Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo Do you know what happens to the salmon the Pike Place Fish Market fishmongers use in their world-famous tossing demonstrations after all the high-flying action is done? It becomes food for Woodland Park Zoo’s two grizzly bear brothers, Keema and Denali. This week, that fish was hand delivered to the bears by the fishmongers themselves in a fish toss unlike any other in town! The fishmongers came out for the special toss to help us promote this weekend’s Bear Affair: Pacific Northwest Conservation presented by Brown Bear Car Wash event, coming up on Sat., June 8. The sight of fish being hurled through the air during some early practice tosses drew a crowd, and soon the exhibit was packed with visitors waiting to see the real deal. The bears caught the scent of the fish and, seeing all the action, situated themselves perfectly on the other side of the moat awaiting their meal. The salmon toss is a great way to reconnect

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications We are getting so excited for our ninth annual Bear Affair: Pacific Northwest Conservation day presented by Brown Bear Car Wash on June 8! At Woodland Park Zoo’s Bear Affair, 700-pound grizzly bear brothers, Keema and Denali, show us why it is important to be bear-safe in the Pacific Northwest. Whether you are hiking and camping in the mountains or simply spending the summer in your own backyard, being bear-safe can help protect you and your family as well as keep our Northwest wildlife safe. Woodland Park Zoo teamed up with local singer Star Anna to create a song about our favorite bear-safety tips. Rock out to the song this summer and remember the rules! Don’t leave those treats out: dog food, bird seed ( in the winter), barbecue scraps, camping dishes and snacks, anything that smells tasty such as toothpaste, deodorant, sunscreen and hairspray can be an attractant for bears. Clean it up! They sniff for garbage: A bear-

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Photos by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo NOTE: The sloth bear exhibit is currently off view while construction is completed in the area. A temporary path will open on May 4 to give you access to see the cubs on exhibit. Until then, the cubs' time spent outside is off view to visitors. Thanks for your patience. We promise the cubs are worth the wait! Last Friday, our twin sloth bear cubs took their first steps outside. Technically, their very first moments outside weren't steps at all, as they rode out from their den clinging to mom's back. Their feet didn't hit the ground until a minute later, when the sights and smells piqued their curiosity and they hopped down to check out their new surroundings. Video: Sloth bear cubs outside for the first time. Produced by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. The cubs are now 3 months old, and up until now, they have been glued to mom's side in their behind-the-scenes maternity d

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Surprise! We’re excited to announce that we have not one, but two sloth bear cubs doing well behind the scenes at Woodland Park Zoo. It turns out our big news about having a cub born back in December is even bigger news, now that we know we have twins! Video: Sloth bear mom Tasha leaves the maternity den briefly, lured by a snack of crickets offered by zookeepers, revealing the two cubs she birthed on December 18. The case of the hidden sloth bear cub Back on December 18 when the cubs were born, 7-year-old mother Tasha was so quick to build a fortress of hay around her cubs to protect and support them in the maternity den, that we never got much of a visual on the litter. We spotted one cub, but we suspected there was a second cub in the litter, hiding out from where we could see it. What made us think we had two cubs? Through baby monitors, keepers could hear what sounded like two cubs breathing, grunting and nursing. But since

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications We’re capping off the year with yet another significant birth: an endangered sloth bear . Born Dec. 18, the tiny cub is off view with its mom, 7-year-old Tasha, in a behind-the-scenes maternity den. Dad, 16-year-old Randy, is staying in his own den right now, giving mom and cub their space to bond, which is a typical family structure for sloth bears. This screen capture from the internal web cam was taken just moments after the birth of the cub. The tiny size is normal, with an average birth weight for sloth bears at 10.5-17.5 ounces (300-500 g). Photo by Woodland Park Zoo. To minimize any disturbance to the family, zookeepers are keeping their distance, monitoring the new family via an internal web cam to keep their eye on things and make sure the cub continues to nurse and bond with mom. This is Tasha’s first cub, but her motherly instincts kicked in immediately. Right after the birth, she built two large mounds of hay in the

