Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Beautiful Batu is expecting a baby —the first orangutan pregnancy at Woodland Park Zoo in 35 years! For the first time in 35 years at Woodland Park Zoo, an orangutan is pregnant. The expectant mom is 14-year-old Batu and the father is 15-year-old Godek; both are Sumatran orangutans. Batu is due to give birth this summer in late August/early September and this will be the first offspring for both orangutans. The gestation period for orangutans is about nine months. Batu, which means “rock” in Malay, arrived in 2021 from Philadelphia Zoo; Godek, whose name means “sideburns” in Indonesian, arrived in 2017 from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Colorado Springs, CO). The Sumatran orangutans were paired under a breeding recommendation by the Orangutan Species Survival Plan and have been companions in the zoo’s Trail of Vines. Species Survival Plans are cooperative breeding programs across accredited zoos to help ...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren Meet our new Sumatran orangutan, Batu! Beautiful Batu! There's a new red-haired beauty on the Trail of Vines! The Orangutan Species Survival Plan identified Batu as a future breeding mate for Godek, our 12-year-old, male Sumatran orangutan who has lived at the zoo since 2017. Batu, also 12, arrived in May from Philadelphia Zoo. Species Survival Plans are conservation breeding programs across accredited zoos to help ensure healthy, self-sustaining populations of threatened and endangered species. After completing a standard quarantine earlier this summer at the zoo’s veterinary hospital, Batu was moved to the orangutan exhibit in off-view dens while she acclimated to her new home. According to Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo, the introduction process has been slow, but thoughtful. “Every animal is different and moves at its own pace during introductions. As we do with all our animals, we foll...

A young orangutan, known to conservation researchers as Mamai, playfully spies on us. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. In the forest, you’re likely to hear an orangutan long before you see one. A rustling in the leaves. A tree limb snap. A crisp lip smack to warn you if you’re getting too close. Tracking these sounds, Mislin and her team of wildlife researchers know they are in the right place when they spot mounds of broken branches and piled leaves in the canopy—fresh orangutan nests. There’s a stirring in one of them. A treetop toddler pokes a red head through the leaves. The team’s data logger records the behavior. “We take note, every three minutes,” Mislin explains. Peeling away from mom, the four-year-old orangutan climbs out on a limb for a closer view of us. It would seem she’s conducting her own primate study. Mislin recognizes the young one, whom they’ve named Mamai and keep regular track of in their study. Composed entirely of local community m...

Godek’s steely eyes might even give “blue steel” a run for its money. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. He’s a little shy by nature. But when Godek took his first steps into the indoor orangutan exhibit, there was nothing tentative about the way he moved. The 8-year-old male Sumatran orangutan is settling right into his new home. After arriving from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado earlier this summer, Godek completed a standard quarantine at our veterinary hospital where care staff first observed his shy demeanor. His keepers from Colorado told us to expect the young fellow to be gentle and quiet, but also very playful. We had this in mind when we began introductions between Godek and his new social group. The plan is for Godek to live with our older females, 49-year-old Chinta and 46-year-old Melati. Siblings Belawan, female, 36 and Heran, male, 28, have formed a second group. Godek is the first new addition to our orangutan family in 28 years. While our keepe...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. Sam and Bagus. Some duets are timeless. For newly matched siamangs Sam and Bagus (bah-GOOSE), it’s only been a week and yet somehow it’s like they’ve been together forever. Sam and Bagus are an instant pair! Photo by Carolyn Sellar/Woodland Park Zoo. Sam lost his mate here at Woodland Park Zoo last year when our geriatric female Briony passed away. Across the country, Bagus lost her long-time mate at Palm Beach Zoo. A siamang’s social life is naturally structured around being in a bonded pair. Though Sam’s and Bagus’s keepers gave them all the TLC two lone siamangs could ask for, we all knew that what they needed most was to be part of a pair again. Sam and Bagus were well matched on paper. We work with other accredited conservation zoos through the Species Survival Plan to track the genetics of endangered species, such as siamangs, in our care. This way we can collaborate on m...

