Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Although their name literally means "thousand-legged," most millipedes have no more than 300 legs. Millipedes have two pairs of legs per body segment, and a mature millipede averages about 40-60 segments. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Those burlap bags you often see our orangutans with might seem out of place, but our orangutans use them as they might use leaves in the wild—as blankets, bedding, umbrellas, sun shields and even privacy curtains. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Komodo dragons have an excellent sense of smell enhanced by a long, forked tongue that helps them detect carrion up to 6 miles away.   They also use their tongue to investigate other Komodo defecation sites. That might sound gross to us, but it provides valuable information to them about another's sex, size and age. Photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications When the sunbittern unfolds its wings, a burst of color is revealed with a pattern that looks like two glaring eyes. The “eyes” can be used to frighten predators. Come see the sunbittern in the always warm Tropical Rain Forest building. It's the perfect escape on a rainy day. And now rainy days at the zoo might come with a little something extra--50% off zoo admission! With our new Rainy Day Discount , we'll activate a special coupon on select dreary days. Just visit our Rainy Day page to see if there's a coupon good for your next trip on a soggy day. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Enjoying the cold, wet snow mix this week? It’s nothing to our snow leopards . They come equipped for bundling up: snow leopards use their 3-foot-long tails as mufflers to protect their noses and lungs from freezing at night. Archive photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Meet some of our newest frugivores! Our colony of Indian flying foxes perches under the roof of their house. They have long-toed feet with sharp claws enabling them to roost hanging upside down. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Six Indian flying foxes have settled in (under, actually) nicely at the Adaptations Building. While it may be hard to tell which creature the Indian flying fox resembles most, its large eyeballs, pointy ears, reddish brown fur, long snout, and wingspan of up to six feet, all belong to the megabat Pteropus giganteus . Not quite a fox, although certainly similar in the looks department, the Indian flying fox is one of the larger fruit bats in the world, weighing as much as 3.5 pounds. In the wild, the Indian flying fox is found on the Indian sub-continent that extends from Pakistan to Southeast Asia and China, and south to the Maldive Islands. Flying fox inhabit enormous trees such as banyan, tamarind a

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications These wolves are at play, but the sight of their opened mouths would certainly be less fun for a prey animal.  A wolf's powerful jaws can exert about 1,500 pounds per square inch, about twice that of a dog!  (Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo)

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Happy Leap Day to you on this Wonderfully Wild Wednesday ! A clucking frog? During the breeding season, the Oregon spotted frog’s call is a series of clucking noises. We’re doing our part to keep them clucking. At Woodland Park Zoo, we raise Oregon spotted frogs until they are large enough to survive on their own, then release them into protected wetlands here in Washington. The Leap Day celebration continues at the zoo today and Sat., March 3 . We’re celebrating amphibian conservation success stories through frog-themed crafts, keeper chats on frogs and amphibians, puppet shows and interactive activities. Hear from national experts, including our curator of herpetology, Dr. Jennifer Pramuk, about what is being done to save amphibians. Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society members also will be on hand to discuss frogs and other amphibians. On March 3, kids ages 3-12 dressed in green or other frog-themed gear will receive

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications From observing pond turtles foraging, biologists have found that western pond turtles swallow all their food in water and appear unable to swallow food in air! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications “I got a fever of a hundred and three, come on baby…” We’ve all heard the term “hot blooded” in reference to unabashed lust, but this Valentine’s Day we are cooling things off with a little biology recap. Sorry, all you stud-muffins and flirtatious foxes, but using the term “hot blooded” is actually pretty uncool in the zoological community. In the recent past, hot blooded (or warm blooded) and cold blooded were ways to describe an animal’s thermoregulation. Within the last 30 years, studies in the field of animal thermophysiology have revealed just how wild temperature control is between each species, and it’s pretty sexy stuff! Flamingos pair up to create a stunning heart-shaped beak rub.  Flamingos are endothermic homeotherms. By constantly ingesting shrimp, these water birds keep their luxurious pink feathers looking bright; the shrimp also keep their metabolic rate nice and even. (Photo by Mat Hayward / WPZ). There ar

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, and Tuesday was the day of the Komodo dragon . That’s because the zoo’s male Komodo dragon, Loki, turned 18 on Tuesday and the keepers celebrated dragon-style: with “cake” made out of ground meat topped with a mouse. Loki gulped down his treat with lightning speed as visitors gathered at the exhibit to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. The song lasted longer than the cake! While we often mark our 18th birthday as the milestone between childhood and adulthood, for Komodo dragons, turning 18 means you’re well past middle aged. It’s not known just how long the average Komodo dragon life span is in the wild, but in captivity, Komodo dragons have been known to live up to 25 years. By weight, Komodos are the world’s largest lizard. They don’t get to be that size just by snacking on birthday cake. In the wild, Komodos are known for their hunting prowess, taking down prey as big as Sunda deer,

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Ever hear cackling in the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit? Many visitors do not realize that intense sound is coming from our red ruffed lemurs . Red ruffed lemurs communicate to each other with a complex system of at least 12 different vocalizations that include low grunts, gurgling sounds and that cackle-like roar. Photo by Dennis Dow/WPZ

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Introducing Wonderfully Wild Wednesday , where we’ll feature some fascinating wildlife adaptation each week. Let’s kick it off with one of the zoo’s newest residents—the waxy monkey frog. I don’t need to tell you that the waxy monkey frog is awesome. You can see that for yourself… But I will tell you that this frog—newly arrived to Woodland Park Zoo—is certainly unique among its amphibian brethren. Most frogs have moist skin that is susceptible to drying out when exposed to direct sun for too long. But the South American waxy monkey frog is uniquely adapted to take in rays, allowing it to make a niche for itself in the hot, dry environment of its native habitat in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. So how does the waxy monkey frog do it? It’s in the name (well, the waxy part of the name, not the monkey part. We’ll get to the monkey part later). The waxy monkey frog comes complete with built-in sunblock, a waxy secretion

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Roses are red, violets are blue…unless you’re a tetrachromat, it’s true. Apologies for the obvious segue to a post about color, but I couldn’t resist!  A blue bellied roller and a brightly colored orchid show us examples of some of the beautiful colors here at Woodland Park Zoo. Photos by Ryan Hawk and Kirsten Pisto/WPZ. Throughout the animal kingdom, there is enormous diversity in the structure and faculty of eyesight. Oftentimes, we relate our own human eyesight to the visual capabilities of animals, but most evidence points to the contrary: in fact, humans might be an underdog in visual perception. A rainbow sits over the North Meadow. Red has the longest wavelength and blue has the shortest. Photo by Dennis Conner/WPZ.   The human eye sees a wide range of what we call visual color, that is , measurable wavelengths in the range of about 390–700 nanometers. Our eyeballs have a ton of tiny little cones and rods in th