When it drew close to feeding time, however, the otters juggled more. The medicine bottle was an additional puzzle to test general dexterity. Someone needs to video otters with clams. Otter Juggling Rocks: A Few Theories Why | The Dodo - YouTube They studied 50 otters across three zoos in … It turns out that this playful-looking behavior may actually be something captive otters do in anticipation of their next meal. Crucially, otters juggled more when “hungry”, indicating that juggling may … Join Facebook to connect with Morgan Euzarraga and others you may know. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, August 07, 1913, Image 1, brought to you by Washington State Library; Olympia, WA, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. But researchers from the University of Exeter in England believe otters kept in captivity aren't, in fact, juggling rocks to help sharpen their foraging skills. Otter parents may have been juggling less as they did not have the time while looking after their pups. ", But more research is needed to confirm this. They studied 50 otters across three zoos in the United Kingdom, with ages ranging from 3 months to 19 years old. But maintenance is Hundley's first priority. Can otters use tools? The researchers observed captive Asian small-clawed otters and smooth-coated otters practicing rock juggling over six months. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05/world/otters-rock-juggling-study-scn The food puzzles included tennis balls with holes cut in them, medicine bottles and Lego Duplo bricks. Regardless, all puzzles required some form of manipulation to gain entry.". Some captive otters have never encountered mussels or clams and wouldn't know what to do with them. (Joshua Lewis / KOMO News). Researchers believed that rock juggling -- where otters bat or throw stones in the air, catch them and even roll them around on their chests and necks -- was their way of practicing or improving the way they retrieve food from mussels, clams and other things they would typically forage in the wild. The researchers created three different food puzzles in order to test if the juggling otters were better and more dexterous at retrieving food. Otters have frequently been observed juggling rocks in the air, but now University of Exeter researchers think they know the reason for it: they’re hungry! "Zoo visitors are often enthralled by the otters' playfulness," Allison said. Watch more videos from The Dodo: https://www.thedodo.com/video/ Subscribe to The Dodo channel: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=TheDodoSite Follow The Dodo!Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedodosite/timelineFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dodoWatch our Snapchats: https://www.snapchat.com/add/thedodo.comLove our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedodo/Reblog us on Tumblr: http://the-dodo.tumblr.com/Check us out on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dodoforanimals/ For the love of animals. The researchers noticed that young otters and older otters juggled more than adults who were reproducing. No one knows exactly why otters do this but scientists have a few theories. October 24th 2013. The Commonwealth. A lovely, intuitive idea about why otters juggle rocks — that it helps them practice survival skills — might But they are used to receiving puzzle objects for enrichment, like plastic containers they can open. Otters juggle stones when hungry. Crucially, otters juggled more when “hungry”, indicating that juggling may be a misdirected behaviour in anticipation of feeding time. They use the rocks to crack open some of their favorite seafood, but they also bat the rocks in the air, slide them from paw to paw, and nudge them off the tops of their heads. Talented otter juggles a stone while lying on his back. The otters showed a variety of rock juggling behaviors, sometimes engaging in the activity on land. I can't think of what it might eat that is similar, except clams? This suggested that they juggle when they're hungry. In otters, rock juggling is thought to relate to foraging behaviour. Morgan Euzarraga is on Facebook. As such, we predicted that there would be no significant difference in rock juggling frequency between the sexes. Global Animal. A Few Theories On Why Otters Love Juggling Rocks. The term “juggling” is itself overenthusiastic. The weekend event features pumpkins for the zoo’s animals, trick-or-treating for kids, and festive entertainment for little goblins and ghosts. Credit: University of Exeter. The two different types of otters are related, but they differ in key areas, inclulding their diets. Play by this definition is seen in otters such as the Asian small-clawed and smooth-coated otters, who are both known to “juggle” with rocks. However, rock-juggling frequency did not differ between species or sexes. At other times they would take pebbles to the edge of … But the otters who juggled the most weren't any better at solving the food puzzles than the other otters. The researchers created three different food puzzles in order to test if the juggling otters were better and more dexterous at retrieving food. "Surprisingly, very few studies have investigated why otters are so keen to juggle stones. While hunger is likely to drive rock juggling in the moment, the ultimate function of the behaviour is still a mystery. However, otters don't juggle nearly as often when they are fed well. The Otter at Dudley Zoo enjoys his pebble juggling while waiting for his feeding time. As for otters in the wild, they're more elusive and unpredictable, which makes tracking their behavior more difficult. Love animals? Tweet on Twitter (WILDLIFE/CUTE ANIMAL VIDEOS) Have you ever wondered why otters like to juggle rocks? As opposed to otters, who can be found literally juggling rocks.. Close Up Of The Cute Stone Juggling Otter - YouTube. No one knows exactly why otters do this — but it's completely mesmerizing.Video by: Mark BisiSpecial thanks to mickeysutube for the awesome video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RwmtrjeInc. "While it did not appear that frequent jugglers solved food puzzles faster, more research is needed to exclude the 'practice makes perfect' hypothesis to explain rock juggling in otters," said Neeltje Boogert, study coauthor and Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, in a statement. "We wanted to try and replicate foraging behaviours as best as we could," said Mari-Lisa Allison, study author and researcher and recent graduate from the University of Exeter's College of Life and Environmental Sciences, in an email to CNN. "With the tennis balls, this would encourage reaching in and retrieving food as they might do when foraging in small nooks and crannies. But that isn't an issue for