Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Yesterday our 3-year-old, female red panda underwent a full physical examination by our animal health team as part of our preventive care program for all animals at the zoo. The routine check-up included a weigh-in, blood work and radiographs. The healthy red panda came in at 27 pounds. As part of our efforts in the Red Panda Species Survival Plan, this female will be paired with our 6-year-old male in an off-view area for their upcoming breeding season in the winter. Since these two have never had any offspring before, their genes are particularly valuable to maintaining genetic diversity in the red panda population. In the wild, fewer than 10,000 red pandas remain in their native habitat of bamboo forests in China, the Himalayas and Myanmar. Their numbers are declining due to deforestation, increased agriculture and cattle grazing, and continuing pressure from growing local populations. We can all do our part to help reduce our impact on wil

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Zoo Corps teen interns Garrett Brenden and Ariel Thompson stood at the edge of a pond in a south Puget Sound protected wildlife area yesterday and released from their hands something precious…hope for the endangered western pond turtle. Garrett (shown above) and Ariel have been working alongside zookeepers to raise 76 western pond turtles behind the scenes at the zoo as part of a headstart program to recover their wild population. Turtle hatchlings are collected from the wild then raised here until they are around 2 ounces—large enough to escape the mouths of bullfrogs and large-mouth bass—giving them an edge on surviving in the wild. Each summer, we take trips to several protected wildlife areas and release these headstarted turtles back into the wild where we continue to monitor them. Since starting the program in 1991, we’ve seen the population of western pond turtles grow from a dangerously low 150 to now 1,500—a positive sign that this c

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’ve been watching the counter on our YouTube channel for the last few days waiting for the magical moment, and it’s finally here—we’ve reached 10 million video views! It all started back in 2006 when we launched our YouTube channel and one of our very first videos, “Cute Baby Tiger,” remains our most popular video to date: Now more than 60 videos later, we want to take the time to thank you all for watching and sharing our stories about the amazing animals at Woodland Park Zoo and the work we do to provide excellent animal care, conserve animals and habitats around the world, and provide engaging, educational experiences. We could not have done it without you! What animal or zoo topic would you like to see a video on next?

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Yesterday concluded National Zookeeper Week—a time to recognize and thank all the amazing keepers here at Woodland Park Zoo and beyond. They work hard every day to care for and enrich the lives of zoo animals , help to save and protect their wild counterparts, and connect with zoo visitors during their talks and public programs inspiring them to learn, care and act on behalf of wildlife everywhere. At our annual zookeeper week lunch, curator Nancy Hawkes announced the winner of the 2010 Keeper of the Year award—John Samaras. If you are a regular zoo blog reader, you have seen glimpses of John in our photos of the penguin chicks behind the scenes. That’s just one part of the fascinating and rewarding work he does at the zoo. What is it like to be a zookeeper? Read our Q&A with John: 1.) How long have you been a zookeeper? When did you start working at Woodland Park Zoo? I started in the zoo field in 1997 in maintenance at the Akron Zoo an

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Since we launched the first-of-its-kind GPS-enabled zoo iPhone app back in October 2009, we've received many requests for an Android version. We've been working hard the last few months with our partners at AVAI Mobile Solutions, and the Android version is finally here and ready to download! The app functions the same as the iPhone version with useful features to help plan your trip and enhance your visit on grounds, including: - GPS-enabled zoo map with “Near Me” recommendations for animal exhibits, play areas, concession stands and restrooms - daily schedule of zoo activities including zookeeper talks and children’s programs - educational animal fact sheets with multimedia including video, photo and sound files - special promotional offers redeemable at concession stands - zoo news and happenings - easy access to Facebook and Twitter so you can share your zoo experience To see the mobile app in action (demonstrated on an iPhone), wa

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re still winding down from our 34th annual Jungle Party , held last Friday on the zoo’s North Meadow with nearly a thousand zoo supporters in attendance. What a party! Even in the heat, we enjoyed dining al fresco with up-close animal encounters and tours, while the graceful Versatile Arts aerialists entertained. This year’s theme, “Big Claws, Big Cause,” commemorated the felines living at the zoo such as snow leopards, jaguars and Sumatran tigers. And our guests must have been inspired by the theme, because some ferocious bidding on our amazing auction items helped bring our fundraising total to $1.7 million—exceeding our goal by $300,000! Jungle Partiers were especially moved by the animal care focus of our Fund-Our-Future effort this year, with a record-breaking $832,000 (of the $1.7 million raised) dedicated to the fund which will help us support the zoo’s exceptional animal and veterinary care and exhibit upgrades. The funds will go

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications You cast the votes, we tallied (for hours and hours!), and it’s decided. Today we revealed the names you selected for our new mob of four female and four male meerkats—though the meerkats were far more interested in the watermelon enrichment they received as part of our Red, White & Zoo celebration! The winning names, in order of most votes received: ZIMBA (Zambian town) NATA (southern African river) MOLOPO (southern African river) KIWANO (Kalahari fruit) KALAHARI (African desert) DINAWA (“beans” in Tswana) ACACIA (African tree) NGAMI (lake in Botswana) We received more than 2,600 ballots through our naming contest presented by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times that ran from June 1-June 15. You had the chance to select up to eight of your favorite names from 16 choices that reflected the meerkats’ native southern African habitat. We counted more than 16,600 individual votes in total for the different names! Big thanks to you all for voting

