Rare Video at Monterey Bay Aquarium: A Pregnant Wild Sea Otter Giving Birth on a Rock in the Waters Surrounding the Facility

Visitors to Monterey Bay Aquarium in central California were treated to a rare and unexpected sight over the weekend: a pregnant wild sea otter giving birth on a rock in the waters surrounding the facility.

The sea otter took shelter in the aquarium’s Great Tide Pool on Saturday. Video showed her writhing atop a rock as she labored.

“It’s not every day you get to watch a sea otter pup come into the world!” the aquarium wrote on a Facebook post. “Our sea otter researchers have been watching wild otters for years and have never seen a birth close up like this. We’re amazed and awed to have had a chance to witness this Monterey Bay conservation success story first hand in our own backyard.”

In video of the birth, the mama sea otter could be seen grooming the baby immediately after it was born. Such meticulous grooming, the aquarium explained, will keep the baby warm and buoyant.

Get a closer look at the sea otter birth in the YouTube video below. (As the aquarium warned, “Spoiler alert: the miracle of life is graphic!”)

A Wild Sea Otter Swam into Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Great Tidepool and Gave Birth to a Healthy Pup

Monterey, CA - A wild sea otter that swam into Monterey BayAquarium’s Great Tidepool gave birth Saturday to a healthy otter pup, according to aquarium staff.

The mother and baby are doing well and were caught on the aquarium’s Otter Cam cuddling and grooming. The pup weighs just a couple pounds, staff said.

Wild sea animals are able to gain entry to the Great Tidepool because it serves as an outflow for the aquarium's sea water. Staff often use the pool during underwater explorer classes.

The otter and its pup will not be tagged or kept at the aquarium because they are wild. The furry pair are free to swim back into the ocean from the tidepool whenever they please.

This is not the first time a pregnant sea otter has swum into the aquarium to give birth. In fact, it happened just two years ago, and schools of fish and other sea critters have been known to come with the tide, staff said.

Trainers have theorized that pregnant sea otters may seek refuge at the pool because it is quieter and less populated than its vast oceanic counterpart.

The sea otters that live in the aquarium are all rescues that are unable to survive in the wild, according to the aquarium website.

Shedd Aquarium's New Otter Pup Is The Sweetest Thing Ever

The Shedd Aquarium welcome their newest resident : an orphaned southern sea otter pup. Watch as she arrives at Shedd and gets to know her new family! Isn’t this the cutest thing you’ve seen all day?

Sea Otter Plays Basketball to Help Alleviate Arthritis Pain

Eddie is a bit late for the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, since it was just contested this last weekend, but he can dunk with the best of them. Nothing fancy like jumping over a car or ball boy, though. After all, Eddie is a sea otter. And the great thing about Eddie's dunking is that he doesn't do it for show. No, he dunks off stage at the Oregon Zoo to improve his health.

Eddie is 15 years old, geriatric for the species, and suffers from arthritis in the elbows. Veterinarians prescribed regular exercise, and the zookeepers came up with dunking a basketball as the perfect elixir. Eddie caught on quickly.

"He's definitely got game," the zoo's Jenny DeGroot told KPTV. "Sea otters have incredible dexterity, so it makes sense Eddie would have this hidden talent. They're famous for using rocks as tools to crack open clams."

Unfortunately, Eddie's dunking takes place behind the scenes at the zoo, so visitors can't see the Blake Griffin or Terrence Ross of the otter world. But perhaps the zoo will allow Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts a visit to see Eddie dunk; surely he'd be interested.