the talented sea otter, which cracks open the shells by banging them with rocks. Figuratively, I mean. Otters are regularly seen using their little hands to juggle small rocks and this bizarre behaviour may be because they're hungry, a new study claims. Otter parents may have been juggling less as they did not have the time while looking after their pups. And, at the end of the day, while rock-juggling otters are adorable to watch, their behavior continues to intrigue researchers. The fact that young and old otters juggle more frequently could suggest that the juggle behavior evolves over time in otters, acting as developmental behavior when they're young and maintaining brain activity in the oldest otters. The scarcity of playing fields is a problem that keeps his staff juggling schedules and improvising constantly. The otters showed a variety of rock juggling behaviors, sometimes engaging in the activity on land. The researchers created three different food puzzles in order to test if the juggling otters were better and more dexterous at retrieving food. The otters showed a variety of rock juggling behaviors, sometimes engaging in the activity on land. "As such, we thought that they might have more time and energy to be able to rock juggle when compared to mature otters whose time and energy was devoted to caring for young. Oct 25, 2013 - A red panda and Asian small-clawed otter pups at Woodland Park Zoo played with pumpkins stuffed with favorite treats to kick off Pumpkin Bash. Pass it on. (CNN)If you've ever seen otters romping at the zoo, sometimes it looks like they're juggling little rocks. However, rock-juggling frequency did not differ between species or sexes. Asian small-clawed otters eat shellfish and crabs, while smooth-coated otters pursue fish. They typically use … In the future, Allison has many questions regarding this behavior in otters she'd like to answer, such as how rock juggling evolves over the course of an otter's lifetime, if it changes and whether it's unique to specific otters. Given that only six of the otters were smooth-coated, they weren't able to compare frequency of juggling between the species. Based on their findings, researchers didn't believe this behavior is occurring in captivity due to stress. Hundley's system is pressed financially because of the recession and shrinking city budgets. Not all otters use tools, but sea otters use them all the time. But researchers wanted to know why a few species are known to " juggle" rocks… It tends to roll the item over it's shoulders and chest and up it's neck. So the behavior likely isn't improving their skills when it comes to foraging for food. A lovely, intuitive idea about why otters juggle rocks — that it helps them practice survival skills — might not be correct, new tests show. "With the Duplo bricks being stacked on top of one another with minced meat stuffed between each brick, we hoped that this would mimic having to extract foods from mussels [and] clams by prying them open," Allison said. Researchers believed that rock juggling -- where otters bat or throw stones in the air, catch them and even roll them around on their chests and necks -- was their way of practicing or improving the way they retrieve food from mussels, clams and other things they would typically forage in the wild. The researchers observed captive Asian small-clawed otters and smooth-coated otters practicing rock juggling over six months. At other times they would take pebbles to the edge of the pool. Otters are known to "juggle" stones — and a new study suggests the reasons behind the behaviour might be more complex than scientists initially … For the new study, the research team analysed rock juggling in Asian small-clawed … This could suggest the second theory, which is that the juggling is related to hunger and food gathering. It seems whenever an otter is juggling a rock or something that it's been given, it's juggling something smooth. "Our study provides a glimpse into this fascinating behaviour. Only six of the otters studied were smooth-coated otters because they are more rare than small-clawed otters in captivity. The otters showed a variety of rock juggling. Researchers believed that rock juggling -- where otters bat or throw stones in the air, catch them and even roll them around on their chests and necks -- … The rock juggling might help younger otters to learn the skills they will need to get food from prey such as mussels and clams, according to scientists from the University of Exeter. Like everyone else, I’m juggling a little bit of this and a little bit of that these days. Otters use rocks to crack open the shells of mollusks (a form of "tool-use"), and they can be very possessive of the rocks that they've gathered for this purpose. However, foraging is not a sex-specific behaviour; all individuals must provision themselves [ 35 ]. And like human parents, otter parents are juggling enough as it is with their pups -- they don't have time to juggle rocks. Otters are known for their playful demeanor and have even been observed “juggling” pieces of wood and rocks, especially when living in captivity. These observations were compared with the otters who juggled the most. To hunt prey, sea otters have been known to dive as deep as 320 feet; however, males mostly forage at depths of around 260 feet and females about 180 feet. But scientists had known little about why they did this — until now. By. At other times they would take pebbles to the edge of the pool. "As these [older] otters were no longer reproductively active, they didn't have offspring they needed to care for," Allison said. Otters are playful creatures. ", You otter watch these guys 'juggling' for science, Zoo shares adorable pictures of orangutans playing with their otter friends, These sea otters adopt orphaned pups and raise them to be wild, Otters use tools to eat, and it's recording their history. The study published Tuesday in the journal. Using motion-activated camera traps in the zoo, the researchers watched the otters interact with the food puzzles, evaluating how much time they spent with the puzzles and how long it took them to solve them. The researchers analyzed the age and sex of the juggling otters, in addition to their hunger levels. "I … She's also curious if the behavior differs when otters juggle rocks on land versus near or in the water. Share on Facebook. According to CNN, a group of researchers from the University of Exeter in the U.K. found that otters in captivity appeared to juggle most when they were hungry. They tussle, slide and have been filmed playing piano. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. This talented otter decides to play by juggling a rock back and forth between his paws while lying on his back.
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