Rare video shows wild sea otter giving birth

Warning: "the miracle of life is graphic”

Rare footage has emerged of a wild sea otter giving birth, after taking shelter outside an aquarium.

The pregnant mother was filmed in Monterey Bay Aquarium’s tide pool, where she climbed onto a nearby rock.

Accompanying the video, the aquarium wrote how exceptional it was for their researchers to witness the natural event.

“Our sea otter researchers have been watching wild otters for years and have never seen a birth close up like this.”

“It’s not every day you get to watch a sea otter pup come into the world!”

The new mother can be seen in labour on the rock, before she begins grooming the pup as soon as it is born.

As the aquarium explained, “Sea otters can give birth in water or on land. You’ll notice that mom starts grooming her pup right away to help it stay warm and buoyant—a well-groomed sea otter pup is so buoyant it’s practically unsinkable!”

In unrelated but equally enjoyable otter news, one orphaned pup was recently rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California after being caught up in the extreme weather of El Niño.