Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Janel Kempf, Learning and Innovation Close your eyes, and ask your early learner to do the same. Now, imagine together a few of your favorite animals in their habitats. What are you both seeing in your mind’s eye? There are so many options! An emerald tree boa draped over a branch in the steamy Amazon rainforest, an impala grazing on the vast plains of the African savanna, or a gray wolf and her family trotting through the cold forests of northern Canada—each one perfectly a part of their own environment. But what if they were in an environment that didn’t meet their needs? A bright green boa unable to hide in the dry grass of the savanna, or an impala freezing cold without a wolf’s thick coat in below-zero temperatures? It just wouldn’t work. At the zoo, we have lots of animals who wouldn’t naturally call the Pacific Northwest home. To keep them healthy and thriving, we make accommodations for them in their zoo habitats. Some of the things we do for animals are easy ...

Posted by Janel Kempf and Sofia Garcia, Learning and Innovation When you can't come to Zoomazium, Zoomazium can come to you! Plus, a bonus peacock! Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo Hello again, friends! And may we add, ¡Hola de nuevo, amigos! People here in the Pacific Northwest and all around the world speak many different languages—and very few things build the brain power of early learners more than learning more than one language from the very beginning. This week’s activity helps your early learners discover fun facts about their favorite animals, and learn a few words in a different language of your choice! Animals communicate with their voices, too. Even some you wouldn’t expect! Owls are very stealthy hunters, who rely on silence to catch their prey. But they can make sounds, and among owl species, the champions of using their voices are burrowing owls, like the zoo’s own Papú. They have more distinctly different calls than any other owl species! Papú...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo The #SeattleWatermelon has arrived. On June 10 at approximately 9:30 p.m., our Malayan tapir Ulan, gave birth to her first baby, a girl. We are in love. The gestation period for tapirs is approximately 13 months, and for Ulan, her birth window was between April and June, since we weren't exactly sure when she conceived. The average weight for calves at birth is 22 pounds, and Ulan's baby is 18 pounds. Calves are born with their eyes open and can stand within one or two hours after birth—and as you can see from these photos—baby tapirs hit their adorable watermelon benchmark right away! The newborn calf gets a quick neonatal exam by the animal health team before being reunited with mom. “These ‘watermelons on four legs’ are irresistible,” says Kevin Murphy, animal curator. “It will be curiously fun to watch her explore the public habitat, which we did our best to tapi...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo is pleased to announce that its 3-month-old male gorilla, Kitoko, is recovering and doing well. The baby western lowland gorilla sustained head injuries over Memorial Day weekend during a skirmish among his six-member family group. The infant sustained serious injuries to the head including a laceration from a bite wound, resulting in a bone fracture to the skull. Zoo animal health staff had to immobilize Uzumma, the mother of Kitoko, in order to separate the baby and take him to the zoo’s veterinary hospital. A team of pediatric neurosurgery consultants from Seattle Children’s Hospital joined the zoo’s animal health team for evaluation, to conduct the surgical exploration and to close the wound. To minimize the risk of infection, the baby had to spend a night at the zoo’s hospital for intravenous antibiotics and pain medications. He was reunited with his mom the nex...

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood Photo by ardito ryan Harrisna on Unsplash When you’ve been in one place for a while, like we all have been as we stay home and stay healthy, it’s fun to start looking closely at things you may never have noticed. And now that you’ve found some new treasures in your neighborhood, why not make a nature map? Animals all over the world need to know where things are. Sometimes they need to know where to go to get a basic need met, like food, water, or shelter. Other times, they need to know where another animal’s territory begins, so they know where not to go! Different animals have different ways of marking the places and things they need to remember. And, yes, some of those ways involve pee and poop—but not all of them! Ring-tailed lemurs at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo Ring-tailed lemur males, like the zoo’s five boys, have a spur on each wrist next to a scent gland. To mark the edges of a ...

Posted by Meghan Sawyer, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Oh baby! Add two more precious newborns to the list of recent Woodland Park Zoo offspring—a healthy set of red panda twins was just born! The twins were born May 25 to mom Hazel and dad Yukiko. Twins Ila and Zeya were the last pair of red pandas born in 2018. We have seen a number of adorable animals born and hatched recently, including gorilla Kitoko born in March, penguin chicks and scaly-sided mergansers hatched, agouti pups born in April, a pudu fawn and mountain goat both born in May, and wallaroo and wallaby joeys that are just now venturing outside of their moms’ pouches! A very tiny, newborn red panda cub is examined during an initial health check up with the veterinary team. The red panda twins are the first born at the zoo since 2018, when Hazel and Yukiko gave birth to a set of female twins which were the first red pandas born at the zoo in nearly three decades. Wi...