Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Editors note: a previous version of this blog incorrectly stated that western lowland gorillas live in the range where Mandinka is spoken. They do not. The information has been corrected below. Jamani, holding baby Oku is on the left. Olympia holding Kadre on the right. Photo:  Beth Keplinger/Woodland Park Zoo   With a little help from friends, Woodland Park Zoo’s western lowland baby gorillas, both males, have been officially named: Kadre (ka-DRAY) and Oku (OH-koo). Western lowland gorillas live in lowland tropical forests and swampy clearings in Central Africa. Kadre was born on May 18 to mom Jamani. The opportunity to name him was given to Woodland Park Zoo Board member Jill Walker and her husband, Scott Walker, as a small token of gratitude for their long-time, generous support of the zoo. “We’re so honored to have the privilege of naming the baby gorilla. Kadre, meaning ‘helper’ and ‘supporter’ in the Mandinka language, feels fittin...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Woodland Park Zoo Photos: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo One of the two male gorilla infants recently born at Woodland Park Zoo is currently under round-the-clock human care and showing signs of improvement after receiving bottle feeding to help address dehydration and increase his weight. The mom of the baby western lowland gorilla is Jamani, who gave birth to her son on May 18. The other infant gorilla was born on May 24 to Olympia via cesarean section due to complications that indicated a non-productive labor. It marked Woodland Park Zoo’s first gorilla born via C-section in its 126-year history. C-sections on gorillas are extremely rare, with under a dozen performed worldwide. The day after the C-section on Olympia, her baby was introduced to her. While she showed interest, Jamani picked up the baby instead and was caring for the two babies with Olympia nearby in the same family troop. “Jamani has been pulling double duty caring for two babies. Whi...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Jamani is caring for  two western lowland gorilla infants—hers and Olympia’s —while Olympia heals from her C-section . Sharing new photos of Woodland Park Zoo mom Jamani caring for the two western lowland gorilla infants—hers and Olympia’s—both boys. Neither baby has been named yet. Jamani is nursing both babies and everyone seems to be doing well! Olympia underwent an emergency C-section on May 24 to deliver her baby, and Jamani gave birth on May 18. The zoo is hoping to unite Olympia and her baby soon and are monitoring behaviors and the health of the babies and mothers to ensure the gorilla care team can help with that process safely and with respect to the dynamics of the gorilla troop.  Thank you for your understanding while we allow for some quiet time for this new family group! For now Olympia continues to show good signs of healing, Jamani is nursing both babies and the whole troop ...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications The birth watch has officially started for two pregnant western lowland gorillas who are due to give birth five days apart in May. It’s all hands on deck for Woodland Park Zoo’s animal health and gorilla care teams as they gear up for the delivery of two healthy baby gorillas.  Olympia. Photo by Beth Keplinger/Woodland Park Zoo Jamani. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo The expecting gorillas are  Olympia, due May 19, and Jamani, due May 24. The gestation period for gorillas is eight and a half months. The birth watch signals 24-hour monitoring. Overnight, zoo volunteers are observing each gorilla remotely on cams installed in the bedrooms, collecting data such as behavioral changes and sleeping patterns and looking for any telltale signs that might indicate the onset of labor. A gorilla keeper is on call to respond in case either gorilla goes into labor in the middle of the night; during the day, routine care for all the zoo’s...

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 Craig Newberry, Communications Soooo cute! The Woodland Park Zoo family just got cuter with the arrival of a tiny male pudu fawn. Pudu are the smallest deer species in the world and are native to South America.  Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo The fawn, which has yet to be named, was born May 2 to parents Ted and Maggie. The birth is the pudus' fifth offspring together since they were paired under the Pudu Species Survival Plan , a cooperative breeding program across accredited zoos to help ensure a healthy, self-sustaining population of the species.  The fawn's father, Ted, is 8 years old and arrived at the zoo in 2017. The mother, Maggie, 7, came in 2018. The pair of pudu are now parents to four males and one female. All three of their previous male fawns were sent to accredited zoos across the country based on breeding recommendations created by the SSP. The female, born last year, still lives at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Megan Blandford/Wo...

