Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Gray wolf, Shila, was a treasure and we will deeply miss her. Woodland Park Zoo is deeply saddened by the loss of its sole gray wolf, Shila (SHY-lah), who has passed away. Animal keepers found the 14-year-old, female wolf deceased this morning in her habitat. In human care, the median life expectancy for gray wolves is 11 to 12 years old. At 14, Shila was a geriatric wolf. As a standard procedure, the zoo’s animal health team will perform a postmortem exam to further diagnose factors that may have contributed to Shila’s death. Shila was born in April 2010 at New York State Zoo at Thompson Park and moved to Woodland Park Zoo in the fall that year with her three sisters who have all since passed away. Woodland Park Zoo made groundbreaking medical headway for wolves when in June this year its veterinary team partnered with an external veterinary cardiologist to implant a pacemaker in Shila to treat a

Posted by Craig Newberry, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo is welcoming a new tiger to its naturalistic Banyan Wilds habitat. Male tiger Angin (ON-yin), 14, arrived from Ellen Trout Zoo in Texas and is now roaming the zoo’s Malayan tiger habitat. Angin, which means wind in Indonesian, is the brother of Woodland Park Zoo’s other male Malayan tiger, 14-year-old Bumi (Boo-mee), which means earth in Indonesian. Tigers are solitary animals, so guests won’t see the brothers or 8-year-old Azul, the zoo’s female Malayan tiger, roaming the habitat together. All three big cats will be on a rotational schedule in the habitat. Angin weighs about 260 pounds and has been spending the last couple of weeks getting to know his new home and animal keepers. While Angin’s animal keepers have only known him for a short time, he’s already made a big impression and has a similar personality to his brother Bumi and is more reserved; he also enjoys playing in t

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Woodland Park Zoo is mourning the loss of its only female jaguar, Nayla. The big cat was humanely euthanized due to age-related degenerative decline in mobility. Nayla in 2021. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Nayla, who celebrated her 19th birthday last week, was born at Akron Zoo in Ohio and lived at Woodland Park Zoo since 2006. The life expectancy of jaguars in zoos is 18 years. Nayla in 2019. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo As a geriatric big cat, Nayla’s welfare and chronic medical conditions, including degenerative joint disease, have been closely managed by her animal caregivers and veterinary staff. This summer Nayla had an episode of neurologic deficits that caused a severe head tilt and loss of balance. After diagnostics, including an MRI and treatment, Nayla recovered from this neurologic episode and returned to the habitat, Jaguar Cove. “Recently Nayla began to display increased weakness and incoordination of h

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Editors note November 13, 2024:  Hello friends. A lot of you have been asking about our Sumatran orangutan Batu and the status of her pregnancy. Here's an update. You haven’t missed a birth announcement. Admittedly, our projected birth window was quite off. While we don’t have a clear new window for her delivery, all other indicators are good: Batu remains healthy, the fetus appears healthy, and Batu is getting regular pre-natal check-ups by our veterinary staff and weekly checks by an OBGYN. We continue to send Batu positive vibes while she remains on track. We know you are excited for her baby to arrive and we are too! Again, thank you for checking in and we hope to share some positive baby news very soon! An orangutan at Woodland Park Zoo, 14-year-old Batu, is expected to give birth soon and is nearing the end of her pregnancy, which for orangutans is nearly nine months. The birth will mark the first orangutan born at the zoo in 35 years