Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications As we shared earlier this week , Easter has delivered an early batch of eggs to Woodland Park Zoo – Humboldt penguin eggs, that is – and the first chick was discovered to have hatched on April Fool’s Day! The first penguin chick represents the first offspring for mother Dora and father PJ, both 3 years old. The second egg in their nest shows pipping activity and is expected to hatch on Easter Sunday. The newly hatched chick weighs 2.1 oz. Humboldt penguin chicks hatch with grayish brown, downy feathers, which molt into completely gray feathers when they fledge. It will be early summer before any of the chicks emerge from the nesting burrows and venture outdoors into the public exhibit for visitors to enjoy. Over the last few weeks, three pairs of Humboldt penguins have been sitting on two eggs each in the burrows specially constructed for the birds in their new exhibit. At least two of the remaining four eggs are fertile. Staff plans to cand

Posted by: Shawn Pedersen, Animal Collection Manager Penguin fans—we’ve got some exciting news for you! Over the last few weeks, three pairs of Humboldt penguins have been busy incubating two eggs each in the burrows we’ve constructed for them in their new exhibit . This is great progress for our birds and shows us they are comfortable in the exhibit we’ve built for them . These are the first eggs at Woodland Park Zoo to come from this flock of penguins that debuted last May, and we’ve been tracking the development of the eggs around every two weeks with a process called candling. With candling, you use a high powered and focused light for just a few quick seconds to see if the egg is fertile, alive and developing as it should be. You can see some photos of the process below: Depending on how far along in the incubation process the egg is, you should be able to see veins after about a week’s time, and should be able to see movement in the egg about half way through the incubation

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications It has been 10 years since we’ve had meerkats at the zoo, but come May 1 this year, we’ll be welcoming them back with the debut of an all new “mob” of eight in an indoor exhibit in the Adaptations Building. Last week we had a chance to meet the eight meerkats moving to Woodland Park Zoo. True to their reputation, the meerkats were active, loud and inquisitive! But we managed to snap a few shots through all the action. The exhibit, presented by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times, will open on May 1 with festivities. Right now, we’re busy molding the play area where kids will get to experience the meerkat life—crawling through burrows and playing sentinel to look out for predators. Inside the exhibit, our staff designers are recreating a semi-arid savanna habitat for the mongooses. Though it is not a huge exhibit, it will be one of the most exciting with such energetic animals—especially when we begin daily bug feedings in the summer, which will

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A rescued and rehabilitated golden eagle named Ranger will be the newest addition to the zoo’s Raptor Center, and today, he received a full physical examination by our Animal Health staff as part of the standard quarantine process for new animals. Ranger is estimated to be between three and five years old, and has been through a lot in his time. He came under the care of Yakima’s Raptor House Rehabilitation Center in 2008 when he was discovered with wing and leg injuries after sustaining electrical shock and later being struck by a vehicle. He also tested positive for lead poisoning. Eagles can unintentionally ingest lead fragments when feeding on animals that were shot. Poisoning also can occur through bioaccumulation when many animals killed by lead bullets are eaten. Due to his injuries, he cannot be released back into the wild, but we’re excited to welcome him to Woodland Park Zoo and to provide him with a safe, long-term home and excell

Posted by: Sue Andersen, Zookeeper Early last month, Woodland Park Zoo Collection Manager Erin Sullivan and I took a road trip for conservation to release captive-reared caterpillars as part of a new zoo program to recover the wild populations of the state endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. The release into the wild may be the exciting and deeply rewarding climax to this pilot program, but the story begins with the arrival to the zoo of 510 very sleepy, fuzzy black caterpillars that were just waking up from almost six months of diapause (winter resting). The caterpillars were hatched and reared at Oregon Zoo last summer before entering the natural resting period late last summer. At Woodland Park Zoo, the larvae were set up in plastic bins where they were fed, watered, and carefully monitored for about 10 days. During their stay, the caterpillars ate like, well, very hungry caterpillars! Along with my fellow keeper Diane Abbey, we harvested nearly 100 plantago leaves per

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Recently, jaguars Nayla and Junior had their first chance to spend time together in their outdoor exhibit, the award-winning Jaguar Cove. The two are being introduced for potential breeding as part of a Species Survival Plan effort to maintain a healthy population of this endangered species. But first, these usually solitary animals have to get to know each other... (Tip: Turn up the volume to hear an explanation of the jaguar behaviors you are seeing.) Video by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Photo of Nayla by Dennis Dow.

