Dubai’s amazing painting arty otters

All this month, the otters at Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo are showing their talent for painting.

Assisted by his trainer Manaporn Kagwkam, Diego, the otter-artist, paints in quick jabs. Silvia Razgova / The National

Standing up on his hind legs and waving at the crowd, Diego Picasso, a 6-year-old male otter at Dubai Aquarium, receives a round of applause.

Then, under the guidance of his trainer, he turns around and grasps a paintbrush between his two paws.

“Which colour would you like him to use?” asks the trainer, mouthing the words through the thick glass and the host on the microphone repeats her question.

“Blue,” pipes up a little girl who is watching. The trainer then dips the brush in the blue, non-toxic water-based paint and wipes off the excess before handing it back to the otter.

Speedily and with measured movements, Diego Picasso daubs splodges of colour onto the paper on the easel in front of him. After a few seconds, the trainer stops him and repeats the whole process with a ­different colour.

Fifteen minutes later, he has finished his creation and the trainer dips his paw in green paint so he can leave a print on the painting, thus signing it.

After the round of applause, Diego Picasso holds a tiny flag and then dives into the water to enjoy a large piece of fish that he has been given as a reward.

Later on in the day, his fellow otters Cato Da Vinci and Tiny Monet will also put the brush to easel in a month-long initiative that culminates in an exhibition of their work.

The painting began as part of the otters’ enrichment training, where they are shown how to coordinate their hands and eyes. It became so popular that the aquarium staff decided to make it a regular show.

“Over this period, it was observed that the otters took a particular interest in painting activities,” ­explains Paul Hamilton, the head curator of Dubai Aquarium & ­Underwater Zoo. “It is possible due to the otters’ ability to concentrate and their ­dexterity.”

It took the trainers around three months to train them to the level of being able to produce coherent pieces of art. The entire process is learnt through repeated actions and with pieces of fish as rewards.

“We don’t anticipate that the otters are producing a calculated piece of art,” clarifies Hamilton. “However, what frequently happens is their art will have an amazing resemblance to a recognisable image. With each painting, we have sketched our ­interpretation of what we see but different people would have different perceptions and that’s what makes it interesting.”

The results are being displayed in an art exhibition at the aquarium, inside The Dubai Mall, until the end of the month.

The entire otter art programme, says Hamilton, is supposed to raise awareness about the species, which has been driven to near extinction in many of its native lands.

The otters in the Dubai Aquarium are all 6-year-old Asian small-clawed males. They are the smallest otter species in the world and live in the mangrove swamps and fresh­water wetlands of India, China, Laos, ­Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. They eat predominantly fish, shellfish, amphibians and small mammals. Their paws are a distinctive feature, because they allow a high degree of manual dexterity.

• Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo at The Dubai Mall, daily at noon, 3.30pm and 7.30pm, continuing until December 30. For more information, call 04 448 5200