California aquarium welcomes birth of baby sea otter

Marine animals come and go from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s outdoor tide pool because it is connected to the ocean, and Sunday morning, a wild sea otter mother chose the tide pool as the place where she wanted to give birth.

PHOTO:A wild sea otter unexpectedly gave birth to an adorable pup at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Cali., Dec. 20, 2015.

California aquarium workers received an early holiday present: a newborn wild sea otter.

At first, they hoped the otter was alright because it’s not normal for a healthy otter to visit there so often. By 8:30 a.m. Sunday, staff discovered the newborn pup getting groomed into a fluffball by its mother while resting on her belly.

“The otter is so cute and lovely and all that kind of stuff and its just so good”, aquarium visitor Logan Phares said.

Onlookers watched as the otter spent the morning grooming the pup, puffing up its fur to make the little one more buoyant in the water.

“Usually, if she has to dive for clams or abalone or whatever, she’ll leave the pup floating on the surface”, he said.

The sea otters that live in the aquarium are all rescues who are unable to survive in the wild, according to the aquarium website. The otter population has bounced back to steady levels in Monterey Bay, with roughly 3,000 in central California.