Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Bobbi Miller, Field Conservation Every kid wants yummy, sticky, sugary candy at Halloween, but not as much as orangutans , Asian elephants and tigers want a healthy place to live and thrive. This year, with just a little extra thought, we can grant both wishes. Original photo by Dennis Dow/WPZ; modified. Send this as an e-card to your friends! Halloween candy has been in the stores for weeks (OK, months) now, building up to a weekend of spooky, candy-filled activities for kids and adults alike. When buying candy this year, you can make a difference in the lives of orangutans, tigers, Asian elephants, hornbills and many other animals impacted by the loss of habitat due to palm oil plantations. Unsustainable palm oil plantations threaten the connected forests orangutans and other species need to survive. Photo by Tim Laman courtesy of Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Project , a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife . It takes a few extra minutes to pi

Watoto, photographed in June 2014. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. We have heard touching stories from so many of you about how Watoto impacted your lives, and we want to share the latest news to keep you informed on a subject we know is so close to your hearts. Following Watoto’s death in August, we have now received laboratory results that are helping us understand more about the loss of our 45-year-old female African elephant. According to the zoo’s Director of Animal Health, Dr. Darin Collins, the most relevant finding from the pathology report was the chronic, age-related arthritis in the elephant’s leg joints, which had been described during the post-mortem examination. Additional findings in other tissues examined, such as age-related changes in heart and muscles, were mild and within expected limits and were not life-threatening. There was no evidence of an infectious disease process, in the joints or in other tissues examined. In addition, the pathologist did n

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: Rebecca Whitham, Editor What do elephants need ivory for?  Digging, lifting, pushing and defending. What do people need ivory for? Nothing. African elephants. Photo by Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society. Today is Elephant Appreciation Day and already 5,200+ of you have shown your support by taking the pledge to end the ivory trade in Washington state . With 3,000 additional signatures coming in from our friends at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, together we’re reaching out again to elected officials to ask them to consider sponsoring legislation. The herd is being heard and we have the proclamation to show it! Governor Jay Inslee has proclaimed today Elephant Appreciation Day in Washington state: What a way to celebrate how far we have come in raising our voices for elephants! Let's keep the momentum going. Please share this post to your networks and encourage your friends to sign the pledge at www.zoo.org/96elephants . On behalf of the

Asian elephant Chai at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Woodland Park Zoo loves our elephants Chai and Bamboo, and we deeply mourn the loss of their herd mate, Watoto. Her recent death sent waves of grief through our community of staff, volunteers, members and guests. She was part of our family and will forever be honored in our memories. Woodland Park Zoo’s elephant program continues to spark dialogue in our community. Productive dialogue has led to positive change, including the creation of the community-based Elephant Task Force , which concluded our elephants are in good physical and emotional health, and recommended some improvements to our program already underway. Unfortunately, this dialogue is being colored by inflammatory campaigns from local and national activist groups and the media they garner. These campaigns rely on alarming sound bites that confuse and mislead well-intentioned people and mischaracterize the zoo as profit-driven and ent

Posted by: Fred Koontz, Vice President of Field Conservation, and Jennifer Pramuk, Animal Curator An Oregon spotted frog is released into protected wetlands after being raised at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told this little frog we've got its back. Woodland Park Zoo applauds the USFWS on its official decision to extend federal protection to the Oregon spotted frog as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. This big move will go a long way in making recovery possible throughout the Oregon spotted frog’s northwest range. An adult Oregon spotted frog. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Once common and widespread in Puget Sound area wetlands, the Oregon spotted frog now inhabits 10% or less of its former range in the Pacific Northwest. That loss means more than just devastation to our native frog population. As Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Acting Supervisor, Tom

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: Rebecca Whitham, Editor As giraffe calf Misawa nears his first birthday, coming up on August 6, we look back at a year of firsts for our not-so-little guy. The first look  Misawa at one day old. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Everyone remembers the first photo we shared of Seattle’s tallest baby—the infamous “grumpy” look on his face turned Misawa into a viral sensation. But in truth, the very first look at Misawa we got was in the incredible footage of his birth! Mom Olivia gave birth to the 6-foot-tall giraffe on August 6 at 7:03 p.m. The labor lasted about 1.5 hours and the video shows little Misawa finding his feet and standing for the first time just 1.5 hours after he was born! Video: Tallest baby in Seattle.  The first day outside  The first few days were spent nursing and bonding with mom inside the Giraffe Barn, but it wasn’t long before Misawa ventured into the outdoor area of the barn. Mom Olivia and Aunt Tufani were never too far fro

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: Stephanie Payne, Zookeeper With 10 gorillas making up three social groups living in two on-view exhibits, it can be challenging for visitors to keep up with the gorillas at Woodland Park Zoo—especially with all the moves and changes over the last few years. Several of the changes were influenced by recommendations from the national gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP), a group of gorilla specialists that makes breeding recommendations and gorilla transfers based on the genetic diversity and wellbeing of the approximately 340 gorillas in accredited North American zoos. Let’s explore the dynamics of each of the gorilla groups to help you understand which gorilla is where and why. Then we’ll share tips on when and where to look for the gorillas to make the most of your visit. We start with Group 1’s Nina and Pete—the bedrocks of Woodland Park Zoo’s gorilla program. Nina. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Silverback Pete (right). Photos by Dennis Dow/W

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