KURE BEACH — The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is continuing weekly updates on its famous new litter of otter pups.
The trio of Asian small-clawed babies are now just more than two weeks old and have more than doubled in size since birth. They have still not opened their eyes. In an aquarium staff update, they say it can take seven weeks for new pups to get their first look at the world.
Last week the pups met their 8-month-old siblings. The newborn otters will not be viewable by the public for several months.
Their mother, Leia, is one of 13 breeding female otters in the United States’s Association of Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Plan Program.
The AZA SSP program helps support new pups’ survival, as they’re a vulnerable species. Asian small-clawed otters are native to Indonesia, southern China, southern India, Southeast Asia, and the Philippines.
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