I went to the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo to photograph some baby otters new to the zoo on Monday. The pups, born on April 30 to the zoo's otter couple Jay and Lakena, only recently began to spend time outside their nesting box. The parents have been teaching them to swim, and the pups seemed to be doing well when I saw them swim through the pond in their enclosure. The zoo staff have opted to avoid disrupting the family, so they have not yet determined the pups' sexes. Until that point, the pups will likely not receive names.
Emi Willows, a zookeeping student who works with the otters, brought food for the family of otters, bringing both the parents and the pups to the enclosure fence. They were simply adorable as they reached through the fence to grab the food from her hand. When Willows ran out of food for them, one of the pups still reached through in a vain attempt to find more food, but found nothing but her empty hand.
