Young otters in Wildnispark Zurich

Otters are among the public's favorites at Wildnispark Zurich. Now there is good news about the charming «water marten»: the otter couple, who has been living in the near-natural enclosure in Sihlwald since 2022, has had offspring. «The young were born on 18 May,» explains Martin Kilchenmann, Head of Animals at Wildnispark Zurich. Their sex is not yet known.

European otters are nest-feeding animals; they remain in the whelping den for the first two months and are suckled by their mother. This is why they have been only spotted now. Young otters are really shy of water at the beginning. They have to learn to swim from their mother. Only with time do they develop into virtuoso swimmers who can dive for up to seven minutes and devour almost a kilo of food per day. Mostly fish, but also frogs, eggs, birds and other small animals.

The otter is an endangered species in Europe, which is why the European conservation breeding program for Lutra lutra was launched by the EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) in 1985. Wildnispark Zurich Wildlife has also been involved in the program since 2005.

Originally, the otter inhabited the banks of all Swiss waters up to 1600 meters above sea level. From 1989, the species was considered extinct in this country. Otters were heavily hunted, and it is also assumed that pollution of the waters by the environmental toxin PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) and other changes to the habitat were partly responsible for their extinction.

Animals have been spotted again sporadically since 2009: on the Aare, the Hinterrhein, the Ticino, the Rhone and the Inn. No reintroductions are currently planned in Switzerland. However, it cannot be ruled out that the gene pool of free-living otters will have to be strengthened in the future by releasing suitable animals into the wild in order to ensure the long-term survival of the population.