Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Gorillas are known for their knuckle-walking on the ground, but they are also adept at climbing when they need to navigate through trees, a sometimes surprising sight given their mass. Have you ever spotted one of our gorillas up in the trees? Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Even if you haven’t seen the crested screamer at the zoo, you almost certainly have heard it.  When these birds vocalize, it is obvious why they are named “screamer”—their double-noted trumpeting or guttural drumming can be heard up to 2 miles away! You’ll find our screamers in an exhibit near the flamingos in the Temperate Forest zone .  Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Many of you have met Kakuta Hamisi, and if you have, you won’t forget him or his incredible, inspirational stories. In his 12 years as cultural interpreter at the zoo, Kakuta has shared his stories of his life experiences growing up and engaging in conservation work in rural Kenya with nearly 100,000 zoo visitors! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo You’ve probably taken a tour with him through our African Savanna exhibit, or heard him talking out by the hippo exhibit about his work restoring waterholes in his native Kenya. And if you have met Kakuta and been inspired by his experiences, you’ll understand why it’s now so hard for us to say goodbye as he prepares to head back to Kenya for a major new step in his life—running for the Minister of Parliament position for the newly created Kajiado East Constituency that stretches from Chyulu Hills National Park to the outskirts of Nairobi City. The constituency has an estimated

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Phyllium giganteum finds protection from predators in its remarkable camouflage, colored and shaped to look exactly like a leaf. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. This insect's camouflage is so convincing, it even has notches that make it look like a leaf out of which other insects have taken small bites.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Help us name our three new, female  Visayan warty pigs and you can win up to $500! With your votes, each pig will receive a name reflecting its native habitat in the Visayan Islands of central Philippines. The contest is easy to enter: Clip out an official ballot from any copy of  The Seattle Times  from  July 22 - August 3, 2012  and vote for your favorite three names. The names are: ADLAW (sun) BULAK (flower) LASANG (forest) MAGDULA (playful) BANHAAN (nosey) GUAPA (beautiful) All ballots must be dropped off at a  participating U.S. Bank location  by August 4, 2012 . The three names with the most votes will be chosen for our Visayan warty pigs! When you cast your vote, you’ll automatically be entered to win* in our random prize drawing. The grand prize is a $500 Visa gift card courtesy of U.S. Bank and a Visayan warty pig ZooParent adoption. Two runners up will each receive a $100 Visa

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications An elephant moves its massive trunk with such precision that it can easily pick up a single piece of straw. But for those of you who have enjoyed one of our Elephant Feeding experiences , you know our elephants are far more likely to go for a whole lot of food all at once! Feed an elephant at Woodland Park Zoo! Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Don’t miss this unforgettable experience , offered daily for $5 per person through Sept. 30.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications On this wonderfully wild Wednesday , a bit of advice: avoid getting licked by a lion .  Close up of a lion's tongue. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Look at the rows and rows of sharp hooks on this lion’s tongue, designed to get meat off of bones lickety-split, and you’ll understand why this is good advice. Photo by Dennis Conner/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A hippo’s eyes, ears and nostrils are located at the top of its head to allow it to see, hear and smell even when its body is submerged in water. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. A lesser known hippo adaptation? The ability to balance watermelon.  Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications How is a meerkat like a bike? Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. A meerkat uses its long, stiff tail like a kickstand in order to balance when it stands upright.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo (modified) Our 8-month-old wallaby joey , Dargo, now fully leaves his mother’s pouch to explore around his Australasia exhibit , which he shares with other wallabies, wallaroos and emu. That’s right on cue, as this is around the age that wallaby joeys start to be weaned and gain complete independence. Photo set by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo As you can see from this great set of photos of Dargo ducking in and out of his mom’s pouch (taken last month), that independence means a significant break for mom Kiley, who has pulled triple duty as shelter, blanket and cafeteria for all these months!