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Eating fish and swimming around come naturally to our Humboldt penguin chicks . But to make sure they are getting the best possible diet and are comfortable and confident in their surroundings, our keepers are currently giving the chicks some one-on-one attention behind the scenes before they join the adults out on exhibit. The two oldest chicks , hatched April Fool’s Day and Easter Sunday, have lost their downy feathers and now have waterproof feathers for swimming. To get them used to being in water, the chicks have round-the-clock access to a shallow pool behind the scenes at the exhibit, where they can practice floating and swimming. And while eating is no problem for these chicks, they do now have to learn how to accept fish directly from their keepers like all the adult penguins do. Hand feeding is especially useful because it allows the keepers to keep track of just how much each bird is eating as well as ensuring that each individual r

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications You can call the meerkats cute, you can call them curious—and soon, you can call them by the names that you give them. We’re kicking off a meerkat naming contest today and the mob got in on the fun by “casting” the first votes (which mostly involved them exploring and playing with a ballot box!). Now it’s your turn. Our “Name the Meerkats” contest, sponsored by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times, starts today with an awesome grand prize of a trip for four to San Diego! We have selected 16 names that reflect the meerkats’ native southern African habitat and now it is your turn to cast your vote for up to eight of your favorites. Just pick up your ballot at any participating U.S. Bank location , in The Seattle Times, on zoo grounds, or on our contest website and drop it off at any participating U.S. Bank now through June 15 to enter to win*. The eight highest vote getters from the following choices will become the new names for our four male and fo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Our not-so-tiny-anymore snow leopard cubs Gobi (now 65 lb) and Batu (now 56 lb) turned 1 year old this week! We celebrated their birthday with two incredible paper-mâché “cakes” for the cubs made by one of our very talented staff members (Thanks, Regina!). Keepers put the cakes out into the exhibit space while the cats were behind the scenes. But once the snow leopards came out, it took just seconds for them to spot and sniff the fun, new enrichment in their exhibit and pounce! The crowd of school kids and visitors encouraged them with chants, “Get it! Get it!” And they all thrilled to see mom Helen and the cubs stomp, bite, shred, and roll those cakes down the hill—leaving quite a mess behind! But what’s a birthday party without a little mess? We’ll continue celebrating Gobi, Batu and the majestic species they represent with our annual Snow Leopard Day event coming up on August 14. The cubs were born last year as part of the Species Surviva

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We introduced you last week to our newest addition —the baby pudu now on exhibit in the Temperate Forest biome at Woodland Park Zoo. Here is footage of her at one-week old getting her check-up from vets and then exploring the exhibit. This birth is significant for our Species Survival Plan efforts for this endangered species. The newborn female is the sixth offspring between her 12-year-old mother and 10-year-old father. Video produced by Ryan Hawk, script by Hannah Letinich, voiced by Celeste Sabers/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The pudu is the smallest deer in the world. A baby pudu then is, well, tiny. See for yourself: This tiny pudu female was born over the weekend at the zoo and we joined the vets, keepers and members of the press today for the neonatal exam of the baby. It was a quick exam that went well, and then baby rejoined her mother back on exhibit near the flamingos in the Temperate Forest area of the zoo. You can see them out on exhibit now, though you’ll have to look closely as these small babies are often well concealed by their mothers to protect them from predation. Not familiar with this animal? The pudu, pronounced POO-doo, is the smallest deer in the world, native to South America. At the zoo, we house southern pudus, which range in the wild throughout the lower Andes of Chile and southwest Argentina. Natural habitat for the endangered pudu continues to diminish due to overpopulation, clearing of land for agriculture, logging, hunting and other h

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Here’s your chance to get more involved in the zoo blog! We dedicate a lot of blog space to telling you our inside scoop on the zoo. But we know that you all have some great scoop too. Our members and frequent visitors know some of the best tips for making the most of the Woodland Park Zoo experience. You know the best times to go, the preferred picnic areas, the prime parking spots, the best exhibits for kids, the classes you can't miss, the tastiest menu items and so much more. (Here's a tip posted by Kiki on May 10, 2010: “Best time to go is first thing in the morning. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch the keepers crossing the giraffes from the barns into the savanna, which gets you really close up to the animals.”) Now we’ve created a section of this blog dedicated to your best tips. You can give a tip or get a tip under our new “Zoo visitor tips” tab located in the sub-header of our blog. Just click on that tab ( or this link )

