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    Surrogate otter mom at aquarium is rehabilitating pup ‘better than any human ever can’

    LOS ANGELES — Millie, a fatigued mother of an infant, was ready for a nap. So she grabbed her baby, flipped it around, threw it on her belly and started grooming its tail — a soothing behavior. Millie, a sea otter, is rearing what could be the Aquarium of the Pacific’s first orphaned pup to return to the wild. As a surrogate mom, she’s teaching her adopted baby everything she needs to know to ...
    by Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times Apr 17, 2024 6 minutes
    Visitors are charmed by an otter at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

    LOS ANGELES — Millie, a fatigued mother of an infant, was ready for a nap.

    So she grabbed her baby, flipped it around, threw it on her belly and started grooming its tail — a soothing behavior.

    Millie, a sea otter, is rearing what could be the Aquarium of the Pacific’s first orphaned pup to return to the wild. As a surrogate mom, she’s teaching her adopted baby everything she needs to know to fend for herself — in the hopes she can hack it in the ocean in a few months.

    “It’s all instinctual, and she’s doing it way better than any human ever can,” said Megan Smylie, sea otter program manager at the Long Beach aquarium.

    Their pairing isn’t all about cuddles and relaxation. Just before Millie decided it was nap time, the pup known as 968 was practicing manipulating a crab shell, one of the skills she’d need to survive in the ocean. She’d also need to master foraging for food and grooming her thick, insulating coat.

    Climate warriors in limbo

    Unlike seals

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