Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re counting down the zoo stories that made us smile, made us care, and made us take action this year. From fuzzy new faces at the zoo, to scaly new additions to the wild, all of these stories have been made possible because of your support. Thanks for an amazing 2012, and here’s to going wild in 2013! 12. Snowpocalypse Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Remember Snowpocalypse 2012 ? The year got off to a snowy start, and—despite having to close the zoo for safety—we caught a number of zoo animals having fun romping around in the snow. 11. Turtles take a wild journey Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. When we released 90 native western pond turtles to a South Puget Sound protected habitat, it was the story of turtle "2"  that brought home the big hope riding on these tiny turtles. Hope for an endangered species, hope for a recovering habitat, and hope for people finding a way to live sustainab

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Snow leopards can leap up to 30 feet. That’s great for pouncing on prey but it is also useful when making your way around the rocky terrain these Central Asian animals call home. Photo by Dale Unruh/Woodland Park Zoo. You need serious jumping skills to navigate your way across ravines and between cliffs.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications During digestion, microorganisms in the stomach of a ruminant (cud chewer) produce heat. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. This helps keep mountain goats warm during the winter, and is probably the reason they rest on snow in their alpine habitat during the summer.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications With its long neck, trilling whistle, and stunning feather display that looks like eyes peering through the night, the sunbittern is one of the most elegant birds to call Woodland Park Zoo home. So picture that elegance-to-be when you see how it all starts: Top: Sunbittern chick at one day old. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. | Bottom: An adult sunbittern displays its eye-like feathers at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. This little sunbittern hatched on November 20, the first sunbittern hatchling at Woodland Park Zoo in close to 15 years. At one day old, the chick is covered in fluffy down feathers not unlike the texture of the towel it sits on here. Adult feathers begin to grow in after 3 weeks. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Sunbittern babies at zoos are fairly rare, with probably only around 10 new hatchings a year at best. The hatchings are carefully planned as part of the Spec

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Lion cubs at three weeks old. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Lion momma Adia continues to do a great job behind the scenes caring for her four little cubs who turn three weeks old this Thursday. Adia is a conscientious groomer, which is a lot of work with four kitties on your hands (err, paws). The cubs are two weeks old in this video . Video by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Later this week we’ll attempt the first veterinary check-up on the cubs to get a better assessment of their overall health and growth progress. Three weeks old. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Keepers have been giving Adia the option to shift into her outdoor exhibit and away from the cubs for a few minutes a day, which helps to normalize the routine for her. That way when it is time for the vet check-up, Adia will be comfortable with shifting outside, allowing us brief access to the cubs for a lightning fast exam. Cub pile! Photo by

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo. Flippers aren’t designed to hold paint brushes, so when zookeepers wanted to give our Humboldt penguins the chance to paint, we had to go kindergarten style and just get messy. We held a painting session yesterday for penguin trio Mojito, Cortez and Ramón to produce artwork that will be available for purchase tomorrow at the Puget Sound - American Association of Zoo Keepers  annual holiday auction . Painting is a new form of enrichment for our penguins,though it is something we have done with other animals around the zoo for years. Asian elephant Chai has been painting for 13 years now, and her painting will also be available at the auction. Chai paints inside the Elephant Barn. Photo by Caileigh Robertson/Woodland Park Zoo. Follow @woodlandparkzoo on Instagram. Painting works as a great enrichment opportunity for animals like orangutans, bringing out their natural t

Posted by: Gigi Allianic and Rebecca Whitham, Communications Good things happen to those who wait, and we’ve been awaiting this good thing for 20 years—the birth of lions at Woodland Park Zoo! Our 3-year-old South African lion Adia gave birth last night to four cubs following a gestation period of 109 days. This is the first litter for mom Adia and 13-year-old father Hubert, and it’s also the first litter born at the zoo since 1991. Right now the cubs are with mom in an off-view maternity den where the new family can bond in a hushed, comfortable environment. Our expert keepers and veterinarian staff are closely monitoring the litter via an internal web cam to ensure Adia is providing excellent maternal care and the cubs are properly nursing. The first 48 to 72 hours after a birth are critical, particularly among mammals. Adia is a first-time mother so naturally there is concern, but we are cautiously optimistic she will instinctively provide attentive materna

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications When you’re the world’s smallest deer, you need a decent predator escape plan in your repertoire. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. If a pudu is threatened, it will run in a zigzag pattern to throw off and confuse its pursuer.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Hippos can open their mouths up to 150 degrees wide! That’s handy for chomping on pumpkins. Photo by Lori Veres/Woodland Park Zoo. Happy Halloween!

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A lemur guards its pumpkin while snacking. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.  At the annual Pumpkin Bash presented by Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service , there is pumpkin bashing, and also pumpkin smashing. There's pumpkin chomping and definitely some pumpkin stomping. This pumpkin came pre-pecked for the penguins. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. The fun continues this weekend with our final two days of the event, Sat. - Sun., Oct. 27 & 28 . See how each animal tears into its Halloween treats and get some treats of your own with trick-or-treating for the little ones. Plus, one child 12 years and under in costume is admitted FREE with a paid adult during Pumpkin Bash. A wolf delicately opens its jack-o-lantern. What happens next isn't so delicate. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. The pumpkins are part of the zoo’s excellent animal care program to help enrich the lives of the zoo’s animal

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The “red” in the red panda’s name is easy to understand—the animal’s fiery colored coat serves as camouflage to blend with reddish-brown moss on trees. Photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo. The “panda” part, well, despite the common bamboo diet, the red panda is more closely related to raccoons than it is to the giant panda.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down... Upside down sloth. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. OK, maybe the Fresh Prince wasn’t rapping about sloths, but considering they spend the vast majority of their day turned upside down, he sure could have been. Snacking while upside down. Don’t try this at home. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Sloths eat, sleep, mate and even give birth upside down. If you were to hang upside down from your seat right now (use your imagination and spare yourself the pain of actually doing it, trust me), you’ll feel your head start to pound, gravity tugging at your hair, and honestly, I’m getting dizzy just writing about it. But none of that happens for the upside-down kings of the rain forest, because sloths are specially adapted to live life from their unique point of view. So how do sloths function upside down? Looking good: Sloth