Mie Prefecture is most well-known for the 7th Century Ise Grand Shrine. But less than an hour way is another place well worth your time.

Toba Aquarium is home to a multitude of sea creatures like tropical fish, dolphins, and penguins. It’s also one of only two aquariums in the world where you can see the rare, mermaid-like dugong. Dugong belong to the order Sirenia, like manatees, and are closely related to the now-extinct Stellar’s sea cow.

Toba Aquarium updates their official Twitter page (@TOBA_AQUARIUM) daily with cute pictures and videos of their marine residents.

Their dugong are often front and center of their Twitter posts, but a recent video featured a different critter at Toba Aquarium who’s making waves.

Who is this adorable, bouncy sea otter? Meet Mei.

Mei’s caretaker got her out of the pool for a special treat and you can see she’s willing to waddle around and flail her head around to get her little paws on that fish.

Mei’s treat-time performance has garnered a lot of attention on Twitter, with users really taking to the otter. Some commented:

  • She’s really headbanging huh.
  • She’s so cute! And look at her walking around! I was so surprised because I didn’t know that otters could leave the water.
  • I wonder if the keeper was making her headbang like that. It’s so intense I was a bit surprised.
  • Her neck…more than walking around, I’m concerned about her neck.

Certainly when you think of otters, you imagine them floating belly up or swimming around. So many users expressed surprise at the fact that otters can walk around on their hind legs.

And although some users expressed concern for Mei’s neck after all that headbanging, you can see her calm down after finally receiving her fishy treat.

Although, in this video below, you can see Mei holding her head. Perhaps she’s trying to control herself from another violent headbanging episode.

Besides Mei, Toba Aquarium posts a lot of other videos you can enjoy, like their Baikal seal Niko drumming his belly. So be sure to check out their Twitter account (@TOBA_AQUARIUM) or visit in-person if you’re ever in the area.


By - Mujo.