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’ve been thinking about the things that make meerkats special, and their distinctive moves—scurrying to burrows or acting as sentinels—really stand out. And now, we honor those moves with some dance moves of our own! Presenting…“Do the Meerkute” Show us how you “Do the Meerkute.” Download the free mp3 (recognize that voice? It’s The Presidents of the United States of America’s Chris Ballew!) and make your own dance video. Then submit it as a video response to our  YouTube video . Full instructions are available on our website . Of course, the meerkats are more than just cute —and we encourage you to come see them for yourself and learn all about their social structure and amazing adaptations. Don’t miss their debut on May 1 with opening day festivities including live music, meerkat-themed giveaways, keeper talks, crafts and more. We hope to see you there! Video credits: Producer: WONGDOODY, Seattle; Composer: Eric Englehorn; Voc

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The much-anticipated BECU ZooTunes presented by Carter Subaru summer concert series is back for its 27th season! Be ready for a stellar line-up of performers. The concert series starts Sunday, June 27 with Grammy-nominee Jewel and runs for 10 extraordinary concerts, ending with Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project on Sunday, August 29 — with an incredible line-up of artists in between. Tickets go on sale 8:00 a.m., Monday, May 3 at local Metropolitan Market locations and at the zoo. 6/27 Jewel with Radney Foster ($28) 6/30 Steve Earle with special guest Joe Ely ($21) 7/14 Carbon Leaf ($24) 7/18 The Round 62 at the Zoo: A multi-arts collaborative show featuring Star Anna, Damien Jurado, and many more ($15) 7/21 Jimmy Cliff with Trevor Hall ($24) 7/29 Great Big Sea ($22) 8/3 Mary Chapin Carpenter / Shawn Colvin ($24) 8/11 The Levon Helm Band with Joe Pug ($26) 8/25 John Hiatt & The Combo ($22) 8/29 Herbie Hancock’s

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Here's the first video of the newly hatched Humboldt penguin chick. Turn up the sound to find out what the keepers are looking for during this quick checkup: And here's some exciting news--this chick now has a sibling, hatched on Easter Sunday! Penguin keepers are weighing the chicks each day for the first week after hatching to ensure acceptable weight gains while allowing the parents to raise their chicks and gain experience as parents. In zoos and in the wild, both penguin parents take turns incubating the eggs and caring for their young. It will be early summer before the penguin chicks emerge from the nesting burrows and venture outdoors into the public exhibit. We'll post updates periodically as the chicks grow. Video produced by Ryan Hawk, narration by Katie Norton/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications It has been 10 years since we’ve had meerkats at the zoo, but come May 1 this year, we’ll be welcoming them back with the debut of an all new “mob” of eight in an indoor exhibit in the Adaptations Building. Last week we had a chance to meet the eight meerkats moving to Woodland Park Zoo. True to their reputation, the meerkats were active, loud and inquisitive! But we managed to snap a few shots through all the action. The exhibit, presented by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times, will open on May 1 with festivities. Right now, we’re busy molding the play area where kids will get to experience the meerkat life—crawling through burrows and playing sentinel to look out for predators. Inside the exhibit, our staff designers are recreating a semi-arid savanna habitat for the mongooses. Though it is not a huge exhibit, it will be one of the most exciting with such energetic animals—especially when we begin daily bug feedings in the summer, which will

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A rescued and rehabilitated golden eagle named Ranger will be the newest addition to the zoo’s Raptor Center, and today, he received a full physical examination by our Animal Health staff as part of the standard quarantine process for new animals. Ranger is estimated to be between three and five years old, and has been through a lot in his time. He came under the care of Yakima’s Raptor House Rehabilitation Center in 2008 when he was discovered with wing and leg injuries after sustaining electrical shock and later being struck by a vehicle. He also tested positive for lead poisoning. Eagles can unintentionally ingest lead fragments when feeding on animals that were shot. Poisoning also can occur through bioaccumulation when many animals killed by lead bullets are eaten. Due to his injuries, he cannot be released back into the wild, but we’re excited to welcome him to Woodland Park Zoo and to provide him with a safe, long-term home and excell

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Recently, jaguars Nayla and Junior had their first chance to spend time together in their outdoor exhibit, the award-winning Jaguar Cove. The two are being introduced for potential breeding as part of a Species Survival Plan effort to maintain a healthy population of this endangered species. But first, these usually solitary animals have to get to know each other... (Tip: Turn up the volume to hear an explanation of the jaguar behaviors you are seeing.) Video by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Photo of Nayla by Dennis Dow.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications If you enjoy the beauty of the Woodland Park Rose Garden , here’s your chance to get the secrets of this garden… Check out the free rose pruning demonstration at the garden this Saturday, February 27, from noon to 3:00 p.m. Hosted by the Seattle Rose Society , the demonstration will include many annual rose pruning practices such as where to cut, how much to cut, how to use your tools properly, and respective pruning techniques for different types of roses. We’ll also be on hand to discuss Woodland Park Zoo’s organic management and integrated pest management techniques used in the Rose Garden. The Rose Garden is free to visit year round and located near the zoo’s South Entrance at N. 50th Street and Fremont Ave. N. Get info on hours and parking on our website . Photos by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.