Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Craig Newberry, Communications Ahhhh ... a fresh and delicious cup of conservation coffee! Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo You can sip a world of good with this conservation coffee! Beginning tomorrow, September 6, a limited offering of Tree Kangaroo Conservation Coffee is available for purchase at Woodland Park Zoo and Caffe Vita! The delicious brew is a collaboration between Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) and Caffe Vita. Sourced directly from farmers in Papua New Guinea (PNG), these 100% Arabica varietal beans, roasted by Caffe Vita, are grown under the shade of tree canopy in village gardens across 400,000 acres of protected forest in the YUS Conservation Area, named for the Yopno, Uruwa and Som rivers that flow through it. This special coffee from PNG helps protect endangered Matschie's tree kangaroos and the forests they live in. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo “This coffee is fully traceable; we know the f...

Posted by Meghan Sawyer, Communications Woodland Park Zoo’s baby Matschie’s tree kangaroo is now venturing out of his mother’s pouch! In time, the joey named Ecki will leave the pouch permanently as he grows more confident and independent. Tree kangaroo joey, Ecki, peeks out of his mother's pouch. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo “Ecki” is named after a beloved elder from one of the remote Papua New Guinea villages that works with Woodland Park Zoo to help protect tree kangaroos and their habitat. The joey and his mother, 11-year-old Elanna, live behind the scenes in an off-view habitat at the zoo. A joey’s journey  While Ecki is just now being introduced to the world, he was actually born eight months ago. When joeys are born, they’re only the size of a jelly bean! Within just one to two minutes of birth, that tiny baby has to crawl from the birth canal, through the mother’s fur, and into the pouch to immediately begin nursing. That’s exactly what Eck...

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications Photos by Ryan Hawk/ Woodland Park Zoo It's April in Seattle which means weather. Lots of weather. Along with springtime blooms, the earth-soaked scent of petrichor and dancing under rainbows, there is yet another reason to love this season...an excuse to stock up on your favorite PNG YUS coffee! PNG YUS coffee is now available at both ZooStores and Caffe Vita shops around Seattle! Photo courtesy of www.caffevita.com. AROMA: Guava, hazelnut, orange zest FLAVOR: Honey, sugarcane BODY: Smooth CONSERVATION CONNECTION: A+ Caffe Vitta has been partnering with Woodland Park Zoo's Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) for over four years, and each batch of sustainable coffee tastes better than the last. Grown in the remote cloud forests of Huon Penensula, Papua New Guinea, the coffee plants thrive under native shade and the care of farmers who are proud to support local conservation. The coffee you buy can help save...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Did you know that whenever you buy a 12 oz. bag of Caffe Vita's Zoo Special Reserve coffee, Caffe Vita donates $1 of every purchase to Woodland Park Zoo? We love their commitment to helping the environment, which is why we serve this shade-grown, organic and Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee here at the zoo, too! Coffee : Grizzlies :: Catnip : Cats. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Now through the month of October, when you buy a 12 oz. bag of Zoo Special Reserve at any Caffe Vita location, you will automatically be entered to win a Woodland Park Zoo Family Fun Pack good for two adult and two child zoo admission tickets to keep or to share! We recommend drinking the coffee, but the grizzlies have other ideas about the best way to use those grounds.

Posted by: Hilary Aten, Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (Woodland Park Zoo  Partner for Wildlife ) A home in the remote forests of Papua New Guinea’s Huon Peninsula. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. In the remote forests of Papua New Guinea’s Huon Peninsula, we’re brewing up something exciting with subsistence farmers—the first coffee you’ll ever have the chance to drink from this region. Freshly picked coffee cherries. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. More than a tasty drink, this coffee is on a mission: to create a better life for the villagers of Papua New Guinea who have pledged their own land to conservation. What’s the story behind this project? Map of Papua New Guinea showing the YUS Conservation Area on the Huon Peninsula. Back in 2009, the indigenous clans of the Huon Peninsula worked with Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) to make history , pledging parcels of their own land to p...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Keema and Denali stop to sniff each other after rolling around in coffee grounds. Keema and Denali may not have known the world was watching, but they still put on quite the show Wednesday when we broadcast a special bear enrichment session through our newly relaunched Bear Cam . The 17-year-old grizzly bear brothers received beehive and hornet’s nest-shaped piñatas Wednesday. While it took staff almost a week to put the piñatas together, it took the bears just minutes to destroy them! Inside the beehive piñatas, the bears found some of their favorite fruit treats including honeydew, apples, grapes and pears. The hornet’s nest contained a pocket of honey that the bears lapped up. Coffee grounds : bears :: catnip : cats Scattered around the space were coffee grounds from Caffé Vita . Why coffee grounds? Since the bears have a strong sense of smell, such a pungent treat is extremely attractive and stimulating to them. The b...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Take a sip for a cause. Pick up a bag of the all new Zoo Special Reserve coffee at any Seattle Caffé Vita store and your daily cup of home-brewed joe will support Woodland Park Zoo and our work in animal care , conservation and education . That’s because for every bag of Zoo Special Reserve purchased at Caffé Vita, $1 will be donated to Woodland Park Zoo! The Zoo Special Reserve coffee is well-balanced with aromas of cocoa and hazelnuts. It has a smooth, clean and sweet flavor. But more than being good to drink, it’s also good to the planet. The eco-friendly coffee originates from a farm in the Santa Rosa district of Guatemala and is shade-grown, organic and Rainforest Alliance-certified. The farmers who grow this coffee promote biodiversity by setting aside over forty percent of their land as a nature reserve, which protects the habitats of native tropical animals and birds such as gray foxes, armadillos, anteaters, parrots and butte...