Most people are surprised to learn that baby otters don’t instinctually know how to swim when they are born. Ironically, the water animals have to teach their young how to swim, much like humans.
And similarly to people, the mother otter will seemingly drag their young to the water’s edge, and throw them in with a splash. It may look a little rough at first, but it’s really no different than signing your kid up for swimming lessons at the local pool or YMCA in the summer.
The Oregon Zoo has gone viral with this adorable video featuring their baby river otter Molalla. In less than a week, the video highlighting Molalla’s first ‘swimming lesson’ has accumulated over 300,000 views.