Otters and Skimmers: Growing Up on the Water
In Otters and Skimmers: Growing Up on the Water, narrator Gordon Buchanan explores how two kinds of animals, otters and skimmers (birds) begin to learn survival skills at a young age. Giant otters in Brazil follow the lead of their parents to learn their toileting routine early on before learning to catch fish. African seabirds, appropriately called skimmers, move along the water’s surface, snapping their long bills shut when they catch their prey. This video is excerpted from BBC's Animal Babies, a heartwarming show that follows the first breaths, first steps and first feeds of some adorable baby animals, revealing the challenges they face to survive in some of the toughest but most beautiful places on the planet.
Lesson Express
Q: What are three ways that giant otters interact with their families?
A: The otters protect their territory, watch out for predators, and “babysit” by watching over other family members.
Q: What is something special that giant otters do in terms of “toilet behaviors”?
A: They use communal toilets (meaning the whole family “goes” in the same place) and mark their territory by rubbing their waste into the ground.
Q: Why do the young skimmers have only a short amount of time to learn how to skim the surface to catch fish?
A: When the rainy season comes, the sandbar area where they train will flood so the skimmer chicks must learn before that happens since they cannot yet fly.
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In Learning to Swim: Otter Pups, narrator Gordon Buchanan describes how a baby otter learns to swim in the Pantanal, Brazil’s tropical wetland. While the mother transports the pup gently in her mouth, the large otter family helps support the pup when it gets tired and sounds an alarm when a jaguar is spotted. The mother returns the pup to the safety of the den. This video is excerpted from BBC's Animal Babies, a heartwarming show that follows the first breaths, first steps, and first feeds of some adorable baby animals, revealing the challenges they face to survive in some of the toughest but most beautiful places on the planet.
In Giant Otters: Reaching Adulthood, narrator Gordon Buchanan explains how young giant otters begin to transition from relying on their otter parents to being independent adults. As the otters grow, they take on more responsibility for finding their own food. The end of the clip describes how other young animals become more self-reliant in their water habitats. This video is excerpted from BBC's Animal Babies, a heartwarming show that follows the first breaths, first steps and first feeds of some adorable baby animals, revealing the challenges they face to survive in some of the toughest but most beautiful places on the planet.
In Learning to Swim: Otter Pups, narrator Gordon Buchanan describes how a baby otter learns to swim in the Pantanal, Brazil’s tropical wetland. While the mother transports the pup gently in her mouth, the large otter family helps support the pup when it gets tired and sounds an alarm when a jaguar is spotted. The mother returns the pup to the safety of the den. This video is excerpted from BBC's Animal Babies, a heartwarming show that follows the first breaths, first steps, and first feeds of some adorable baby animals, revealing the challenges they face to survive in some of the toughest but most beautiful places on the planet.
In Giant Otters: Reaching Adulthood, narrator Gordon Buchanan explains how young giant otters begin to transition from relying on their otter parents to being independent adults. As the otters grow, they take on more responsibility for finding their own food. The end of the clip describes how other young animals become more self-reliant in their water habitats. This video is excerpted from BBC's Animal Babies, a heartwarming show that follows the first breaths, first steps and first feeds of some adorable baby animals, revealing the challenges they face to survive in some of the toughest but most beautiful places on the planet.