A FAMILY of otters at the Blue Planet Aquarium, Cheshire Oaks, are enjoying their own version of the World Cup after keepers provided them with a football to play with.
The inquisitive otters, including a trio of cubs that were born earlier this year and have only recently started to appear outside of their holt for the first time, have been showing off their ball skills to visitors.
The football has proved to be so popular that staff are now planning to introduce it as a permanent part of their ongoing environmental enrichments programme.
Blue Planet Aquarium’s Samir Aga said: “We give the otters a variety of different objects to play with in the enclosure to keep them both mentally and physically stimulated.
“They are naturally inquisitive animals and the cubs in particular are extremely playful.
“This particular species of otter – the Asian short claw – is particularly adept at manipulating objects with their front paws. We’d noticed how much they enjoyed pushing pebbles and stones around so we thought we would try them out with the football and they love it.
“It’s great fun for them and helps take our visitors’ minds off the trauma of the real World Cup,” he added.
As their name suggests, Asian short clawed otters are found across southern Asia including India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
They are highly social and intelligent mammals with a wide vocabulary.
Scientists have identified up to 12 different calls.
Otters mate for life, with the female being the dominant partner. The life expectancy of Asian short claw otters in the wild is not known. In captivity, however, they can live to at least 12, with some animals living beyond their 20th birthdays.