Saturday, April 07, 2007

Cute overdose

I first saw the adorable hand-holding YouTube otters on my brother's blog. Then the video started appearing in the local mainstream media, because it turns out they're local otters - Milo and Nyack from the Vancouver Aquarium. And if my heart hadn't already melted from the video, it might have at the news that Nyack was a survivor of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. From CBC:

It's not the first time Nyack has been featured on TV. She was one of the few sea otters to survive getting coated with oil during the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska back in 1989. She was cleaned up and flown to Vancouver, where she has thrived ever since. Aquarium officials said they hope the internet audience learns that the otters are not only cute, but are an endangered species as well.

My brother, ever the comedian, had this to say: "By the way, the one otter that 'survived' the Exxon Valdez was actually the mastermind behind the disaster. They may be cute, but they're cunning."

Otters holding hands