Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by the 2019 Jungle Party Co-Chairs
Amy Alcala, Diane Shrewsbury, Alyssa Sunderland and Jill Walker
On behalf of all of us at Woodland Park Zoo, thank you for joining us at the 43rd annual Jungle Party, Our Zoo, Our Oasis - Ensuring a Fierce Future!







We are honored to announce that collectively, more than $2 million was given for Woodland Park Zoo’s pioneering work and conservation mission. As a leading conservation zoo, we believe that saving wildlife and their habitats is our imperative. To achieve this, we are embarking on nothing less than a historic transformation that will redefine the relationship between people, our planet and all its creatures through a broad, social movement for wildlife conservation.




Your support at Jungle Party and throughout the year enables us to build upon our proud history of innovation and leadership while embracing a rapid metamorphosis necessary for our times. We invite you to spend a few moments with our new strategic plan, which highlights ho…

Posted by Barbara Segal, Intern, Communications

It takes a village to save a butterfly. Our zoo community’s mission includes saving wildlife near and far, and to save the Oregon silverspot butterfly we team up with many dedicated organizations of wildlife experts and activists. This beautiful and important pollinator once fluttered among flowers in Washington and across the west coast, but now is only found in isolated patches in Oregon and northern California. Threatened by habitat loss and invasive species, the silverspot butterfly needs our help. This means everyone from government agencies to you, our zoo community! Working together, we can bring this the silverspot butterfly back from the brink. 

The first leg of the relay began when the U.S. Department of the Interior declared the silverspot butterfly threatened in 1980. This put the wheels in motion for conservation efforts, and in 1982 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service created a recovery plan, which was updated in 2001. Care…

Posted by Terra Vleeshouwer-Neumann, Intern, Public Affairs
Photos by John Loughlin, Woodland Park Zoo

Here at the Woodland Park Zoo, we want everybody to feel welcome. One way we are working to include more of our community is through a series of Zoo For All events. Our most recent event on July 2, Celebrating All Abilities, was a huge hit. Despite the drizzly weather, the zoo was buzzing with excitement!


To celebrate and increase accessibility, Scootaround provided free scooter/wheelchair rentals, and over 30 community organizations came together for a resource fair on the North Meadow. Guests were offered Sensory Maps that highlight areas of the zoo they can enjoy by touching or playing, as well as areas that are likely to be noisy or overstimulating. The map also suggests quiet areas where guests who are overwhelmed by all the action can reflect and recharge. There is also an accessibility guide complete with a map that shows those with mobility concerns which parts of the zoo can…

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications



Listen carefully. Do you hear laughter? If you’re visiting Woodland Park Zoo’s Australasia area, you just might … and it could be coming from an unexpected source. Our laughing kookaburra family has just doubled in size thanks to these two newly-fledged chicks. Mama, Tamani, and Dad, Murray, are the proud parents of two young females who recently took their first hops—and flights—from the nest, just a few weeks ago.


The laughing kookaburra is the largest bird in the kingfisher family (think large head related to body size and long beak for catching prey like rodents, insects and lizards) and is so named for its distinctive vocalizations which sound like a mix of cackling laughter, chuckles and hoots.


You may already be familiar with the call of this species* as it is commonly used in shows and movies depicting jungle scenes—however there’s really only one region of the world where you would hear it in the wild. The laughing kookaburra is nati…