in preparation for the introduction
Carl puts 501s mentor to be in the tank
it's Tula the original surrogate mother
otter 501 will be her 11th pump so
today's a day that we will be
introducing 501 to Tula she's ready to
be in a larger enclosure she's even
getting a little too needy and a little
too attached so today's the day and we
are ready she is ready and hopefully
Tula will be ready as well
5:01 Mady ready but she doesn't seem
that convinced if anything she's
absolutely terrified of this strange
creature for much of the first day 5:01
just hides in the fake kelp it's hard to
tell if Tula's playing it cool or if
she's just not interested
Toula is a is a female that has always
been a little bit reluctant initially to
accept the pup she's one that typically
will not take a pup right away
I think at this point I I'm not willing
to ever take for granted that this is
gonna be something that's going to work
nobody expects the bonding to happen
instantly but by the end of day one
nothing's happening since five Oh one's
a baby she still can't feed herself
so Carl has to met her and take her back
to the ICU for another night of human
care by day three Tula is upping our
game
we're seeing the distance shrinking and
the comfort level potentially increasing
even though we have not at this point
seen any kind of maternal behaviors
directly I we're kind of getting an
inkling that this is going in the right
direction finally after five days this
this is a big step in the process having
too late' accepting 501 and 501
willingly taking that acceptance you
know this is now entering what I
consider the rapid developmental phase
between now and about six months at a
age where 501 really has to learn
everything that she's going to need to
know to ultimately be released back out
into the wild
you