How Baby River Otters Learn to Swim

When river otters are born, they don't know how to swim -- so their mothers teach them. In this short video from the Oregon Zoo, Molalla the river otter gets some swim lessons. (Which, let's face it, look a lot like organized pool-dunking.) Be glad you're staying warm today:

That video is from April; I haven't been down to the zoo lately to see if he's swimming now, but I'd bet he is. Meanwhile, here's a look at Ziggy, the 6-week-old squeaking otter pup:

And of course, we can't let this post pass without mentioning our favorite cute fact: sea otters hold hands while they sleep to avoid drifting apart. (Note that sea otters are not quite the same as the river otters seen above -- but still, close enough for otter video fun.) More otter cuteness, handholding, and bundling up in seaweed:

Okay, okay, one more otter video. In this one, orphaned sea otter "501" gets adopted (the full episode is on YouTube):

(Via my favorite thing, The Kid Should See This.)