Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re gearing up for Pumpkin Bash this Saturday and Sunday—and our three hippos helped to get the party started with the first chomp yesterday. Keepers tossed out whole pumpkins to 46-year-old Gertie, 31-year-old Water Lily and 10-year-old Guadalupe, and it didn’t take long for them to smash them open. Step 1: Toss Step 2: Chomp Step 3: Enjoy The pumpkin treats are part of the zoo’s ongoing enrichment program to help enrich the lives of the zoo’s animals, promote natural animal behavior, keep animals mentally stimulated and provide added enjoyment for visitors. See it yourself this Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. at Woodland Park Zoo’s Pumpkin Bash presented by Franz Bakeries. Enjoy a repertoire of animal behavior as hippos, bears, elephants, monkeys, and other animals crunch, smash or stomp on pumpkins. A full schedule of animal enrichment events is available online . Photos by Ryan Hawk and Dennis Dow.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications *Species Spotlight: Common Vampire Bat ( Desmodus rotundus ) Forget Dracula—the common vampire bat stealthily feeds on the blood of mammals, and sometimes domesticated birds. Let’s set the scene… Flying about 3 feet off the ground, the bat uses its sharp sense of smell and echolocation to find a “victim.” This bat is lucky—there’s a sleeping cow right ahead! So as not to alert the cow, the bat lands on the ground and easily crawls or hops to its snoozing dinner, using its thumbs, forearms and wings. It lightly climbs onto the cow and uses heat sensors in its nose to find where blood is near the skin’s surface. The bat licks the site clean with its tongue and then trims the cow’s hair with its teeth. It then painlessly cuts through the skin and injects saliva containing a chemical to prevent blood clots. The bat then laps oozing blood with its tongue. The bat soon becomes engorged with blood and is too heavy to fly away. It crawls off the cow

Posted by: Kate Neville, Development Here’s your chance to help us save endangered turtles—all you have to do is cast a vote! Woodland Park Zoo has been selected as one of three local conservation organizations to participate in the 2009 Patagonia Voice Your Choice Program . From September 24 through October 24, customers at the downtown Seattle store will learn more about each of the three selected organizations. Customers can then vote for their favorite organization. Grants will be awarded based on the voting—First place: $2,500, Second place: $1,500, and Third place: $1,000. Proceeds from this program will go to Woodland Park Zoo's Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project , a collaborative, grass-roots effort to restore Western pond turtle populations in Washington state. Funds will help cover the costs of Woodland Park Zoo's headstarting program, in which baby turtles are reared in captivity, then released into the wild when they are large enough to be safe from predators.

Posted by: Ryan Hawk, Photographer The first Chilean flamingo chick born at Woodland Park Zoo continues to grow and develop. Its big legs, loud squawks, and fuzzy/downy white feathers make this little guy unique. (Seen here in the tub of water at 1 week old.) Now 2 weeks old, the chick has been introduced to water, as well as to solid foods in the form of a slurry which it has already learned to filter feed from. The chick is currently off public view. Photos by Ryan Hawk

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Woodland Park Zoo's conservationists and staff photographer traveled to Papua New Guinea in April this year to help celebrate the passage of PNG’s first national Conservation Area —a conservation milestone 12 years in the making with Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program , partners , and PNG villagers and government. This video transports you to the Sing Sing celebration in the highland village of Teptep, Papua New Guinea, complete with songs and dances honoring this national achievement and the international unity behind it. Hear from the many Papua New Guinea nationals who have contributed their own land, time and dedication to this project. In the words of one PNG landowner you’ll see in the video, “I saw that people were destroying the land. But I said, save the land. Save it and look after it. Easy does it—step by step.” This is one huge step we are proud to be part of. Go here to learn more about the 187,000 acre Y

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications We’ve got exciting news! A Chilean flamingo chick has hatched at Woodland Park Zoo, marking the first time the zoo has successfully hatched a Chilean flamingo in its 109-year history! The chick hatched in an incubator on August 25, following a 29-day incubation period. To ensure a higher chance of survival, a team of dedicated and expert staff are hand-raising and hand-feeding the chick off public exhibit for now. You might remember the arrival of a new flock of more than 25 flamingos last year. They debuted in a brand new 4,000-square-foot exhibit that opened in May 2008. This spring represented the first full breeding season for the new flock in the new exhibit as the graceful birds put on a striking show of synchronized courtship and ritualized behaviors for zoo guests – head flagging, wing saluting and marching in sequence and unison. This active display culminated with nest building, egg laying and one chick to date! Zoo guests can see the

