story for another day…stay tuned… Part II of SOFT’s visit to Minnesota Zoo will be part of our next publication. .
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