For this final "Throwback Thursday" in April (2015), I had chosen a classic animal-related'photo-op' from the 1990s, during one of my earliest visits to the Miami Metrozoo (now known as ZooMiami) in Miami, Florida.

Around that time, a new exhibit of wildlife from the other side of the planet called "Asian-Riverlife", had just opened up. Among the fauna from Asia that was on display were clouded leopards, crocodiles, monitor lizards, and the giant Komodo dragon (the world's largest living lizard). But of all the animals from that section, my favorites were the Asian river otters.

A group of these musteline critters is sometimes called a 'romp of otters', and for good reason. I got to see this family romp around their man-made compound, chasing one another, swimming about in a specially-built pond, and using tree branches as bridges to cross the pond. Some otters even rubbed their scent glands on those tree branches.

Naturally, I took a number of 35mm photographs of these otters, going about their business. But of all the 'photo-ops', my favorite one involved one lone pup, who had found a bright shiny stone to play with. Oddly enough, of all the areas in the compound for him to play with the rock, he had chosen to curl himself up into a ball, and study the stone from the confines of a water filter, near the edge of the pond!

I took an overhead shot of this otter pup, looking down as he played with the shiny stone (just below his tongue). Naturally, my timing was just right, as he was looking up at me and my camera.

If any of you would like to see more 'photo-ops' of the Asian river otters (I saw at ZooMiami, back in the 1990s), let me know, and I'll consider posting them in my "FA" site, on future "Throwback Thursdays".