Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Photos by: Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Hispanic Seafair Queen Tania Santiago gets up close with penguin Cortez thanks to zookeeper Celine Pardo. Curator Mark Myers shows off a wand to this year's Seafair Princesses, but this wand isn't normally meant to go with tiaras. “This is a metal detector,” Mark explains. “Any idea why we might need a metal detector in the penguin exhibit?” “To see if they ate any coins?” a Princess correctly guesses. “That’s right, penguins like shiny objects,” Mark explains, as the ladies all self-consciously look at each other’s sparkling tiaras. Better not drop those in the penguin pool! 63rd Annual Miss Seafair Veronica Asence holds a penguin egg (don't worry, it's empty!). But our crowned cadre is too composed to have to worry about that. This year's Seafair Princesses, participants in the Seafair Scholarship Program for Women, got to go behind the scenes at the zo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Grizzly brothers, Keema and Denali, demonstrated at Saturday’s Bear Affair: Pacific Northwest Conservation presented by Brown Bear Car Wash what bears can do to your campsite or backyard when you don’t store your garbage, food or gear properly.  See the damage they caused and learn bear safety tips to avoid these scenarios. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. If you are camping out in bear country, make sure to pitch your tents in a line or a semicircle facing your cooking area. With this set up, you will be more likely to spot a bear that wanders into your camp and the bear will have a clear escape route, according to our conservation collaborators over at  Western Wildlife Outreach . Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. When camping, remember the 100 yard rule. Locate your cook area and food cache at least 100 yards downwind from your tent when not in established campgrounds. Photo by Dennis Do

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The Brownies gather around Lanny in the Commissary, waiting to see what’s behind the door. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. “Do you know what we do at the Commissary?” Lanny Kittleson, the zoo’s Commissary Lead, asked the Brownie troop. “Feed the puppies!” one girl guessed. Well, it’s not exactly puppies we’re feeding with the thousands of pounds of food that come in and out of the zoo’s Commissary each week—it’s the more than 1,000 animals representing 300 different species living at Woodland Park. Last week, the 3rd grade Brownie troop from Ballard’s Salmon Bay School had the unforgettable opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Commissary as a special thank you from zoo staff—after all, the 8- and 9-year-old girls donated part of their cookie sales money this year to help feed the zoo’s animals. Lanny rolled up the door to welcome the girls into the grain room. “It smells like cat food!” erupted from the cro

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: Kirsten Pisto, Communications This spring, we asked kids to complete the picture in our Tiger Tails drawing contest to get us pumped for phase two of the Bamboo Forest Reserve. Thanks to all of the amazing young artists who entered the contest through our MyZoo magazine kids section. We received over 130 entries, some from as far away as Germany. It was a tough decision, but we had a lot of help – 25 staff from across the zoo assisted in judging. We considered detail, use of color, perspective, inspiration and creativity. We were all thrilled with your imagination and talent! Below are the grand prize champs and their artwork. Drumroll please, and the prizes are… Zoo Favorite Age 2-5 “Sneaky Tiger” Logan Myers, 4 Zoo Favorite Age 6-12 “Bamboo Bengal” Samantha Schallon, 11  Logan and Samantha will both receive a zoo tiger adoption and plush, 4 giraffe feeding tickets and their framed drawing. Most Inspiring “Tiger and Friends

Did you have an experience as a teen that had a lasting impact on your life? Something that changed your worldview or influenced your career? Now you can create life-changing experiences for middle school and high school students! That’s one example of what you can accomplish by making a gift to Woodland Park Zoo through GiveBIG Day on May 15 ! Each donation made through GiveBIG Day will be stretched based on the amount of money raised, thanks to The Seattle Foundation's stretch pool of funds.   Hosted by the Seattle Foundation, GiveBIG Day is King County’s biggest day of online giving. It’s your chance to join people from all around the region to help change the world and change lives. You can make your gift today through this link . The zoo’s ZooCrew and ZooCorps programs are two programs that your gift would help support. They introduce middle school and high school students to brand new career paths, take them out of their comfort zone and teach them real-world skil

Posted by: Laura Lockard, Communications  Ever wonder how you can do more to help the zoo? Woodland Park Zoo would like to invite you to join our new advocacy program, ZooAction . Every day, issues are being considered at the federal, state and local levels that affect the zoo, our conservation and education programs, and our ongoing effort to save wildlife and their habitats. ZooAction provides a great arena to share policy information as it relates to the zoo and allows you to help advocate for the zoo. By joining ZooAction you are signing up to help advocate for issues that affect the zoo. You can also follow ZooAction on Facebook and Twitter . ZooAction will keep you informed about public policy issues that affect the zoo. You will be asked to take action by contacting your elected officials by phone or email about important issues. We will also keep you informed about how state or local initiatives or ballot measures impact Woodland Park Zoo, such as the upcomi

Posted by: Bamboo Forest Reserve team A huggable Asian small-clawed otter mascot greeted children at the ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday and grand opening celebrations on Saturday. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Zoo fans of all stripes shared an otterly huge success story last Friday. Hundreds of donors, zoo members, public officials, families and children gathered to celebrate Bamboo Forest Reserve Day, officially declared by members of the Seattle City Council. A swift snip of the vine signaled the official opening of our newest exhibit to an eager and deserving community. L-R: King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert; Seattle City Councilmember Jean Godden, King County Councilmember and zoo board member Larry Phillips; Jennifer Carter and Louisa Malatos, representing the Joshua Green Foundation; Nancy Pellegrino, WPZ Board Chair; Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles; Deborah Jensen, WPZ President and CEO; Bill Bryant, Seattle Port Commissioner, and Seattle City Councilm

Posted by: Laura Lockard, MyZoo Magazine Editor-in-Chief Have you seen the latest issue of the MyZoo member magazine? Chock full of baby lions, behind the scenes information and a brand new kids section this latest issue was a hit! Woodland Park Zoo’s member magazine, MyZoo, is created with the help of many zoo staff from a diverse pool of departments. Like caring for animals, cultivating beautiful gardens, and educating students, the content we produce and share with you takes heaps of teamwork and passionate individuals. The lion cubs were an obvious story choice for the recent issue! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Before you see it, our editorial team starts with a theme for each issue as well as a handful of ideas. Of course we have to consider all of the timely events around the zoo, like four lion cubs being born! For the spring issue we were very fortunate to have our cubs in the spotlight helping to tell Woodland Park Zoo’s conservation story. When you