Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor The handsome Pete. Photo: Dennis Dow/WPZ. Thank you all for your well wishes for gorilla Pete, whose dental surgery to remove a premolar was a success! The 46-year-old silverback is already back in his exhibit and doing well. While he was under anesthesia, our animal health experts had a chance to give him a close exam and found Pete to be in good physical condition with no signs of significant cardiac disease—great news for our oldest gorilla. Big thanks to our zookeepers and veterinary team for keeping Pete in great health for his old age—now if they can just figure out what to do about that growing bald spot of his! ICYMI: See how keepers provide special TLC for aging Pete and his mate Nina in their golden gorilla years. 

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, communications Everyone has their favorite animal at the zoo, or maybe even a few, but we’d venture to guess that heaps of you have an especially soft spot for our oldest gorillas, Pete and Nina. The pair dines on Italian plums, a treat from their keepers. Video by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. Walking by the west gorilla exhibit, you can’t help but check in on the wrinkled pair. Nina, famously posing with her trademark stick and pink tongue, greets her visitors with a curious eye for people watching. Her attention to visitors has endeared her to hundreds of thousands of guests. Everyone knows her. The tiny, grandmotherly-gorilla seems to be the most adored among our youngest guests; and may have singlehandedly taught the children of Seattle how to stick out their tongues. (Sorry, moms). Pete, with his silver hair and balding head, has stuck by Nina’s side for all her 46 years. The gentleman of gorillas, his keepers say Pete is polite and appreciative of any attention

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, communications Good news! Woodland Park Zoo has been granted accreditation by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ ( AZA ) Accreditation Commission, marking the seventh consecutive time for the zoo. AZA requires zoos and aquariums to successfully complete this rigorous accreditation process every five years in order to be members of the Association. Accreditation was announced Saturday, September 13 during AZA’s national conference held in Orlando, Florida. “Only zoos and aquariums that meet the highest standards are accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums,” said AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy. “The community should take great pride in knowing that Woodland Park Zoo is a proven leader in the care and conservation of wildlife, and in inspiring people to take action to protect the natural world.” To be accredited, Woodland Park Zoo underwent a thorough review to ensure it has and will continue to meet rising standards, which

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications Zookeepers and animal health staff wheel Vip out of the zoo's animal hospital after the surgery is completed. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Last week, we asked for your best wishes for western lowland gorilla Vip , who has been battling a severe sinus infection. After last week’s CT scan and a critical surgery this week to treat his chronic sinus infection, the 35-year-old silverback is successfully breathing through his nose for the first time in weeks! Vip is steadily improving, and for now he is spending time behind the scenes at the gorilla exhibit, getting some extra TLC from his keepers. A peek through the door of the operating room at Woodland Park Zoo's animal hospital. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. After the CT scan confirmed a complicated sinus infection, we realized the 425-pound patient would require sinus surgery to drain the blockage and physically remove the major

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications UPDATE: Vip is recovering from his CT scan, which revealed findings consistent with a severe sinus infection. We are working with a consultation team led by doctors from the University of Washington Department of Otolaryngology (ears, nose and throat) to plan for a near-future surgery to resolve this infection. We’re hoping for a positive outcome for Vip and are cautiously optimistic he’ll make a full recovery. Thanks for all the positive thoughts and well wishes—it means so much to us! Silverback Vip. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Woodland Park Zoo’s 35-year-old silverback gorilla, Vip, will undergo a diagnostic procedure for treatment of a chronic sinus infection. “In recent days, Vip has shown signs of a complicated sinus infection,” said Dr. Darin Collins, Director of Animal Health at Woodland Park Zoo. “Vip has unfortunately not responded as expected to recent treatments, which are often effective in treating a mor

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Hot packs, ice treatment, massage, exercise ball, laser therapy…is this a physical therapy session? Close, but not for a human patient. These applications are part of a physical rehabilitation session for a domestic goat living at Woodland Park Zoo. The goat, a 7-year-old male named Waldo, is undergoing physical rehabilitation to help alleviate pain and improve his range of motion. Last year, Waldo was becoming more reluctant to move and showing signs of front and rear limb weakness. Following a thorough assessment by the zoo’s animal health team, which revealed compressed disks in his neck and lumbar spine, the goat was put on a physical rehabilitation program as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. Video: Goat. Laser beams. Yoga ball. Produced by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. At the zoo, physical rehabilitation is used to help alleviate discomfort from an injury or surgical treatment, to improve circulation or range of motion

