When a sea otter pup is born, the mom naturally separates herself and her pup away from larger, more dominant males. When Aniak gave birth to Sekiu here at the Seattle Aquarium, we provided them with the same opportunity for some solitude.
Now that Sekiu is almost 7 months old, she is large and strong enough to live in a more dynamic social grouping. On Tuesday, August 17, 2012 Adaa and Lootas were reintroduced to Aniak and Sekiu in our main sea otter exhibit. This video illustrates the normal touching, sniffing and greeting that takes place between otters that haven't seen each other for a while. The male, Adaa, is displaying appropriate grabbing and mouthing postures to communicate his dominance to Aniak and Sekiu. Once everyone has become reacquainted, the exaggerated behavior subsides and the otters return to their normal activities.
To view pictures of the sea otters during the reintroduction, visit the Seattle Aquarium Facebook page. You can also watch all four sea otters swim around in their exhibit on our live otter cams!