Mother knows best as sea otter adopts orphaned pup at California aquarium

Before last month, a young southern sea otter named Rey would never have imagined she would be a mother. That changed when she met Sunny, a pup – about two weeks old – found orphaned and alone on Asilomar state beach in February. The pairing went off without a hitch. The two otters now live as mother and daughter at the Aquarium of the Pacific. They arrived at the facility last month, paired together as part of the facility’s surrogacy program that it runs alongside the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The program, created by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the 1990s, was launched in Long Beach in 2024. It pairs maternal-age female otters with young, motherless pups who would otherwise not survive on their own in the wild. Megan Smylie, the sea otter program manager, says the operation has since rehabilitated and released nine otters into the wild, with the three others expected to leave by the summer. The aquarium can handle 11 otters at a time, with up to seven in the main tank with rehabilitation pools that can each house two otters. They currently have five otters, including two other females that are preparing for surrogate motherhood. But Sunny and Rey cannot be released into the wild. Experts say both are already too used to being around people and lack the survival instincts to make it on their own in the ocean. Instead, the two are destined for motherhood in captivity. For Rey, Sunny will be the first pup she raises into adulthood. …