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications with Laura McComesky, Zookeeper Lion-tailed macaque, Sita, gets up close to her keeper’s camera. Photo by Andy Antilla/Woodland Park Zoo. Monkey see, monkey do—and it's all thanks to cataract surgery that has successfully restored vision and quality of life to 29-year-old lion-tailed macaque , Sita (SEE-tah). Going blind wasn't easy for Sita. In February, keepers first noticed in one of Sita’s eyes the tell-tale cloudiness characteristic of a cataract. Soon it was both eyes. The cataracts came on fast and worsened quickly, giving Sita very little time to adjust to this drastic change. Sita’s left pupil was the first to appear cloudy in February 2014. Photo by Andy Antilla/Woodland Park Zoo. As her eyesight disappeared, Sita struggled to do everyday tasks. Woodland Park Zoo’s lion-tailed macaque exhibit reflects the endangered species’ Indian forest habitat, with complex, arboreal pathways that suddenly became too chal

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Photos and video by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo Traveling across the country with animals in tow is a regular experience for our dedicated zookeepers, but when curator Martin Ramirez offered me the chance to tag along and document the move of two African lions, I jumped at what for me was a once-in-a-lifetime road trip! This map traces the 16-hour route we traveled this month to deliver maturing lionesses Busela and Nobuhle to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City—all part of the Species Survival Plan conservation breeding program that will eventually pair them with two mates in their new home. Long before the road trip ever began, keepers and vet staff worked closely with the animals to prepare them for the transition with crate training, diet prep and health checks planned for before, during and after the move. The animal care staff is dedicated to ensuring these trips are as quick and stress-free as possible for all passengers, which

Posted by: Deborah Jensen, President and CEO The Elephant Task Force —the citizens committee that has been evaluating our zoo’s elephant exhibit and program, including a health assessment of our elephants Chai, Watoto and Bamboo—has just released their final report. I wanted to make sure that you had the opportunity to review the report for yourself. Full report available online. In the report, you’ll find that the Task Force has unanimously adopted the medical assessment by the Expert Review Panel that recognizes the good health and well-being of our elephants, as well as providing multiple options for even better accommodations for our elephants. The report recognizes that the elephant program plays a vital role in the zoo’s conservation mission and concludes that the program efforts should continue and consider further expansion to provide even more value to conservation education. Chai, an Asian elephant at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo: Ryan Hawk/WPZ. What’s nex

Posted by: Dr. Deborah B. Jensen, President and CEO African elephant Watoto watches Asian elephant Chai at play. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. As our dear friends and supporters of the zoo, I wanted to share with you the latest news from the Elephant Task Force . This group of community leaders was recently charged with providing an objective evaluation of the health and social well-being of Woodland Park Zoo’s elephants, and an assessment of the zoo’s elephant breeding program. Read the full report. Last night, the task force released a report from its Expert Review Panel comprised of six internationally recognized scientific experts in elephant care and behavioral health. The panel included respected scientific leaders from academic veterinary research and medicine, as well as animal science sectors. The Expert Review Panel reaffirmed that Woodland Park Zoo’s elephants Watoto, Chai and Bamboo are in good medical health and the behavioral and social well-being of all three e

Posted by: Dr. Deborah B. Jensen, President and CEO Mother Nature isn’t always kind. Just as some human babies are born with congenital conditions that throw their parents for a loop, leading them to make extraordinary commitments to their children’s special needs, the same can be true for animals. As you recall from last year’s stories , our endangered snow leopard cubs, Asha and Shanti, now 15 months old, were born with multiple ocular coloboma. This relatively rare congenital eye anomaly affects both human and non-human animals including Bengal tigers, Florida panthers, snow leopards, horses, and certain breeds of domestic cats and dogs. In Greek, coloboma means “unfinished.” The eye stops growing before it is fully developed. Ultimately, Asha and Shanti would develop functional vision only in their left eyes. Many of you wrote to us with outpourings of encouragement and hope for the cubs’ struggle, and for the expert staff caring for them. So I’d like to update you since th