Today’s photos are of a Swim with Otters by reader Michael Glenister. His intro is indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. The organization appears to be devoted to rehabilitation, conservation, and acquainting children with nature.
I recently took a trip to San Diego to cross off a bucket list item – swimming with river otters. A group called Nurtured by Nature, offers 1 hour swim with their otters, plus interactions with their other animals, which include armadillos, lemurs, and capybara’s. Attached are a few of my photos. We had to wear swim masks with the otters to avoid passing on any diseases to the animals. The group does a lot of work with the Make a Wish Foundation, as well as Otter Conservation, and those of us who pay to attend are financing that.
What fun! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this! I live in San Diego and will check this out. I would love to hug a sloth.
I have never heard of this group. Looks like you had a great time.
My next birthday gift to myself! (Not many left!)
Wonderful! Is the armadillo’s underside that orang and hairy?
I am agog! That would be marvelous! That is a curious kind of face mask that I have not seen before.
Cool! Love the armadillo and capybaras. River otters can be dangerous and have been known to bite people. These must be very habituated.
The otters look like Asian Clawless Otters, which are much smaller and more docile than American River Otters.
Extreme awwwwwwww! Where do I sign up?
They are located about an hour north of San Diego, and you can book a tour at nurturedbynature.org. The otters are Asian small clawed otters, have been habituated to humans since they were little, and taught not to play rough with us. They provide similar mask/snorkels to wear in the pool, but I brought my own (Costco).
They had two types of armadillos, both of which are quite amusing creatures. The 3-banded (yellow) armadillo can roll up into a tight ball, and its outer layer feels like clay or porcelain. The hairy armadillo can’t roll up into a ball, but does enjoy belly rubs.
I was surprised to learn that while sloths move their limbs slowly, they can bite very quickly, and have several fangs, so we had to avoid stroking their head.
Capybara’s are basically giant guinea pigs that swim.
Unfortunately it was raining the day I went, and so the lemur we could have fed didn’t want to leave its enclosure. So we were only able to feed the ring-tailed lemurs through the fence, as apparently they play a little rough with humans.
It is a bit expensive, but it was very enjoyable, so I do recommend it. It is for 18 years and older (if not part of Make a Wish), so I imagine I’ll be taking the kids there as their birthday present in a few years.
I could see Jerry in that setting, even though there are no big cats. Wonderful post. Thanks!