What's amazing is that the marine mammal did not start 'playing' the game when he was a young pup, but took it up just recently, at the ripe old age of 16! Given that the lifespan of most sea otters is between 12-20 years, Eddie is . . . An old man!
And, unlike his human counterparts he is not doing it for money or fame (his slam dunks are practiced out of the public eye) but, for his health. Turns out that Eddie suffers from severe arthritis under his elbow and the only way to keep it from getting worse, is by exercising it. However, since sea otters use their back legs and flippers to swim, the zoo keepers had to come up with something innovative and decided to test out Eddie's basketball skills.
Eddie and his long time companion Thelma, who were abandoned as pups off the coast of California in 1998, spent the first few years of their lives at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. However, despite intense rehabilitation, the two did not seem togarner enough skills to survive on their own in the wild and were therefore, transported to the Oregon Zoo where they have been on 'loan' from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, since 2000.
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