Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications We’ve got a new arrival to the Temperate Forest… he’s got a fiery red coat and his name is Yukiko!  As part of Woodland Park Zoo’s preventive care program, our veterinary team performed a full physical examination of Yukiko including his weight, blood work and radiographs. “We are pleased overall with his weight and blood work and he appears to be in good shape,” said Dr. Darin Collins, director of Woodland Park Zoo’s Animal Health Programs.  Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo. Yukiko during his preventative exam. Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo. Dr. Darin Collins checks out Yukiko's teeth and gums. Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo. The 9-year-old panda arrived under the Red Panda Species Survival Plan conservation breeding program from Red River Zoo in Fargo, N.D. Yukiko will be paired up with our female, 7-year-old Stellar, in the hopes that they hit it off. The breeding season for red pandas occurs fro

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications The vets got a first look at the cubs on Friday. Photo by Dr. Darin Collins.  The pride of Woodland Park Zoo just got a little bigger! Video: Lion cub triplets first few hours Three African lions were born yesterday on Oct. 24. The cubs represent the first litter between the mother, 5-year-old Adia, and 7-year-old father, Xerxes. This is the first offspring for the father. The last birth of lions was in 2012 when Adia gave birth to four cubs with a different male. A screen capture from an internal cam shows Adia with one of her cubs.  Zookeepers moved the cubs into the off-view maternity den where the new family can bond in comfortable, quiet surroundings. Before reuniting the cubs with mom, the zoo's veterinary team did a quick health assessment of the cubs and determined that all three are males. The father remains separated from the cubs and mother. Zookeepers are monitoring the new family round-the-clock. The mot

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Have you noticed a particularly handsome new face at the snow leopard exhibit? That would be Dhirin, the most recent addition to our snow leopard family! VIDEO: Dhirin the snow leopard explores his new exhibit. We set up a GoPro camera at the back of Dhirin’s exhibit to see if we could catch a glimpse of him as he explored his space, then stitched together a few of our favorite moments for this video. In the wild, snow leopards are hard to track or study, but motion-sensor cameras and radio collars provide researchers with a better look into their behavior. Thanks to research and care in zoo settings, we can apply these two tracks of knowledge to better understand these disappearing predators. The 9-year-old male was born on May 24, 2005 and lived at Oklahoma City Zoo. Dhirin arrived in Seattle in early July 2014 as recommended by the Species Survival Plan, a conservation breeding program across accredited zoos. Woodland Park Zoo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor This is the 40th penguin chick hatched at Woodland Park Zoo since 2010, seen here at 45 days old. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. Our Humboldt penguins are a prolific bunch. Since 2010—the first breeding season in their new exhibit—our colony has produced 41 chicks! Earlier in the season, we were counting up eggs (yes, before they hatched) and got excited when we realized we were going to reach an historic 40th hatching. And though we love our round numbers, we won’t complain that one more egg was laid and number 41 came along at the end of May. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. This season alone, we had nine chicks hatch, with six already fledged and out on exhibit, and the three youngest—numbers 39, 40 and 41—still on the nest with their parents. These hatchings are all part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP) conservation breeding program across Association of Zoos & Aquariums-accredited zoos. Zoos work together

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications It’s summer time! The season for lounging in the sand, soaking up the sun and shaking your rattler! Our beautiful female Aruba rattlesnake , Crotalus durissus unicolor, is doing just that at the Day Exhibit. An Aruba's sunset-colored coil. Photo by Kirsten Pisto/WPZ. These peach and rose colored rattlesnakes don’t just shake it for anybody though; this rare rattler is only found on one small Caribbean island, Aruba.  Because the species has such a small range, it is nearly extinct in the wild. The snakes are critically endangered primarily because of habitat loss as well as persecution, especially due to tourism and urban sprawl. These snakes live in vulnerable habitat in a tiny area. Fortunately, the government and people of Aruba understand the importance and value of their own special kind of rattlesnake, and have set aside a large portion of the interior of their island as protected habitat for this rattlesnake and other w

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications The chick was photographed here at 8 days old. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. For the first time at Woodland Park Zoo, an Edwards’s pheasant has hatched—a bird that is believed to be extinct in the wild! The Edwards’s pheasant is not exactly common in zoos either. Only 15 individuals live in seven zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. We have been providing a home for a pair since 2012. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. You can see the 6-year-old mother and 1-year-old father in our Conservation Aviary located in the Temperate Forest zone. The little chick, now just under 2 weeks old, is being hand-reared by zookeepers behind the scenes to help ensure it gains weight as expected of a growing chick and hits all of its important developmental milestones. With such a significant hatching of such a rare species, we’re taking extra precautions to ensure its health and survival. A close up of the ch

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications On this Endangered Species Day, we celebrate nature's latest gift to us—a critically endangered Indochinese box turtle baby, newly hatched before our eyes and thriving. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Our zookeepers put long hours into incubating eggs, maintaining a warm, safe environment for those about to hatch. When they are lucky, they get to see the big payoff happen before their eyes! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. This month, we were there to greet an Indochinese box turtle as it hatched into the world. Using its egg tooth (the pointy tip you can see best in the photo below), it broke through the shell when it was ready to hatch after 78 days of incubation. At only about an inch and a half in length, the little fella is too small for any of the exhibit spaces we have in the Day Exhibit, so for now, it’s being reared behind the scenes. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Zookeepers are especiall

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Baby Solomon Island leaf frogs. Photo by Alyssa Borek/Woodland Park Zoo. Solomon Island leaf frogs,  Ceratobatrachus guentheri ,  also known as triangle frogs, are a very special type of amphibian because they go through their tadpole stage inside the egg, hatching as completely formed froglets. The juvenile frogs emerge from their eggs as fully developed frogs in a process called direct development. Instead of spending their first days as a tadpole, or polliwog, these frogs are hatched ready to leap! The tiny frogs grow very quickly, starting at only an eighth of an inch when they emerge. They eat very small insects until they are large enough to transition to an adult diet of arthropods and larger insects, and even smaller reptiles and amphibians. The little froglets practice ambushing tiny insects, a behavior they will use later to pounce on any prey that happens to wander through their territory. It’s amazing to see these tiny c

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications It’s almost time to meet a cheetah ! The newest animals to join the Woodland Park Zoo family will debut in a temporary exhibit May 1, with zoo members getting a special sneak preview on April 30. The celebration continues with an official grand opening presented by Chevron on May 3. Missy the cheetah, photographed at Wildlife Safari in Oregon. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. How did the zoo’s new, temporary cheetah exhibit come about? It all started with a call from the Species Survival Plan , a conservation breeding program across accredited zoos. They enlisted our assistance to care for a pair of 14-year-old, female cheetahs for six to 18 months. The pair, Liz and Missy, has come to us from Oregon’s Wildlife Safari. By providing a temporary home for the girls, we are able to help the conservation breeding program by creating additional space for the next generation of offspring produced at Wildlife Safari. Between the two