Three is the magic number for birthday boys Rod and Musa!
It was party time at WWT Washington Wetland Centre as Asian short-clawed otters Rod and Musa celebrated their third birthday.
The cheeky pair marked their special day by devouring homemade dressed crab 'cupcakes' during their daily 11.30am feed on Wednesday October 3.
With their outgoing and playful nature, the brothers have become firm favourites with WWT members and visitors since arriving at the centre last June.
They can regularly be seen going for a swim in their paddy field, juggling pebbles on their tummies and greeting their adoring public – or wardens bringing them food! – with a variety of squeaky cries.
Rod and Musa were born to parents Ned and Thai on 3 October 2009, at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s (WWT) centre in Martin Mere, Lancashire. They are Asian short-clawed otters, the smallest of all 13 species of otter and a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List.
Example (amateur!) footage of the otters juggling pebbles and eating last year’s fishy birthday cake can be found on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVvquduugPI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_novpSiSW0E
