Enrichment Preferences in North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis)

Abstract
Given how essential environmental enrichment is for promoting the well-being of ex-situ animals, this ethologically-centered study was designed to better understand the enrichment preferences and behaviors of a male–female pair of North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) housed at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout fourteen sessions held across six months, these otters were offered six enrichment items of varying novelty, and their behaviors were recorded via one-minute scan sampling, yielding 840 minutes of observation per otter. The study assessed the otters’ engagement with olfactory, structural, and occupational enrichments to explore the intersections of personhood and behavior. The findings indicated that enrichments not only mitigate stereotypic behaviors but also serve as a window to support more complex expressions of “otterhood”.

Keywords: decolonial perspectives, ex-situ care, indigenous epistemologies, animal culture.

Citation: Godoy-Reyes, J. M. (2025). Exploring Otterhood: Enrichment Preferences In A Pair
Of North American River Otters (Lontra Canadensis) [Manuscript submitted for publication]. IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull. 43 (2026)

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Perception of Otterhood & Enrichment Study Survey