Auckland Zoo is celebrating the birth of two endangered otters.
It is the first time they have been born in captivity in Australasia in over six years.
At just 35 days old, the tiny male otters already seem at ease with life in the public eye. But it was a different story for their anxious parents this morning, unhappy about being separated from their new offspring.
They are called Asian small-clawed otters, and Jana and Juno are the first of their kind to reproduce in captivity in recent years.
Otters are difficult to breed in captivity because they are notoriously fussy about their partners. Jana and Juno lived together for more than a year before deciding they liked each other enough to mate.
The otters will live together as a family at Auckland Zoo for around 18 months, sharing an enclosure with monkeys in an upstairs-downstairs arrangement.
Next year the pups will be given to zoos around the Pacific in the hope they will become parents themselves.
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