Warsaw. The otter left Warsaw. He will start his own family in Japan

“The time has come for our 2.5-year-old Nysa to leave the family nest and go to another zoo. According to the coordinator's recommendations, she was sent to the zoo in Yokohama in Japan to start her own family there. We keep our fingers crossed for good cooperation with the new keepers, a beautiful new home and, above all, for future breeding successes,” the capital's zoo wrote on social media.

The Warsaw zoo has a pair of otters, Rosa and Pablo (aka Wirek), who can be seen in the enclosure next to the penguins.

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The European otter is a near threatened species (category NT). The mission of zoos is to protect endangered species. “We cooperate with gardens around the world to skillfully select animal partners and expand the populations of given species, so sometimes animals come to us and sometimes they go away,” the zoo explained.

The otter is the only existing species of a predatory amphibious mammal from the mustelid family, which occurs naturally in Poland. Otters prefer to live near rivers, lakes, streams and ponds. They build burrows near the shore and camouflage the entrance to the corridor under the water surface. In turn, special ventilation holes are located under the tree roots. It also happens that otters occupy holes previously dug by foxes and badgers.

The otter's slender body allows it to move very efficiently on and under water. They are very good and fast swimmers. The otter has very thick fur, which provides an insulating layer that protects it against getting wet and cold. It also has a long tail, which it uses to steer while swimming and achieve greater speed.

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The otter's fingers are connected by a special membrane, creating something like a natural fin. This has a huge impact on the speed these animals are able to achieve while swimming. It can also close its tiny ears to prevent water from entering them.

Otters are very intelligent and can use simple tools. They often hide stones in the folds of their skin and use them to crack open crustaceans.

They sleep about twelve hours a day and can do so in the water. In order not to swim too far, they protect themselves with plants and seaweed that keep them drifting in one place.

In ancient times, otters were used to catch fish. Trained otters were supposed to herd fish into nets and even bring individual fish to the shore. Today, this technique is still used only in Bangladesh.