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Snow leopard cubs Batu and the newly named Gobi ( thanks to your 35,000 votes !) made their public debut this past Saturday during Woodland Park Zoo’s 3rd annual Snow Leopard Day event. Watch the cubs take some of their first steps into the exhibit and explore the new sights and smells. If you want to see them in person, the cubs are typically given access to the exhibit from noon to 3:00 p.m. daily. Video by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Kim M. Murray, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Science, Snow Leopard Trust Read on for an update on tracking wild snow leopards from the Snow Leopard Trust’s field research base in Mongolia. The Snow Leopard Trust is one of Woodland Park Zoo’s Partners for Wildlife *. Summer is the busiest season at the Snow Leopard Trust’s research camp in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. This summer our crew spent long days in the field looking for sites with recent snow leopard activity to deploy our trap cameras. By early July we had 41 cameras distributed over a 500-square-mile area, making it the most ambitious camera trapping study ever undertaken for snow leopards. The cameras remained in the field for a month; now we’re reviewing the images to see how many cats we photographed. Because every snow leopard has a unique spot pattern, just like a human fingerprint, we can use these photos to identify individual cats to estimate the size of the snow leopard population. We’re also using GPS sat

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications After nearly a year of nourishment and care by Woodland Park Zoo turtle experts, 53 endangered western pond turtles swam their way back into the wild when we joined Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to release the turtles last week at wildlife refuge sites in Pierce and Mason Counties. On hand to help release the shelled reptiles was 7-year-old Harrison Keyser of Sammamish, Wash. (pictured at left with his sisters) who arranged a “Turtle Trot” to raise more than $300 for the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project. Harrison told us he thought “it was really cool letting the turtles go in the pond” and he’d like to do this again next year. We’d be happy to have you back, Harrison! The 10-month-old turtles were collected last fall from the wild as hatchlings and head started at the zoo to give them an edge on surviving in the wild. Collection Manager Mike Teller and his keepers have a system for growing the turtles to just the right size: “W

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Don't miss the debut of the snow leopard cubs tomorrow, Saturday, August 15, at noon during our 3rd annual Snow Leopard Day . The male cub will get his name--chosen by your votes--and the public will see the cubs take their first official steps into the exhibit! Enjoy a full day of activities (9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.) celebrating one of the world’s most endangered and elusive wild animals. The third annual event is hosted by the zoo and its conservation partner, the Snow Leopard Trust , to highlight the fascinating adaptations of the snow leopard and critical conservation efforts to protect them in the wild. Activities include: * Keeper talks and special enrichment for the snow leopards * Conservation talks by Snow Leopard Trust * Book launch and signing of "Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia" with author Sy Montgomery * Snow leopard-inspired crafts for kids * Special themed programs for

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The poll is open! Cast your vote to name Woodland Park Zoo's male snow leopard cub, plus enter to win a snow leopard prize package. Vote as often as you'd like for as many names as you'd like now through midnight, August 12. We'll announce the winning name when the cubs debut on Saturday, August 15 at noon on Snow Leopard Day. The female cub has already been named Batu (pronounced BAH-too), a Mongolian name meaning firm, hard, honest. Photo: This male snow leopard cub, pictured here at 9 weeks, needs a name selected by you! Photo by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications For the first time in three years, Woodland Park Zoo is once again home to the Matschie’s tree kangaroo ! This endangered species is endemic to Papua New Guinea and is known for its bear-like head, bushy tail and marsupial’s pouch. Huen, an eight-year-old male, is a little shy when it comes to the camera, but we snapped this photo of him while he was perched up in a tree. Huen arrived from Singapore Zoo in March and can now be found living in the Day Exhibit. As one of the newest conservation ambassadors at the zoo, Huen represents the inspiring work of the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program , founded and based here at Woodland Park Zoo. You might remember the big news we shared earlier this year when Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program celebrated a milestone with the passage of Papua New Guinea’s first ever national Conservation Area , preserving 187,800 acres of forest habitat for the endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroo an

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications The pair of snow leopard cubs are growing, playing and now testing the likes of solid food! See the male and female siblings get their six-week examination and receive their first set of vaccinations as part of the zoo’s excellent animal and medical care program. Then at the end, watch them be rewarded with their first taste of solid food—chicken! The cubs were born on Memorial Day to first-time parents, 4-year-old Helen and 3-year-old Tom. Mom and cubs remain off public exhibit to ensure continual bonding and proper nursing while staff monitors the new family via an internal web cam. The male weighed in yesterday at 7 pounds and the female, 6 pounds. According to their keepers the cubs are venturing outside the birthing den more frequently and playing, particularly favoring a game of playing with mom’s tail! Dr. Kelly Helmick, associate veterinarian at the zoo, gave the cubs a clean bill of health and will continue to administer exams and the n

