The Asian small-clawed otter family just got bigger at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.
The zoo’s adult otters, Munti and Flounder, welcomed three male pups in late March, less than one year after Munti gave birth to four male pups at the zoo.
The zoo shared updates on social media in the past few weeks, but couldn’t confirm the number or sex of the babies until a recent vet visit.
“It’s all boys… again!” the zoo wrote in a post on X on April 8.
Asian small-clawed otters are the smallest otter species in the world and their newborns are about the size of a chicken nugget, zoo officials previously said. Now about 2.5 weeks old, the babies are somewhat bigger.
One of the three Asian small-clawed otter pups recently born at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. The zoo shared three photos of the pups with The Enquirer. Each photo captured one of the otters with a number next to him.
Visitors will eventually get to see the three boys outside at Siamang Point within Elephant Trek.
But for now, the babies are in a nest box behind the scenes. They are busy bonding with their family, including big brothers, Puddles, Ripple, Splash and Scuttle.
Puddles and Splash are the most involved of the four older siblings, Carli Reiber, zookeeper at Siamang Point, told The Enquirer.
A video of Splash trying to “help” his mom with the pups previously circulated online. Splash also finds lots of nesting materials for the babies, and Puddles stands on guard duty at the front of the nest box, the zoo shared on X.
The Enquirer reached out to the Cincinnati Zoo for more information on when visitors will get to see the new otter babies.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Zoo welcomes 3 Asian small-clawed otter pups