Posted by Craig Newberry, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo The Woodland Park Zoo family just got cuter with the arrival of a tiny female pudu fawn. Pudus are the smallest deer species in the world and are native to South America. The fawn, which has yet to be named, was born May 5 to parents Ted and Maggie. The birth is the pudus' fourth offspring together since they were paired under the Pudu Species Survival Plan , a cooperative breeding program across accredited zoos to help ensure a healthy, self-sustaining population of the species. The fawn's father, Ted, is 7 years old and arrived at the zoo in 2017. The mother, Maggie, 6, came in 2018. This is the pair’s first female fawn. All three of their male fawns now live at accredited zoos across the country and are doing well. “We are very excited to have the first female pudu birth at the zoo since 2010. The fawn is healthy and continues to get more comfortable exploring the habitat,” said Shawn...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications 2022 is off to a wonderful start with the birth of twin sloth bears! The cubs, a boy and a girl, were born on New Year’s Day—the first births of the year at Woodland Park Zoo. The tiny sloth bear cubs are seen here in the maternity den at 14 days old—eyes still closed. They should be able to open their eyes any day now. Photo: Woodland Park Zoo The cubs, who don't have names yet, were born to first-time mom Kushali and dad Bhutan. This is the second litter of cubs for Bhutan and the first successful birth for Kushali, who was born at Woodland Park Zoo in 2012. The last birth of sloth bears at the zoo was in 2017. Video of the cubs cuddled together in the off-view maternity den. Volume UP! Sloth bears in zoos are rare, with only 34 currently living in zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Every birth of sloth bears is significant for the Sloth Bear Species Survival Plan. Species Survival Plans are cooperative breeding pr...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo We’re so excited to announce the latest additions to our zoo family—the birth of three red ruffed lemur babies on March 29. This is the first lemur birth at Woodland Park Zoo in 16 years. These three bouncing babies were born March 29th to first-time red ruffed lemur mom, Sally. The triplets were born to first-time mom Sally who will turn 5 this summer. There are two adult males in Sally’s group—brothers Orion and Lucien who will be 14 years old next month. We don’t yet know which one is the father of the babies, but that’s not unusual in lemur groups. A genetic test may be done later to learn that. We have not been able to determine the sexes of the babies yet, but quick neonatal exams have confirmed the triplets are thriving; the zoo’s animal health team will continue to perform exams to closely monitor their weight gains. Currently, they range in weight from 6.7 to 7.8 oz., which is within the ...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo The #SeattleWatermelon has arrived. On June 10 at approximately 9:30 p.m., our Malayan tapir Ulan, gave birth to her first baby, a girl. We are in love. The gestation period for tapirs is approximately 13 months, and for Ulan, her birth window was between April and June, since we weren't exactly sure when she conceived. The average weight for calves at birth is 22 pounds, and Ulan's baby is 18 pounds. Calves are born with their eyes open and can stand within one or two hours after birth—and as you can see from these photos—baby tapirs hit their adorable watermelon benchmark right away! The newborn calf gets a quick neonatal exam by the animal health team before being reunited with mom. “These ‘watermelons on four legs’ are irresistible,” says Kevin Murphy, animal curator. “It will be curiously fun to watch her explore the public habitat, which we did our best to tapi...

Posted by Meghan Sawyer, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Oh baby! Add two more precious newborns to the list of recent Woodland Park Zoo offspring—a healthy set of red panda twins was just born! The twins were born May 25 to mom Hazel and dad Yukiko. Twins Ila and Zeya were the last pair of red pandas born in 2018. We have seen a number of adorable animals born and hatched recently, including gorilla Kitoko born in March, penguin chicks and scaly-sided mergansers hatched, agouti pups born in April, a pudu fawn and mountain goat both born in May, and wallaroo and wallaby joeys that are just now venturing outside of their moms’ pouches! A very tiny, newborn red panda cub is examined during an initial health check up with the veterinary team. The red panda twins are the first born at the zoo since 2018, when Hazel and Yukiko gave birth to a set of female twins which were the first red pandas born at the zoo in nearly three decades. Wi...