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo Their patients are usually human. But a team of local medical specialists joined Woodland Park Zoo's animal health team last month to perform emergency umbilical hernia surgery repair on 38-year-old gorilla Vip. The all-star team re-convened with our veterinary team over the weekend to examine silverback Vip’s surgical site and perform dental and sinus procedures. The good news: Vip is doing great! “Thanks to the expertise of the medical team, Vip successfully pulled through both the surgery and follow-up examination and is back with his family as he recovers,” said Dr. Darin Collins, Woodland Park Zoo’s director of animal health. “The elderly gorilla remains under close observation by his attentive caretakers and we’ll continue to keep him on a prescribed program of analgesics and joint medication.” Prior to the surgery, keepers had reported the 430-pound western lowland gorilla had sho...

Posted by: Bobbi Miller, Conservation There is a rite of passage that happens every October: the time-honored tradition of trick-or-treating on Halloween. Here, that means searching for the perfect costume to be donned on October 31st (and getting extra mileage out of it at Woodland Park Zoo’s Pumpkin Bash , of course!). We know Halloween is coming as the days get shorter and a pronounced chill fills the air. Colorful leaves fall gently to the ground, providing a crunchy blanket for small trick-or-treaters to walk on. Sweet little orangutan baby in the trees.  Halfway around the world in Borneo and Sumatra, the rainy season is just beginning. But the orangutans are not walking on the leaves that have fallen to the ground because orangutans are arboreal, spending most of their lives in the trees. There, those leaves become the umbrellas that keep small orangutan feet and heads dry.  Like small children, orangutan babies have a longer childhood dependence on ...

Guest scientist post by: Marc Ancrenaz, PhD, HUTAN, a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife Courtesy of HUTAN. Orangutans are now one step closer to extinction. Based on an assessment led by Borneo Futures, scientists from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have officially downgraded the status of the orangutans living in Borneo to Critically Endangered , the last step before reaching the dreadful status of Extinct in the Wild. Scientists have proven that the number of orangutans will decline by about 80% between 1950 and 2025 given current development plans by the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia. These numbers are hard to fathom. To put them in perspective, an 80% decline is equivalent to losing four out of five people you know ; it is equivalent to the disappearance of a staggering six billion of the current global human population in 75 years with no new births. Actually, many populations of orangutans have already disappeared in Borne...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Video: Grow With Yola: Woodland Park Zoo Baby Gorilla Yola, Nadiri, Akenji and Leo are ready. Now, you can visit the family starting at 1:00 p.m. daily. Our thanks to you all for the incredible patience, kindness and support you have shown the gorillas and zoo staff as we gave Yola and Nadiri the time needed to bond and form a family. Mother and daughter, Nadiri and Yola. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Seeing these two together is everything we worked for, everything Nadiri worked for, and everything your support makes possible. You've followed along from Yola's first days of round-the-clock keeper care through the inspiring updates from keepers witnessing first-hand how Yola is truly growing up gorilla. Yola is never far from mom's side. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Now you can #GrowWithYola yourself and share your photos and stories to help us build the ultimate digital scrap...

Posted by: Stephanie Payne-Jacobs, Zookeeper Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. At 5 months old, Yola’s physical strength and self-confidence continues to develop in leaps and bounds, influencing the steps we take to ensure a smooth transition into her gorilla family. We’ve come a long way from the initial visits during Yola’s first months , which consisted of a mostly sleeping infant, to the current youngster in perpetual motion. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Yola’s burgeoning confidence and expanding knowledge of complex gorilla social cues is evident in the way she interacts with her mother and responds to the activities within her group. She watches closely as the gorillas communicate vocally and physically throughout the day. Yola has observed rambunctious play sessions, common displays of dominance and subordination, nest building, foraging and occasional disputes peacefully settled. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo...