Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications In case you missed our keeper spotlight on  Instagram (@woodlandparkzoo)  last week, here’s an inside look at what it’s like to work with snakes, lizards and turtles as part of Woodland Park Zoo’s reptile and amphibian team. Hey everyone, we'd like to introduce you to Alyssa Borek, lead keeper on our reptile and amphibian team. Alyssa is a herpetologist—an expert in caring for our turtles, snakes, frogs and lizards. We're going to hand you over to Alyssa today for an up-close look at what it takes to care for these amazing creatures. Enjoy! Alyssa Borek with a flowerbox turtle. Photo by Peter Miller. Hi everyone, thanks for following me along today as I show you a few really cool parts of being a zookeeper and working with herps. In this photo, I am holding one of my favorite turtles here at Woodland Park Zoo!  This is one of our female flowerback box turtles, or as I refer to them, Cuora galbinifrons .  These...

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications In 1973, two very special creatures had just arrived at Woodland Park Zoo. The pair of dwarf crocodiles were just 5 years old when they settled into what would become their swampy Seattle home. The calm, cool and ever-chill crocodiles became iconic residents of the Day Exhibit, greeting visitors with their toothy grins for over 44 years. The unmistakably toothy grin of a dwarf croc. Photo by Kirsten Pisto, Woodland Park Zoo. If you were one of those visitors, you might recall them basking under the heat lamp in their grotto or catching a treat or two during Sunday feedings. But more than likely what you remember is a feeling of Zen. Simply being in their presence often inspired visitors to slow down and relax. Now, at 49 years old, the pair has embarked on a new adventure, retiring where many Americans choose to spend their golden years: sunny Florida. While we may have shed a few tears at the thought of them leaving (not c...

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Resilient frogs, lizards, and turtles show that life goes on after surviving the December fire that damaged the Day and Night exhibit building where they resided. Since being safely evacuated from the building through a heroic effort by Seattle Fire Department and the zoo’s animal care staff , a pair of tiger-legged monkey frogs has produced 50 tadpoles—a first-time breeding at the zoo for this species. Watch the video: A Sign of Hope After Woodland Park Zoo Fire “We observed the monkey frogs in a ‘love embrace’ on Christmas Eve. The fact that these animals could breed and reproduce after a fire and being placed in temporary housing is a testimony to the excellent care and dedication provided by our animal care staff. This is wonderful news and a sign of hope after the fire,” said Jennifer Pramuk, PhD, animal curator and an expert in reptiles and amphibians at Woodland Park Zoo. In addition, shield-tailed agamas (lizards fo...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor with Jennifer Pramuk, PhD, Curator Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Little bigger than a penny, a flowerback box turtle hatched at Woodland Park Zoo on May 7, 2016. This is the third hatching success of this critically endangered species at the zoo, each one a triumph in the fight against extinction. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. The common name for this turtle refers to the beautiful colors and ornate designs on its carapace. Native to China, Vietnam and Laos, it is endangered because it is desired as an ingredient in some traditional medicines and for the pet trade. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Turtles have been around for 220 million years and survived the massive extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. Yet these ancient survivors are now going extinct faster than any other group of terrestrial vertebrates. Almost 50% of known turtle species are listed as threatened with ex...

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Video and photos by: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Every four years, Leap Day occurs on the 29th of February to round out our Gregorian calendars. With 6 extra hours accumulating each year, Leap Day serves as an “extra” day to make up for our not-exactly-even trips around the sun.  To help fill your 24 leaping hours, we bring you a closer look at the anatomy of a leap. With a little help from some very special creatures, a slow motion camera and a lot of patience (have you ever tried directing a frog?) here is a closer look at what it takes to leap. A frog’s leap can make the difference in its survival, the difference in becoming prey or catching prey. With a myriad of potential predators, including birds, fox, cats, snakes and people, as well as a host of elusive prey such as crickets, spiders, worms and fish—it’s no wonder frogs have mastered the art of a fast leap. Whether in an attempt to elude a predator or ca...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor A spoonful of sugar was Mary Poppins’ trick, but it’s a plateful of bananas that makes the medicine go down for our Asian brown tortoise. Watch: How does a tortoise take its medicine?  Produced by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren with additional footage by Alyssa Borek. Just like you might put your pet’s pill inside a pocket of food, zookeepers find creative ways to get our 1,000+ animals to willingly take their medicine when needed. It’s not always an easy task! Faced with the challenge of administering a liquid dose of parasite treatment to a tortoise, Day Exhibit keeper Alyssa Borek had an idea to get the animal’s cooperation. She cut up chunks of banana, hollowed out the insides, lined the chunks up on a little plate and poured the liquid medicine into the cores. The results are messy. Yet effective. Now that the medicine has been gobbled up, we’ve sent fecal samples off to the lab and we’ll get results soon to determine if the tre...

Posted by Caileigh Robertson, Communications Aruba Island rattlesnake. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Behind the scenes of Woodland Park Zoo’s Day Exhibit—home to timid tree ‘roos, slow-moving tortoises and venomous snakes—is a refrigerator full of antivenom, life-saving treatments for less fortunate encounters with poisonous reptiles and amphibians. While snake bites are (thankfully!) a rarity among Woodland Park Zoo keepers, doctors at the Washington Poison Center have witnessed their fair share of poisonous bites. Dr. Jenny Pramuk tours Washington Poison Center and Harborview staff around the zoo's snake collection. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Recently, Woodland Park Zoo’s curator, Jenny Pramuk, welcomed Washington Poison Center and Harborview staff on a tour through the Day Exhibit, to see up-close the zoo’s most venomous animals and behind-the-scenes antivenom supply. The zoo partners with Harborview Medical Center on performing venomous snake b...

Posted by: Peter Miller, Zookeeper with Katrina Lindahl, Horticulturist Woodland Park Zoo provides a home for the critically endangered—animals and plants alike. After local authorities confiscated a number of endangered succulent plants, seized from a collector who illegally dug them up from their native habitats, we are proud to step in and provide the plants with a second chance to thrive. Here, keepers and horticulturists work closely together all the time to choose plants for exhibits and zoo grounds. We look at factors like overlapping native ranges of plants and animals, connections in their natural history, and potential toxicity of plants to animals when making choices.  Using these parameters, we have found appropriate new homes for the plants, all of which are listed as protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). These wonderful specimens have been incorporated into geographically-appropriate animal exhibits within the zoo’s...

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications House Slytherin forever! Vine snake checks out the camera. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. Witches, werewolves and snakes? Let’s face it, snakes get a bad rap. Perhaps more than any other creature, snakes are the subject of much fear and misunderstanding. Like bats , spiders and all things deemed crawly, snakes are unfairly categorized as “creepy.” Slip into any Halloween shop and you’ll find snake motifs among the Draculas and the Swamp Things. In truth, snakes are vital to a diverse range of ecosystems on every continent (except Antarctica). While there are some snakes that pose a threat to humans, the majority of the 3,400 species of snake are harmless, only about 15% are venomous. One reason we fear snakes could, in part, be biological. This article explains how our primate neurons might respond to an image of a snake. I can personally recall my usually very level-headed mother flinging my little brother off a hiking trail in the face of a...