The Effect of Age On the Frequency Asian Small Clawed Otters Go Into the Water

1. The Effect of Age On the Frequency Asian Small Clawed Otters Go Into the Water Ms. Politano ✪✪✪ UA – Bronx Zoo December 9th, 2009

2. Question • What is the effect of age on the frequency Asian Small Clawed Otters go into the water? http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/Asian Small-clawed Otter

3. Hypothesis • If an Asian Small Clawed Otter is an adult, Then they will have a higher occurrence of going into the water because they are trying to teach the juveniles how to swim and get them used to going into the water.

4. Background Information •   Life Span: 11-16 years • While Asian small-clawed otters typically reach sexual maturity at 2 years of age, pups often stay with their parents for up to 6 years, helping to raise future litters. • Young Asian small-clawed otters are born small and helpless. They don’t open their eyes until they are 40 days old. Babies start to swim at 3 months old. • “When the pups are old enough to leave the den and enter the water, they must first have a series of swimming lessons from their mom and dad. In fact, some pups are scared of the water and have to wean themselves into the water inch by inch”

5. How can we define terms in our study? • An otter must have all FOUR paws in the water to be counted as an occurrence. • An adult is considered to be about 2 years and older and large in size (over 12 inches) • A juvenile is less than 1 ½ years and small in size (Less than 12 inches)

6. Procedure • STEP 1: Differentiate between adults and juveniles (based on size). • STEP 2: Count the number of juveniles in exhibit and record. Count the number of adults in exhibit and record. • STEP 3: Clarify the definition of being in the water and determine when all four limbs are immersed in example trial before observing and recording data. • STEP 4: Both juvenile and adult otters were observed for three twelve minutes intervals. The number of times that the juveniles and adults immersed in the water was recorded.

7. Data • Data Sheet Used:

8. Data Tables Data Collection I: Morning Observation – December 6th, 2009 (10:06 am) Data Collection II: Afternoon Observation – December 6th, 2009 (1:29 pm)

9. Data: Morning Observation

10. Data: Afternoon Observation

11. Results/Data Analysis • The data supports our hypothesis: Adult Asian Small Clawed Otters had a higher frequency of entering the water than their juvenile otter counterparts. • Regardless of time of day (morning or afternoon), adults entered the water more frequently. • Time of day did seem to impact the frequency both adults and juveniles entered the water. Otters entered the water more frequently during the morning observation session.

12. Next Steps • Comparison study of amount of time adults and juveniles spend in the water • Study the “lesson and learning” behavior: observe and record the frequency of adults entering the water and juveniles following their example/lead http://z.about.com/d/dc/1/0/D/G/asiansmallclawedotters.jpg

13. Literature Cited • http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu • http://nationalzoo.si.edu • http://www.montereybayaquarium.org • http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/