Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Jim Watson, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife Raptor Ecology of the Shrub-Steppe , a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife , is a project of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to identify, track and study native raptors and their conservation threats. This is an update from the field... The 2011 field season for Raptor Ecology of the Shrub-Steppe is just beginning, but it is a good time to reflect on the past season and the fresh outlook a new spring will bring. Many raptors will be returning to their nests after a long-winter, rejuvenated and prepared to start the nesting cycle again. Sadly, some raptors won’t return to their nests this spring as they may have in previous years, not having survived the challenges created by humans and natural hazards in their environments. I’d like to relate a short story that honors the contribution of a particular ferruginous hawk to our research and illustrates how dif

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Take a sip for a cause. Pick up a bag of the all new Zoo Special Reserve coffee at any Seattle Caffé Vita store and your daily cup of home-brewed joe will support Woodland Park Zoo and our work in animal care , conservation and education . That’s because for every bag of Zoo Special Reserve purchased at Caffé Vita, $1 will be donated to Woodland Park Zoo! The Zoo Special Reserve coffee is well-balanced with aromas of cocoa and hazelnuts. It has a smooth, clean and sweet flavor. But more than being good to drink, it’s also good to the planet. The eco-friendly coffee originates from a farm in the Santa Rosa district of Guatemala and is shade-grown, organic and Rainforest Alliance-certified. The farmers who grow this coffee promote biodiversity by setting aside over forty percent of their land as a nature reserve, which protects the habitats of native tropical animals and birds such as gray foxes, armadillos, anteaters, parrots and butte

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications The sound of howls and yips may be heard through the zoo as a pack of 1-year-old gray wolves explore their new home in our award-winning Northern Trail exhibit . The four canids, all female, were born at New York State Zoo and arrived at Woodland Park last September. After a 30-day standard quarantine, the wolves have spent the last several months in an off-view enclosure getting acclimated to their new surroundings and routine. Last week they took their first steps out into their exhibit at Northern Trail and have adjusted well. The wolves are conservation ambassadors representing the complex and volatile story of the return of the wolf to Washington state and the challenges their endangered cousins in the wild face. Although the wolves are nearly full grown, ranging from 75-85 pounds, they are young and still very curious and active. The best way to observe them is to stand quietly and watch the natural behaviors of a wolf pack. They ar

Posted by: Roxanne Murphy, Community Relations Currently, I'm having a great time going through the Woodland Park Zoo's docent training program. Since I've only been with the zoo for nine months, words can't express how much there is to learn to even try to catch up with my co-workers. This training has afforded me the opportunity to develop a more intimate understanding of our animals , exhibits , horticulture , education and conservation efforts . Best of all, it's fun, and it has introduced me to such dedicated, smart and passionate volunteers and animal and conservation advocates. One of our core assigments was to develop a brief presentation about one of the Woodland Park Zoo's Partners for Wildlife . Lucky for me, our team got the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project . Personally and professionally, I love grizzlies so much that part of my contribution to the presentation included writing a poem about them. We delivered the poem last Saturday and it received l

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications It’s fitting on this St. Patrick’s Day that our news is about green and gold. We’re proud to announce that our new West Entrance has just achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Green building certification system! Our West Entrance opened last summer to make the visitor experience more efficient and convenient, with lots of helpful amenities including bathrooms, rentals, member services and even a shade-grown coffee cart. But the green features of the entrance are perhaps a bit harder to see on the surface. The entrance was actually designed with sustainability in mind—from energy-efficient buildings, to low-flow toilets, and Forest Steward Council-certified wood used on exterior siding. The rainwater infiltration system in the entrance was built to prevent the runoff of approximately 975,000 gallons of stormwater a year, reducing the chance of overflow from the c

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications I’m so excited about this one that I have typed and retyped a dozen starts to this blog post and think the best approach is just to shout it out: NEW TIGER AND ASIAN BEAR EXHIBITS…COMING SOON! This morning at our annual Thrive fundraiser a tremendous gift came to the zoo from an anonymous donor—a $4 million challenge gift toward building a new tiger and Asian bear exhibit complex and completing the zoo’s More Wonder More Wild comprehensive fundraising campaign! This is the largest challenge gift in zoo history and we’re so excited for the momentum it gives us as we launch the news to you all about this new exhibit complex we plan to build. And check out who else is on board... We’re still in the earliest stage of conceptual design for the exhibits (the drawing up above is one artist’s concept rendering). We’re putting together plans to replace the 60-year-old infrastructure that tigers and Asian bears inhabit now. We’ll be transforming this

Posted by: Carolyn Austin Sellar, Zookeeper This is the third entry in our new Animal Spotlight series... For as long as many of you may remember, Pete the male silverback gorilla, has headed up our Gorilla Group 1 . This year Pete turned 43 and is the oldest male gorilla at Woodland Park Zoo. Despite having some of the typical complaints of old age, including arthritis and yes, even developing a bald spot (I know hair loss for a male can be embarrassing), Pete is in relatively good health considering his age. The average life span for gorillas in captivity is late 30s to early 40s with females living longer than males. In the wild, it is roughly 30-35 years. The longest living captive gorilla on record was 55 (a female). Although Pete is well into his golden years, he is still going strong. He has always been, and continues to be, the gentleman gorilla and always says “Thank you, tastes good!” by way of his grunts of contentment while he eats. When Pete first came to Woodland Park Zo

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Mayor McGinn proclaimed March 7-11 “Woodland Park Zoo Field Conservation Week.” The proclamation ushers in a huge week for Woodland Park Zoo’s growing role in conservation as we host an international conservation conference and summit this week. Nearly 250 zoo and aquarium conservationists, field biologists, wildlife agencies, and conservation organizations from 23 different countries and disciplines will come together for the biennial Zoos and Aquariums Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference. The conference brings together some of the most successful field conservationists to share knowledge and findings, build stronger conservation bridges between wildlife and local communities, and establish direct links to zoos, aquariums and their stakeholders. The need for conservation solutions is more urgent than ever. On a global scale, the planet’s precious wildlife is facing the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million y

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The Oscars are coming up and we have some Best Picture nominees of our own featuring Woodland Park Zoo’s superstars—our animals, our staff and our conservation efforts. We’ve picked five top nominees from videos produced in 2010 for our YouTube channel and now through February 27, you can cast your vote here for your Best Picture choice. And the Best Picture nominees are... Lion training Penguin chicks Flamingo squeaks Moment of silence Otter valentine Cast your vote for WPZ Best Picture We’re always experimenting with video ideas and our diverse nominees show off that variety. Your votes and feedback help us understand what our viewers want and help shape upcoming videos. Thanks for participating! Videos produced by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. See more at www.youtube.com/woodlandparkzoo .

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications What do 44-year-old elephant Bamboo , 42-year-old elephant Watoto , 32-year-old elephant Chai , and 5-year-old human Karina have in common? A special bond with Woodland Park Zoo elephant keeper Russ Roach. Karina and her elephant-loving, big sister Jadyn first came to an elephant keeper talk with their parents more than two years ago and there they met Russ. The elephant keeper talk is one of the most popular at the zoo, filled with the elephants displaying fascinating adaptations as they munch on apples and carrots while Russ or one of the other elephant keepers talks to visitors about the conservation issues impacting elephants in the wild. Karina was immediately drawn to the large yet graceful elephants and their knowledgeable keeper, and her parents, Julie and Mark, found themselves taking her back week after week to learn more about elephants from Russ. As her mother puts it, “Karina is absolutely captivated by the elephants and would

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications A set of new spots and striping has appeared at the zoo with the birth of an ocelot ! A single kitten, seen here at 3 weeks old, was born on January 15 to 10-year-old mother Bella and 15-year-old father Brazil. At this early stage, keepers want to minimize disturbance and physical contact outside of quick health check-ups to give the new family time to naturally bond. So for now, the mother and kitten are off public view in a dark birthing den and keepers are monitoring their progress via infrared camera. Here’s a peek at some of the black and white footage from baby’s first few weeks: Where’s dad? Like in the wild, mother ocelots care for their young alone. Brazil is keeping his distance and can be seen on exhibit in the award-winning Tropical Rain Forest . Curator Mark Myers tells us that Bella, an experienced mother , has been providing excellent round-the-clock and protective maternal care. The kitten is nursing regularly and has a healthy,