Posted by: Dr. Marc Ancrenaz, Hutan Asian Elephant Conservation ( Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife ) It’s no secret that much of the forest land in Sabah is being decimated in order to plant palm oil plantations —putting the Asian elephant and orangutan populations in decline due to loss of habitat. (Pictured below: a young elephant roaming in a palm oil plantation in Kinabatangan, Borneo). In 2008, Hutan began exploring the idea of developing community tree nurseries as an alternative source of income for village families. In May 2009, Hutan gave Hamidin Braim, a villager with experience in tree nurseries, a micro-loan to build a seedling collection center at his home and purchase seedlings from villagers. Hutan and Hamidin gave appropriate training to village families to collect wild seedlings of selected native tree species and raise them in plastic polybags at their homes.  Fifteen tree species were chosen, all consumed by orangutans, and known to have relatively high su

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications The way to an otter’s heart is an ice pop made with a splash of fruit juice, a handful of smelt, a sprinkling of carrots and a whole lotta love. Enjoy this video of Woodland Park Zoo’s pair of river otters —Sunny, the 14-year-old female, and Duncan, the 12-year-old male—as they frolic with their custom-made, heart-shaped ice pops for an early Valentine’s Day celebration: Other zoo animals will celebrate Valentine’s Day presented by Franz Bakeries with heart-shaped ice pops, herbal bouquets, heart-shaped steaks, and more on Saturday, Feb. 13, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Full schedule of enrichment activities is available online so you can plan your perfect Valentine’s date! The special treats are part of the zoo’s ongoing enrichment program to help enrich the lives of the animals by promoting natural animal behavior, such as foraging, playing and exploring, keeping animals mentally and physically stimulated and engaging zoo visitors. Photos: R

Posted by: Ric Brewer, Communications Five-year-old best friends Hannah Madsen and Sophia Rascoff aren’t just all about fingerpainting and playing dress up. These two enterprising kids are helping to make a better future for the endangered western pond turtle by raising money for their care at Woodland Park Zoo. During a visit to the zoo, Hannah watched the video near our Template Wetlands exhibit that features the story of our conservation efforts for this native turtle. Hannah’s mom, Susan, said her daughter was so taken with these shelled creatures that she wanted to help. So she enlisted classmate and buddy Sophia and put together a bake sale to help raise money for the zoo’s Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project . The girls made a colorful sign to display at the sale and offered a variety of homebaked and donated pastries and cookies. Susan said some people even gave a $20 bill for a single cupcake! Susan contacted the zoo to see if the girls, along with some of their classmates

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications When 20-year-old fur seal Woody (short for Woodstock) developed a cataract lens in each eye, Seattle Aquarium staff grew concerned that the geriatric animal’s vision difficulties would interfere with her ability to explore her exhibit and engage with the other fur seals. So Seattle Aquarium staff, Woodland Park Zoo vets, and our consulting ophthalmologist Dr. Tom Sullivan (of the Animal Eye Clinic), got together to plan an operation to remove the cataract. But this wouldn’t be an ordinary procedure—in fact, it appears to be the first time that such a procedure has been performed on a Northern fur seal. Pioneering this procedure, the animal health experts faced a particular challenge: because of the unique physiology and anatomy of these marine mammals—mostly related to adaptations to allow for deep diving—anesthesia would need to be kept to as short a time as possible to prevent complications. So this meant both eyes would have to be addresse

Posted by: Pat Owen, Collections Manager Over the last few weeks, the keepers working in Northern Trail have begun introducing our two arctic foxes , Feliks and Somer, to a larger exhibit space—the mountain goat exhibit, where one goat, CK, currently resides. Both foxes are doing very well in their new exhibit space. With the expanded room and new surroundings, they have become much more active, and guests are enjoying the new dynamic in the Northern Trail. When we first introduced the foxes into the space with the mountain goat, the goat was not sure about having these new neighbors in her area. CK showed signs of submissiveness like she would to a male mountain goat, which is interesting since she is not a submissive animal! She would go up on the rocks and stay where she could keep an eye on them as the female fox, Somer, has more interest in CK than the male, more of a curiosity than anything else. But within a week, the three of them started moving around the exhibit and laying n

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications For Woodland Park Zoo, 2009 was a year of notable births, conservation milestones, and a few firsts. Here’s my personal pick of the top 9 zoo stories from 2009, in no particular order--some fun, some inspirational, and some just cute. What were your favorite zoo stories this year? 1. Creating Papua New Guinea’s first Conservation Area 2. Penguins take their first swim 3. Snow leopard twins born to first-time mom 4. How do you exercise flamingo chicks? 5. Zoo hatches a cottonball…err, tawny frogmouth chick 6. Endangered Oregon spotted frogs released into the wild 7. Zoo staff and community team up to restore local habitat 8. Introducing the world’s first GPS-enabled zoo iPhone app 9. Animals get their own downtown art show, critics go wild

Posted by: Hilary Aten, Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Last night, TV viewers across the U.S. discovered an animal few had ever seen before, but are now not likely to forget. Woodland Park Zoo's work to study and protect the endangered Matschie's tree kangaroo was featured on both ABC World News and ABC Nightline --showing rare glimpses of the animal's elusive, tree-top lifestyle in the remote, dense forests of Papua New Guinea. Click to watch the full story online (will open in a new window): From November 5-7, 2009, ABC News anchor Dan Harris joined researchers from Woodland Park Zoo-based Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) and National Geographic at the program's Wasaunon field research site in the Papua New Guinea cloud forest of the Huon Peninsula. Through a generous grant from National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation's exploratory research program, Kyler Abernathy and TKCP's Dr. Lisa Dabek successfully captured and outfitted two wild