Posted by: Monica Lake, Capital Projects Our sloth bears Randy and Tasha were out in full regalia Tuesday, sniffing, scratching, balancing on logs and slurping their favorite foods—all to greet 200+ zoo lovers and advocates who gathered to help us celebrate a major milestone:  breaking ground on the new Asian Tropical Forest exhibit complex! Assisted by sloth bear Randy, President and CEO Deborah Jensen spoke about design and animal care innovations at the Asian Tropical Forest groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 18, 2012. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Nearly 100 additional zoo fans of the smaller variety “dug in” to make way for new homes for Asian small-clawed otters, sloth bears and Malayan tigers. Kids from Orca Children’s Center, North Seattle Fives Cooperative and West Woodland Elementary School joined the ceremony. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. The kids also did a great job of overseeing the work of several leaders of the Asian Tropical Fo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re about to break ground on phase one of our all new tiger, sloth bear and otter exhibit complex , and that means we’re coming up on the final weekend—Sept. 15 – 16—to view sloth bears Randy and Tasha at the zoo before construction begins. Sloth bear at Woodland Park Zoo. Construction for a new exhibit complex begins Sept. 17, 2012. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Once construction begins the week of Sept. 17, we’ll be closing off the area where the sloth bears live now and they will remain off public view until both phases of the construction project are complete, which we anticipate will be in 2014. The new exhibit complex will transform a 60-year-old portion of the zoo into a state-of-the-art, 2-acre complex with dynamic new homes for several species of the Asian tropical forest—Asian small-clawed otters, sloth bears, tropical birds and Malayan tigers. Asian small-clawed otters. Photo courtesy of Santa Bar

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications With Olympics in full swing, we’re awarding some medals to our own animal all-stars, some of the best athletes at Woodland Park Zoo. Competition: Swimming Penguin porpoising with purpose. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Gold medal: Humboldt penguin Humboldt penguins may seem awkward on land, but in the water they truly fly, getting up to speeds of 17 mph and bursting into glorious dives known as porpoising, where they leap out of the water to catch a breath and dive back in again without losing speed. Doing the backstroke. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Silver medal: River otter Otters have a killer backstroke, though their form might differ from our own. Plus, their propensity to create whirlwinds that kick up bottom-feeding fish may throw off the competition. Hippo submerging. Photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo. Bronze medal: Hippo Hippos get up to about 5 mph underwater, but

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Pike Place Market. Fishmongers. Salmon. Grizzly bears. Woodland Park Zoo. Rain. This isn’t a game of Pacific Northwest word association—it’s a recipe for a rockin’ good time down at the Northern Trail this morning! Our friends from world famous Pike Place Fish Market brought their signature fish-tossing skills to our grizzly bear exhibit today at a media teaser for this Saturday’s Bear Affair presented by Brown Bear Car Wash event. The fishmongers planted themselves safely at the edge of the exhibit—a massive moat stood between them and the bears, don’t worry!—and got to tossing while grizzly brothers Keema and Denali looked on. The first few tosses of the 6-pound salmon were just for practice, though the bears seemed like they were hoping for a slip-up that would land a salmon in their direction. But once the rhythm got going among the fishmongers—tossing the salmon over the heads of dozens of school chil

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Can you guess which zoo animal these claws belong to?  We'll give you time to think. . . . . . . Did you get it?  . . . . . . Got it? It's the sloth bear! Those sharp, 3-inch-long claws belong to the sloth bear and they are used to dig out insect mounds. After digging, sloth bears  blow away the dirt with their long, mobile lips and with a huge breath, suck up the termites like a high-powered vacuum. You’ll see these adaptations up close when we transform our sloth bears’ and tigers’ 60-year-old exhibits into state-of-the-art, naturalistic homes coming in 2014.  Help us get started on the transformation : Give Ten for Tigers today at http://bit.ly/GiveTen Thanks! (Photos by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.)