--- title: Viral Video: Otters Play Keyboard At Smithsonian National Zoo description: They're actually pretty good if you cut them a bit of slack. Since, you know, they're otters canonical: https://time.com/123240/here-are-some-otters-tickling-the-ivories/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-28T14:58:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:05.251Z og:title: Watch Otters Playing the Keyboard og:description: Thanks for this, Smithsonian og:url: https://time.com/123240/here-are-some-otters-tickling-the-ivories/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt224409f97c540f0a/6986910c55a8594ee3a80fb2/otters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Asian Small-Clawed Otters play keyboard at Smithsonian's National Zoo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Otters Playing the Keyboard twitter:description: Thanks for this, Smithsonian twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt224409f97c540f0a/6986910c55a8594ee3a80fb2/otters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are Some Otters Tickling the Ivories by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 28, 2014 2:58 PM UTC  Smithsonian's National Zoo by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 28, 2014 2:58 PM UTC A group of Asian small-clawed otters got a chance to show off their musical talents by [playing a keyboard ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsRlO4dQJGI)at the National Zoo. (It’s part of their “enrichment” program.) Some are total slackers and just hang back, riding on the coattails of the other otters. But those who go for it, well, they _really_ go for it. Bravo. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/123240/here-are-some-otters-tickling-the-ivories/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/123240/here-are-some-otters-tickling-the-ivories/"},"headline":"Here Are Some Otters Tickling the Ivories","datePublished":"2014-05-28T14:58:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:05.251Z","description":"They're actually pretty good if you cut them a bit of slack. Since, you know, they're otters","url":"https://time.com/123240/here-are-some-otters-tickling-the-ivories/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Smithsonian"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt224409f97c540f0a/6986910c55a8594ee3a80fb2/otters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt224409f97c540f0a/6986910c55a8594ee3a80fb2/otters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Asian Small-Clawed Otters play keyboard at Smithsonian's National Zoo","caption":"Asian Small-Clawed Otters play keyboard at Smithsonian's National Zoo","creditText":"Smithsonian's National Zoo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/123240/here-are-some-otters-tickling-the-ivories/","name":"Here Are Some Otters Tickling the Ivories"}}]}] ```