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Finally, the trifecta! Kunekune pigs have arrived at the Family Farm. And that means I can finally say that this is the summer of three little pigs! Three little pigs, from left to right: African warthog now on view in the African Savanna (photo by Dennis Dow/WPZ), Visayan warty pig now on view in Elephant Forest (photo by Dennis Dow/WPZ), kunekune pig now on view in Family Farm (photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ) Unlike the two wild pig species that debuted at the zoo this May—the Visayan warty pig and African warthog—the kunekune is a domestic species, albeit a rare one, native to New Zealand. Let me guess: you’re wondering how to pronounce kunekune. Try this: “KOO-KNEE, KOO-KNEE.” The word kunekune means “fat and round” in the Māori language, which isn’t a stretch when you see these little guys. You’ll have no trouble spotting the pigs, whose mottled spots and constant snorting draw plenty of attention in the farm. The

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A giraffe's tongue is over 18 inches long and dark in color, most likely to prevent it from being sunburned as it strips leaves out in the savanna sun. You can see these adaptations up close when you participate in one of our unforgettable  Giraffe Feeding Experiences ! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham and Gigi Allianic, Communications We’re deeply saddened to share this news with you: One of our precious snow leopard triplets did not survive his turbulent first weeks. The now six-week-old cubs have been well cared for by their mother Helen in their behind the scenes maternal den, but each of the cubs has displayed health concerns that have caused our keepers and vet staff to go into overdrive trying to help the cubs pull through these challenges. Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult but humane decision to euthanize the male cub yesterday after we determined that the little guy had multiple, severe heart defects that were causing early heart failure. Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo’s Director of Animal Health, tells us that it’s very rare to encounter disease concerns in the zoo’s newborn animals that are too severe for modern medicine to overcome, but in this case, there were no surgical or drug treatment options available. As you can im

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Remember our little penguin hero , the boy who spotted an abandoned Humboldt penguin egg in our exhibit and alerted a keeper to its need for rescue? Despite our all-points bulletin to locate him and thank him for his effort, we never found him after two months of searching. But we won’t let his act go unrecognized even if his identity remains a mystery! So we decided to honor our little hero by naming the penguin chick Ramón, a Spanish name that means “protector.” Ramón is now two months old and is thriving behind the scenes. His rocky start as an abandoned egg put his survival at peril, but thanks to the little boy’s call for help, penguin keeper Celine Pardo was able to rescue the egg before a crow or gull could snatch it. The egg was given to a pair of foster parents who took it in and successfully hatched it days after the rescue. The chick is old enough to start some training so he now works with his zookeepers behind the sce

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Pike Place Market. Fishmongers. Salmon. Grizzly bears. Woodland Park Zoo. Rain. This isn’t a game of Pacific Northwest word association—it’s a recipe for a rockin’ good time down at the Northern Trail this morning! Our friends from world famous Pike Place Fish Market brought their signature fish-tossing skills to our grizzly bear exhibit today at a media teaser for this Saturday’s Bear Affair presented by Brown Bear Car Wash event. The fishmongers planted themselves safely at the edge of the exhibit—a massive moat stood between them and the bears, don’t worry!—and got to tossing while grizzly brothers Keema and Denali looked on. The first few tosses of the 6-pound salmon were just for practice, though the bears seemed like they were hoping for a slip-up that would land a salmon in their direction. But once the rhythm got going among the fishmongers—tossing the salmon over the heads of dozens of school chil

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications River otters sometimes swim in circles, creating a whirlpool.  The maneuver pays off--the whirlpool brings up fish that were hiding on the bottom of the river or lake, making for easier snacking.   Photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A snow leopard’s spots are a thing of beauty, and in this case, that beauty is skin-deep. That's because the pigmented spots go beyond the furry surface and are actually part of the snow leopard's skin itself. You can see it here in this shaved patch on one of our snow leopard cubs . The cubs each had a tiny patch shaved during their first health exam to help zookeepers tell them apart on the internal web cam we use to monitor mom and cubs. Notice how the rosette on the shaved patch continues from fur to skin. Snow leopard spots aren’t just for looking pretty. They provide critical camouflage for these hunters, allowing them to blend into their rocky environment as they stalk prey. However, that camouflage and slinky elusiveness also make them difficult to study in the wild! That’s why our conservation partners at the Snow Leopard Trust use hidden cameras that are motion-activated to snap photos of

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We have three little secrets to share: Triplet snow leopards were born on May 2! The precious cubs, born to 7-year-old mother Helen and 6-year-old father Tom, have been tucked away under mom’s close care in a behind-the-scenes den. Today marked the first day our keepers and vets were able to access the cubs for a quick health exam—which means it was also the very first opportunity we had to take photos. At 2-weeks-old, the cubs are a healthy weight, ranging between 2.1 and 2.4 pounds.   We were able to determine that we’ve got two females and one male on our hands. Snow leopard cubs are born with their eyes closed, and our little trio is just starting to open their eyes. After the brief exam, the cubs were quickly returned to mom who is taking excellent care of them. This is her second litter of cubs, and that maternal experience is paying off. She’s nurturing the three cubs very wel