Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photo and video by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Brown bear cub, Juniper, and grizzly bear cub, Fern, are exploring their outdoor habitat together, and it’s double trouble, double adorable! Juniper’s presence has helped Fern acclimate to her new home much faster than usual. “Fern is responding to behavioral training and is making herself at home. Having Juniper here has truly helped,” said Erin Sullivan, an animal curator at Woodland Park Zoo. “The cubs are fast becoming best buds and Juniper has taken Fern under her wing. Zoo-goers are going to really enjoy watching the cubs grow, play and get into mischief together.” The naturalistic setting for the brown bears in the Living Northwest Trail offers a wealth of enrichment including a braided, flowing stream; a bear-sized swimming pool with live fish; exhibit “furniture” such as rocks for basking in the sun; tree stumps that make great scratching posts; browse and novel scents; and a q...

Posted by Craig Newberry, Communications It's official! You can now come see Tandie the lion in our African Savanna lion habitat. The 8-year-old male, who first stole the heart of Seattle as a cub, has spent the last few weeks acclimating to his new home and animal keepers. And now he's ready to show off for guests in the public side of his habitat. Tandie is back! Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Tandie, whose name means fire, was born as a triplet at Woodland Park Zoo in 2014 to parents Adia and Xerxes. The big cat arrived back in Seattle last month after living at Oakland Zoo since 2016. And he's not alone; he shares the spotlight with female Ilanga, 5. The pair have been getting to know each other and are getting along well. “This has been a big adjustment for both Tandie and Ilanga, but they’re both getting along really well. It will be exciting to see how their relationship continues to develop,” said Kim Szawan, an animal care manager at Woodland Park ...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, Woodland Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo’s newest bear cub, a female grizzly, is growing and thriving, and she now has a name. Culturally resonating with the abundance of fern throughout the Pacific Northwest, the cub’s name is Fern! Fern was named by special friends of the zoo. Maryanne Tagney and David Jones are longtime supporters of Woodland Park Zoo's conservation efforts. Maryanne's active role in Northwest conservation issues and environmental politics for more than 30 years has moved the needle on the zoo’s ability to preserve and recover landscapes and learn to coexist with wildlife. "We were honored to be asked to name little Fern, the zoo’s adorable new rescued grizzly cub! She is a living and breathing example of the critical wildlife conservation work that we have been supporting since the zoo first created the Living Northwest Conservation Program,” said Tagney. “We were delighted to arran...

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications with Animal Keeper Allison Barr Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Keema! The big grizzly puts on quite a show while splashing in the bear pool, 2022. Since Juniper the brown bear cub joined the Living Northwest Trail in July , the little floof has been grabbing the attention of visitors and has amassed quite a following on certain social platforms, ahem #cutestbearcubinthewholeworld, but all along folks have been asking after Keema, our older grizzly bear too. Keema is still our favorite (we can have more than one), and we're so happy to see his fan club is still going strong. There were lots of questions about how Keema was doing after losing Denali (his brother who passed away in 2020), what he would think of Juniper and the new cub , and how the older bear is doing in his golden years. We asked dedicated animal keeper Allison Barr a few questions about the big guy and her answers will make you fall even more in love with K...