Posted by: Ryan Hawk, Photographer A few weeks ago, on a rainy, rainy day, zookeeper Kimberly Cooper and I hopped in the zoo’s Prius and traveled to the off-road back areas of Fort Lewis to release the last few of this year’s batch of about 450 Oregon spotted frogs . In the first year of the recovery program at Woodland Park Zoo, the endangered frogs were raised on zoo grounds to be given a head start in the wild. It’s one of several species recovery programs the zoo participates in locally. Zookeepers like Kimberly raise the frogs from egg to adult in order to increase their odds of survival in the wild. The work takes place behind the scenes in a quiet corner of the zoo’s 92 acres . Watch the release in this short video. Woodland Park Zoo participates in the recovery program in collaboration with partners including Northwest Trek , Oregon Zoo , Cedar Creek Correctional Facility, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife . And each of these groups were represented as we re

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Last Thursday, Woodland Park Zoo was recognized by the Seattle Design Commission with a design excellence award for our new Humboldt penguin exhibit! The award is in recognition of Seattle’s best capital improvement projects. Other honorees were Fremont Peak Park, Thornton Creek, Seattle Center Century 21 Master Plan, and Sound Transit Central Link. Visitors may be fixated on the nose-to-beak views of the penguins in the exhibit, but it’s the harder to see sustainable elements of the exhibit that captured the Design Commission’s attention. With support from Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities , we installed an energy efficient ground-based geothermal heat pump that uses the Earth’s below-ground temperature to keep the exhibit’s water at a penguin-friendly 55 degrees year round, as well as an innovative water filtration system. These features will save nearly 22,000 kilowatt-hours of energy and 3 million gallons of water per year.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We're getting into the holiday spirit here at the zoo. Join us in kicking off the holiday season by sharing our new season’s greetings video with your friends and family. You can also now send a zoo-themed holiday e-card to wish that special someone a happy holiday season. Video produced by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re asking for your help to provide relief for the community by dropping off food donations at our annual Turkey Toss event this Saturday. We’ll be accepting donations of non-perishable food items at the zoo to benefit the Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA) soup kitchen program. Food items can be dropped off on November 21 outside the zoo’s South Entrance (N. 50th St. & Fremont Ave. N.) during operating hours, 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Zoo admission is not required to donate food, but if you join us that day, you’ll see snow leopards, Komodo dragons, grizzlies, lions and more carnivorous species chow down on raw, store-prepared turkeys—all part of the zoo’s ongoing enrichment program for the animals! So what kinds of food items should you donate? Our friends at the PNA soup kitchen program tell us the items most in demand are: non-perishable juice, jam, canned fruit, beans, canned vegetables, chili, ketchup and powdered creamers. Ever

Posted by: Mark Myers, Curator Back in September we announced the hatching of the first Chilean flamingo chicks in Woodland Park Zoo’s history. For the best possible care, we’ve been hand-rearing them behind the scenes. But they still need their exercise for healthy development, so at least once a day, the chicks are taken outside (depending on the weather) and raced up and down to help them stretch out and gain strength in their long legs and developing wings. You can watch zookeeper Ernie Rose take the flamingos for a walk in this video, including a stop by the back of the flamingo exhibit to see the adult birds. Chicks are hatched with a gray, downy coating. At around 1 year of age, the familiar pink coloration will develop as the adult plumage grows in, the color derived from beta carotene— the same naturally occurring nutrient that gives carrots and other vegetables their coloration. Once the chicks are large enough, they will join the rest of the flock in the exhibit. Video pro

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham & Gigi Allianic, Communications Woodland Park Zoo is cheering for the Seattle Sounders FC as they head to the first round of MLS Cup playoffs this week. This morning, the animals got into the spirit of the playoffs their own way. While we didn’t see any banana kicks or diving headers here, the zoo’s grizzly bears, twin snow leopard cubs, and Humboldt penguins did have quite the time playing with and kicking around soccer balls. The soccer balls for the animals are a form of enrichment as part of the zoo’s animal care program to help enhance the lives of the zoo’s animals, promote natural animal behavior, keep animals mentally stimulated and engage zoo visitors. The cubs playfully tumbled with the soccer balls, the bears crushed them with their jaws, and the penguins excitedly dove around the soccer balls floating in their pool. Do your own cheering as the Seattle Sounders FC face the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup Playoff Western Conference Semifinals on T

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Check out this latest conservation interview featuring Dr. Sergei Smirinski, a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife , on endangered cranes and other plants and animals of Muraviovka Park in Russia. The Cranes of Asia conservation project works to protect the red crowned crane, hooded crane and oriental white stork, all of which rely on protection of the habitat in Russia's Muraviovka Park. Some of the critical threats facing the cranes and their habitat include long-term drought, fires that eliminate the dead grass necessary for nest camouflage, predators and competitors due to the growing impact of the drought and fires, disturbance by spring hunting on waterfowl, collisions with power lines, and use of pesticides and herbicides. For more information on Dr. Smirinski's work to conserve the cranes of Asia, check out our newly updated Partners for Wildlife website. Video by Ryan Hawk, photo by Dennis Dow.