Zoo Buddy: Baby Otters!

Meet Gumbo! She’s a baby north american river otter at the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo in Monroe.
Published: Jun. 6, 2023 at 12:16 PM CDT

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - Meet Gumbo! She’s a baby north american river otter at the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo in Monroe. General Curator Lisa Taylor says she was rescued from a member of the public when her habitat was destroyed.

She’s about 10 months old and the zoo staff is raising her. Eventually, they hope to have her as an ambassador animal in their education department to teach people about otters and get first-hand experience with them. Taylor says they do have some other grown otters that will be on display when they have their new Louisiana Purchase Exhibit open.

“She will be on milk for probably the next month or so,” says Animal Curator Ashley Diserio. “We’re introducing her to some fish like salmon-tuna mixes and she’s learning to swim. So when otters are born, they are pretty much helpless. They’re born with fur. They are born blind. They don’t open their eyes for about three or so weeks.

Diserio is one of the keepers tasked with raising Gumbo. She says otters are fascinating when it comes to their swimming habits.

“They close their nostrils like hippos do and they close their ears so that water doesn’t get in them,” explains Diserio. “And when they’re full-grown, they can dive down to about 60 feet deep.”

She says you can find these guys in lakes, rivers, estuaries, and swamps across much of North America.

“When they’re fully grown, they travel about 20 miles a day, on land and water searching for food,” says Diserio. “They tend to be solitary, meaning they live by themselves for most of their life until it’s mating season. And so around mating season is when they all link up and there will be a bunch of them - 12 to 20 is usually about the number and then you’ll probably hear them out on your boats chirping and whistling at each other.”

The zoo is open every day of the week between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. You can visit the zoo’s Facebook page for more information.

During the summer months, the splash pad at the zoo is running every day!