[AMB] Ambassador Otter

It was early morning, and a big day for the Japanese otters living at Wild World’s aquarium. Siobhan hurried into the building with a bucket of fish, pausing to wave at the staff member on the information desk before heading down the corridor towards the Ocean Meets Land section, home not only to the otters but also the aquarium’s seals and penguins.

“Hey Joanna,” Siobhan chuckled as the gentoo penguin swam alongside the glass, seeming to be staring at her. “No treats for you today, girl. You have too many, anyway.”

Seemingly offended by that statement, Joanna swam away behind the rocks. Still chuckling, Siobhan moved over to the otter enclosure, letting herself in. Takeo and Mai both were alert the second she entered, whistling noisily at her appearance. Or maybe it was the bucket. Siobhan suspected it to be the bucket.

“Easy, guys. You know the drill. You need to work for your food.” She went over to the side of the enclosure, where there were a selection of training tools. She selected the target stick, glancing over to the enclosure window. Guests were beginning to arrive – among them, the reporters she had been expecting. Today, one of the otters would be made a zoo ambassador.

“Mai first,” she said, using a hand signal to ask Takeo to wait on one of the two rocks placed for this purpose. Once he had obeyed, she used the target stick to put Mai through her paces; asking her to go onto her hind legs, to follow the stick across the land and to swim in the water near the guests, each of which she performed with great enthusiasm. After each motion, Siobhan offered a small fish treat to reward her.

The basic motions done, Siobhan’s next request was for Mai to roll onto her back and wave her paws in the air. While a cute behaviour for guests to see, it also allowed Siobhan to check the otter’s belly and paws for any signs of illness or injury. Mai whistled cheekily as she wriggled on her back, and Siobhan tickled one of her paws briefly before giving her the treat. Mai, as always, juggled the fish between her paws for a few seconds before eating it – she was more theatrical than Takeo, enjoying the attention of other people.

Now Siobhan asked for some more swimming behaviours. Rolls and spins, emerging only to dive again, chasing the stick like it were a live fish to show off the otter’s hunting skills. Once Mai emerged again, behaviours complete, Siobhan gave her a final, slightly bigger piece of fish and signalled for her to go onto her rock and for Takeo to come down to join her.

The male otter was calmer than Mai. While he had whistled in anticipation when Siobhan had first entered, now he was quiet and focused, performing each of the same actions with far greater concentration. When asked to roll on his back he laid so still, eyes closing, that it was almost as if he were falling asleep there, and Siobhan could hear the guests cooing over it. Likewise, his rolls and spins were slower, lazier, and while he chased the stick in the same way Mai had, it was with less enthusiasm.

Finally Takeo’s behaviours were complete and he returned to his own rock after receiving his final treat. The guests clapped and moved on. The reporters remained, and Siobhan noticed among them was Tabitha. The young woman had recently received a promotion – while she still worked with the animals, she also now had the task of managing the zoo’s social media and guest relations, including determining which animals would be representative of the zoo.

Seeing that the display was over, Tabitha entered the enclosure. Siobhan quickly signalled to the otters that they were done and scattered the rest of the fish around the enclosure for them to search for before heading over to join Tabitha.

“So?” she asked expectantly.

Tabitha smiled. “Mai is quite the performer. Everybody loved her little paw waves on her back… did you teach her that?”

“Not intentionally. When she started doing it I’d tickle her paws, and apparently she likes that.”

Tabitha nodded slowly. “I think Mai would be the best one for ambassador. She’s just got that spark that the guests love, and she seems much more confident too. I imagine we could get some good footage of her for the website.”

Siobhan agreed with that. Mai, almost as if she understood, whistled again around a mouthful of fish.

“Well, I should get out and let the reporters know. It’s good to have these two here.”

“Much more charismatic than the deer were,” Siobhan added. “I miss them, but we can actually interact with these two without getting kicked or bitten.”

“Unless you forget to give Mai her fish!” Tabitha joked. As Siobhan followed her out of the enclosure, she chuckled as well. That sure was the truth.