AT just three months old, these babies have unusually expensive tastes.

Prime raw prawn is the favourite diet for this litter of five Asian short-clawed otters, born at Ashurst's Otter and Owl Sanctuary in the New Forest.

The arrival of this high-pitched quintet has delighted animal manager John Crooks.

"It's the first time we've bred this species of otter in the five years we've been here, so we're feeling very smug," he said.

Asian short-claws are a tiny otter - much smaller than their British counterpart - and get their name from their dainty hand-like paws used in the wild to feel for prawns and crayfish in muddy Malaysian and Indian streams. They are also very vocal, chattering and whistling to each other from dawn till dusk.

The timing of the multiple birth took John by surprise.

"These otters are supposed to breed in the spring, but it looks like our two-year-old dad Fizzy felt amorous in the autumn," he said.

"Luckily, they don't seem to mind the cold and first-time mum Feathers is doing well."

All the new arrivals are female. Any ideas for names should be sent to John at the Otter and Owl Sanctuary in Deerleap Lane, Ashurst.