Five New Otter Pups Have Been Born At Auckland Zoo

Auckland Zoo has welcomed a new litter of five otter puppies.

The wildlife facility uploaded photos of the newborns to its Facebook account and naturally people have gone wild for the new additions.

Otters Takumi and Kanan gave birth to two sets of triplets last year and they have managed to produce more offspring, taking their clan to a whopping 13 members.

The Asian small-clawed otters are being carefully looked after at the zoo to ensure their first few days on the planet are breezy.

The zoo wrote on Facebook: "These four-week-old-pups received their first weigh-in by our carnivore team yesterday with each pup clocking in between 372-423 grams.

"Baby otters don't open their eyes until they reach roughly 40 days old so until then they'll spend most of their time in their nestbox. If they need to get out and about, their parents will carry them by the scruff of their necks and if you're lucky you might catch a glimpse of them!

"Our keepers and vet team will remain 'hands-off' with the pups until they reach around 9-weeks of age. This is when they will receive their first vaccination and we'll be able to let you know their sexes...any guesses?"

Hundreds of people have tagged their mates in the post to alert them to the cuteness overload and it's totally understandable.

When these otter pups get a little older, their handlers will start using some brilliant techniques to help them settle in.

In a post last year, the zoo explained how they will spread their food around the enclosure rather than the same place every day.

"In order to keep our otters on their toes we hide different food items around their habitat so they can use their senses to seek them out - exactly as they would in the wild. Otters have up to 13 unique vocalisations that they use to let their whānau know exactly what they've found," the post said.

"Compared to other otter species, Asian small-clawed otters are very terrestrial and they like to spend their time on land as well as in the water which is why both of our otter habitats give them options for swimming, for exploring and for resting."

No doubt people living in Auckland will be flocking to the zoo to catch a glimpse of the new pups.

Topics: News, Animals

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie