Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Shawn Pedersen, Animal Collection Manager Penguin fans—we’ve got some exciting news for you! Over the last few weeks, three pairs of Humboldt penguins have been busy incubating two eggs each in the burrows we’ve constructed for them in their new exhibit . This is great progress for our birds and shows us they are comfortable in the exhibit we’ve built for them . These are the first eggs at Woodland Park Zoo to come from this flock of penguins that debuted last May, and we’ve been tracking the development of the eggs around every two weeks with a process called candling. With candling, you use a high powered and focused light for just a few quick seconds to see if the egg is fertile, alive and developing as it should be. You can see some photos of the process below: Depending on how far along in the incubation process the egg is, you should be able to see veins after about a week’s time, and should be able to see movement in the egg about half way through the incuba...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications It has been 10 years since we’ve had meerkats at the zoo, but come May 1 this year, we’ll be welcoming them back with the debut of an all new “mob” of eight in an indoor exhibit in the Adaptations Building. Last week we had a chance to meet the eight meerkats moving to Woodland Park Zoo. True to their reputation, the meerkats were active, loud and inquisitive! But we managed to snap a few shots through all the action. The exhibit, presented by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times, will open on May 1 with festivities. Right now, we’re busy molding the play area where kids will get to experience the meerkat life—crawling through burrows and playing sentinel to look out for predators. Inside the exhibit, our staff designers are recreating a semi-arid savanna habitat for the mongooses. Though it is not a huge exhibit, it will be one of the most exciting with such energetic animals—especially when we begin daily bug feedings in the summer, which will ...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A rescued and rehabilitated golden eagle named Ranger will be the newest addition to the zoo’s Raptor Center, and today, he received a full physical examination by our Animal Health staff as part of the standard quarantine process for new animals. Ranger is estimated to be between three and five years old, and has been through a lot in his time. He came under the care of Yakima’s Raptor House Rehabilitation Center in 2008 when he was discovered with wing and leg injuries after sustaining electrical shock and later being struck by a vehicle. He also tested positive for lead poisoning. Eagles can unintentionally ingest lead fragments when feeding on animals that were shot. Poisoning also can occur through bioaccumulation when many animals killed by lead bullets are eaten. Due to his injuries, he cannot be released back into the wild, but we’re excited to welcome him to Woodland Park Zoo and to provide him with a safe, long-term home and excell...

Posted by: Sue Andersen, Zookeeper Early last month, Woodland Park Zoo Collection Manager Erin Sullivan and I took a road trip for conservation to release captive-reared caterpillars as part of a new zoo program to recover the wild populations of the state endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. The release into the wild may be the exciting and deeply rewarding climax to this pilot program, but the story begins with the arrival to the zoo of 510 very sleepy, fuzzy black caterpillars that were just waking up from almost six months of diapause (winter resting). The caterpillars were hatched and reared at Oregon Zoo last summer before entering the natural resting period late last summer. At Woodland Park Zoo, the larvae were set up in plastic bins where they were fed, watered, and carefully monitored for about 10 days. During their stay, the caterpillars ate like, well, very hungry caterpillars! Along with my fellow keeper Diane Abbey, we harvested nearly 100 plantago leaves per...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Recently, jaguars Nayla and Junior had their first chance to spend time together in their outdoor exhibit, the award-winning Jaguar Cove. The two are being introduced for potential breeding as part of a Species Survival Plan effort to maintain a healthy population of this endangered species. But first, these usually solitary animals have to get to know each other... (Tip: Turn up the volume to hear an explanation of the jaguar behaviors you are seeing.) Video by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Photo of Nayla by Dennis Dow.

Posted by: Dr. Marc Ancrenaz, Hutan Asian Elephant Conservation ( Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife ) It’s no secret that much of the forest land in Sabah is being decimated in order to plant palm oil plantations —putting the Asian elephant and orangutan populations in decline due to loss of habitat. (Pictured below: a young elephant roaming in a palm oil plantation in Kinabatangan, Borneo). In 2008, Hutan began exploring the idea of developing community tree nurseries as an alternative source of income for village families. In May 2009, Hutan gave Hamidin Braim, a villager with experience in tree nurseries, a micro-loan to build a seedling collection center at his home and purchase seedlings from villagers. Hutan and Hamidin gave appropriate training to village families to collect wild seedlings of selected native tree species and raise them in plastic polybags at their homes.  Fifteen tree species were chosen, all consumed by orangutans, and known to have relatively hig...