Posted by: Mark Myers, Animal Curator A Northern helmeted curassow chick hatched 6/26 with a little assistance from keepers since the chick wasn’t making much progress after 48 hours of effort. It is now located behind the scenes in a brooder box next to its mother in the zoo’s Conservation Aviary in the Temperate Forest zone. By keeping it next to her, the chick should become more properly socialized and have less of a chance of imprinting on humans. To reduce imprinting, staff minimizes talking in the presence of the chick. Like chickens or turkeys, curassow chicks are precocial at hatching—meaning they are born relatively independent—and with guidance, they learn to eat on their own very quickly. To stimulate it to eat, we use objects like tweezers or a long stick with a red tip to point food out to the chick. These chicks are also very arboreal and they like to perch up off the ground. At hatching, their wing feathers are very well developed which allows them to take short flights

Posted by: Bobbi Miller, Field Conservation Did you see today’s Seattle Times cover story about the Cedar Creek Corrections Center inmates helping to raise and reintroduce endangered Oregon spotted frogs to Washington habitats? It’s all part of a great recovery program Woodland Park Zoo has joined with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Northwest Zoo and Aquarium Alliance . Here in our own Northwest backyard, we’ve seen populations of the Oregon spotted frog diminish significantly, all but lost to wetland degradation and chytridiomycosis—a deadly, fast spreading fungus. Add to that the introduction of predators such as the bullfrog, and this native frog has disappeared from much of its original habitat. These factors prompted Washington state to list the species as endangered in 1997. It may also ultimately lead to a federal endangered listing soon. But hope is on the horizon. Woodland Park Zoo has joined a multi-institution recovery project that is pairing cap

Posted by: Walter Dupree, Animal Collections Manager On June 23, Woodland Park Zoo became home to another significant addition…a bouncing eleven-month-old female giraffe named Tufani. She came to us from Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri. For those that remember, this is the same zoo that sent us Olivia, our other female giraffe . In fact, Tufani and Olivia are half sisters. And no, they don’t seem to recognize each other, but with giraffe, you never know. Like Olivia, Tufani is a Rothschild’s giraffe also known as Baringo or Lado giraffe. Although she is not a Reticulated giraffe like our males, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan manages them as one sub species so we have future breeding recommendations already. But don’t expect to see any infant giraffe running on the savanna anytime soon as our girls are still a bit young. If you’ve never seen a giraffe shipment before, it’s an interesting undertaking. I bet a few of you are wondering how we ge

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The two endangered snow leopard cubs are one month old today, and we took some new photos this morning to document their growth. Check out the full photo album from this morning's session on Woodland Park Zoo's Facebook fan page . Become our Facebook fan to get automatic zoo updates in your Facebook news feeds. The two cubs remain behind the scenes with their mother while they bond and grow, but stay tuned to the blog for more updates on the duo. Photo by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Mark Myers, Curator Woodland Park Zoo’s first ever tawny frogmouth chick is growing up! What first looked like a cottonball is now starting to look more like the adults of its species. At 20 days of age, the chick is doing great and achieving all the expected developmental benchmarks—it has clear eyes, its flight feathers are growing well and its weight is up to 5.9 ounces (it would take six stamps to mail it!). The first-time parents are doing well too. The male, shown here, has been sitting on the nest during the day brooding the chick. The chick has been given the name Nangkita, an aboriginal word inspired by its native Australia meaning “place of little frogs.” It’s a fitting name given the bird’s wide, frog-like mouth. Typically tawny frogmouth chicks leave the nest between anywhere from 25-35 days of age. Photos and video by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Peter Miller, Keeper In the last few weeks on the blog, we’ve introduced you to baby bugs , birds , and mammals . So now it’s time for baby reptiles… Meet a newly hatched, endangered black-breasted leaf turtle. When this turtle was born on June 5, it weighed in at 5 grams—about the weight of a quarter—and its shell is about the size of a quarter too! A lot of care goes into preparing for a hatching like this. It took about 2 months to gestate in our incubator which was set at about 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit. One of the most striking and conspicuous features of this unusual turtle is its large and protuberant eyes that give an alert expression. Their diet includes snails, slugs, earthworms and other forest floor invertebrates, although some captive individuals apparently also feed on fruit and vegetables. Like most Asian turtle species, the black-breasted leaf turtle is in grave danger of extinction due to over-collection from the wild for the food, medicine and pet trade. Tu

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Check out this video filmed today with zookeepers Deanna Ramirez and Pat Owen weighing and checking the male and female snow leopard cubs born at the zoo on May 25, 2009. Turn the volume up to hear the sound of the cubs! The cubs are growing at a steady rate and their mother is continuing to provide great care. Right now mom and cubs are behind the scenes in a quiet area where they can bond and develop with minimal disturbance. This birth, part of the Species Survival Plan for this endangered species, is an important step for snow leopard conservation helping to increase genetic diversity. Woodland Park Zoo also helps protect snow leopards in the wild through our work with The Snow Leopard Trust , a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife. Video by Ryan Hawk.