Woodland Park Zoo Blog

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: Rob Goehrke, Education Partners One of my favorite things about working at Woodland Park Zoo is bringing amazing partnerships into the classroom. This season, our ZooCrew middle school program partnered with the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT)--a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife conservation partner --in some exciting ways. Curriculum While deciding which animal to focus on this season, we came across a new curriculum guide that SLT put together in partnership with Facing the Future. With our snow leopard cubs just born months earlier, it seemed like a great fit. Curriculum from http://www.facingthefuture.org/ During our first lesson, the ZooCrew students learned that snow leopards are a top predator and a keystone species—they have a much larger impact on their ecosystem than some other species, which makes their protection even more important. During the next few weeks, the students learned about different types of people involved in protecting snow le

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re counting down the zoo stories that made us smile, made us care, and made us take action this year. From fuzzy new faces at the zoo, to scaly new additions to the wild, all of these stories have been made possible because of your support. Thanks for an amazing 2012, and here’s to going wild in 2013! 12. Snowpocalypse Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Remember Snowpocalypse 2012 ? The year got off to a snowy start, and—despite having to close the zoo for safety—we caught a number of zoo animals having fun romping around in the snow. 11. Turtles take a wild journey Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. When we released 90 native western pond turtles to a South Puget Sound protected habitat, it was the story of turtle "2"  that brought home the big hope riding on these tiny turtles. Hope for an endangered species, hope for a recovering habitat, and hope for people finding a way to live sustainab

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: Caileigh Robertson, Communications As a kid, the only turtles that really interested me lived in the dwellings of New York City, fought crime against the Foot Clan and exclaimed things like “Cowabunga!” Yep, I’m talking about these guys—the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Since then, my expectation of turtles hasn’t changed. They should be fierce fighters, find strength in numbers and ultimately, play a role in helping the world. It’s just that now, they are fighting extinction instead of foot soldiers, gaining numbers through captive breeding and head starting programs through zoos and conservation partners, and the important role they play on the planet is more ecologically significant than crime-fighting significant. More than 50 percent of the world’s known turtle species are facing extinction, making these reptiles one of the most endangered groups of animals on the planet. Turtle extinction is a global phenomenon, but with another successful turtle breeding seas

Posted by: Bobbi Miller, Field Conservation Female jaguar, Nayla, at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. To look at a jaguar —its massive jaws, its muscular body—one would think nothing could take it down. But the jaguar faces very real threats: man-made ones. Threatened in its native Americas, the jaguar is declining in numbers due to loss of habitat and conflict with humans. The two issues are connected, as hungry jaguars living in reduced habitats wander into human-occupied land in search of food, particularly in the form of cattle ranches. Jaguar Cove exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo. Thanks to a generous bequest, the Jaguar Conservation Fund  was established in 2003 by Woodland Park Zoo to support field conservation efforts for jaguars. The Fund’s goal is to support projects that lead directly to conservation of jaguars and their habitat by incorporating conservation, education, and research components, alon

Posted by: Alyse Kennamer, Zoo Corps intern Oregon silverspot butterfly. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. This summer, I had the unforgettable opportunity to work with a threatened species, the Oregon silverspot butterfly . While I was working here, an amazing idea came to my head for a study that could help scientists better understand and protect this species. I wanted to observe a female butterfly, see where she lays her eggs, and how it’s done. Observing butterfly behavior in the silverspot lab at the zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. It all started at the beginning of the summer when I joined the silverspot project as part of the zoo’s teen program, Zoo Corps . I joined Zoo Corps in my sophomore year of high school, and am now enrolled in my first year of college. In early spring, we got to pick from a list of about 10 areas we wanted to work in at the zoo. Working in the lab where the zoo rears silverspot caterpillars was my first choice. You w

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This is a conservation story about butterflies and beer. An Oregon silverspot butterfly lands on a beer bottle. It’ll all make sense by the end of the story, I promise.  Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Where to start? How about we take it back to biology class. Remember learning about generalists and specialists? Humans are the ultimate generalist—we’ll live in just about any habitat and eat just about any food. Then there are the specialists, like koalas and their eucalyptus-only diet. For specialists, survival depends on that one thing they specialize in. That one thing goes away, and they’re in big trouble. Oregon silverspot butterfly at Cascade Head in Oregon. Photo by Rachel Gray/Woodland Park Zoo. That’s what’s happening to the Oregon silverspot butterfly, a native of the Pacific Northwest and a specialist dependent on the early blue violet plant for survival. This threatened species once li