A video of two river otters making sweet, sweet love on the Stanley Park sea wall has Vancouverites sharing a laugh and puns ahead of what will be many B.C. animals' mating season.
The video, posted on Reddit by u/CostanzaBlonde was taken a few weeks ago and shows the two mammals doing it like they do on the Discovery Channel. The poster’s dog seems to be very interested in the voyeuristic view as well.
Some Redditors quipped the pair "otter get a room," while others argued they should "sea themselves out."
River otters breed between late winter and early spring. Although they are able to reproduce annually, it is more likely for this species to give birth every two years Nature Conservancy Canada explains. Female otters give birth to between one and six pups. The pups are born blind and spend the first month of their lives in their dens with the female. After two months, the female otter teaches the full-sighted pups how to swim.
River otters aren’t the only mammals shtupping around this time of year though. Your average raccoon’s breeding season is from February to June. For some trash pandas breeding takes place in February and March, with babies born around May.
B.C.’s black bears usually mate from early June to mid-July. However, but due to a phenomenon called delayed implantation, the embryo does not implant in the uterus and begins developing until October or November. Cubs are born in January or February, during hibernation.
Then of course B.C.’s orcas will also be getting busy with their partners this summer as well. Male orcas usually become sexually mature when they reach about 5.5–6 meters, at about 14-19 years old. Breeding may occur in any season, but it is most common in the summer. In the western North Pacific, mating seems to be at its highest between May and June. The gestation period of an orca is about 17 months – the longest known of all cetaceans.
