He may have arthritis, trouble hearing, and a low-ash Eukanuba diet to prevent kidney stones, but Chun Lee Asian Small-clawed Otter is no stick-in-the-mud old crank. Quite the contrary, this legendary otter is cranking out the cubs with Jordan, his much younger mate in Tropic World: Asia.
Chun Lee is the oldest Asian small-clawed otter living in a North American Zoo, and he is also the oldest breeding male in the otter population! But at the very advanced age of 18, he is still spunky. Perhaps the little cubs are keeping him young. He can be seen on exhibit corralling litters of kids, and tending to the needs of lovely Jordan, who may be expecting yet again.
Chun Lee! Chun Lee!
Born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., Chun Lee has been at Brookfield Zoo since 1999. At that time, he was paired with a female named Flower. Together, they had two of his five litters. After Flower passed on, Chun Lee began again, finding harmony with Jordan and keeping his legend alive with an amassed total of 18 offspring (some of which have been sent to other zoos for breeding programs).
Otter Utopia
How a legend lives
Early mornings are the best time to see Chun Lee and his family living it up. From tailspins to nose dives, slithering swims, pounces, and slides, this troupe is bursting with otter energy. It might seem unlikely that Chun Lee would have the steam for all this—given his arthritis and hearing difficulties—but keepers have made some friendly alterations to meet his senior needs. One example is the network of branches that were added to the exhibit to help Chun Lee climb onto the rice paddy. There are also all sorts of enrichment activities to keep the otters engaged when off exhibit. They get to rumble around in a kiddy pool of golf balls, eat frozen fish pops, and hide inside forts made out of blankets. Our senior’s favorite, however, is when they are given burlap and hay. He gets busy…making more nests, of course.
Go, Chun Lee, go!
On occasion, you might find the legend looking a bit more reserved. Since he’s hard-of-hearing, he sometimes gets separated from his family on exhibit and has to spend a few minutes roaming around until he spots them. When he does, keepers say it is always a joyful reunion—time for play again, and watching over his cubs.
Playful by nature
Otters love to play. And Asian small-clawed otters—the smallest of the 13 otter species—are no exception. In addition to romping around Tropic World: Asia, Chun Lee and his family can also be seen dunking each other under water and piling up on the rocks. This is not always just for fun though. The pile up conserves body heat. And other otter play helps to reinforce social bonds and teach hunting techniques.
A not-so-common behavior you can observe at Brookfield Zoo is the big chase down between the otters and the white-cheeked gibbons. Every once in a while the two species will interact and trail each other through the mangrove, seemingly for the fun of it. Although the animals would normally share the same habitat in the wilds of Asia, they probably would not intermingle as they do in Tropic World. Gibbons tend to be strictly arboreal (tree dwelling)…and the otters—with their short legs—are built better for the ground, and water.