It’s the time of year for otter pups!  Away in their dens, a new otter generation is being born!  No matter who you are, watching otters play – genuinely doing things because it’s FUN – can’t help but make you smile, as it shows animals can do things just for the enjoyment of it, and it’s something we can relate to.

This picture was taken in an aquarium – Clearwater Aquarium in Florida, actually.  Home of “Winter”, the dolphin with a prosthetic tail that was featured in the Dolphin Tale movies.  I generally have mixed feelings about zoos – on the one hand, some animal is in captivity.  On the other, it gives people exposure to creatures they’d never otherwise know about (and it’s hard to care about what you don’t understand), gives us a forum to learn how to help wild populations, and in the case of Clearwater, also doubles as a rehab center for those animals that get sick or injured because of human activity.  Some do it better than others, and I’ve got to believe that in those cases the positives outweigh the negatives.

Photo Credit – Lynn Abbott