Molalla the baby otter learns to swim (with firm help from mom)

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In an adorable video posted to YouTube by the Oregon Zoo, a 2-month-old baby river otter named Molalla gets a swimming lesson from his mother, Tilly. She nudges Molalla close to the water before grabbing her pup by the scruff of his neck with her mouth and plunging into the water with him.

“This might look a little brutal to us,” the Oregon Zoo’s Becca Van Beek says on the video. “It’s kind of scary for us to watch, but it’s natural for them.”

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