Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Plus meet Dr. Robert Long, WPZ’s first Senior Conservation Fellow Posted by: Dr. Deborah B. Jensen, President and CEO President Jensen. Photo by Matt Hagen. December 2013 marked the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, a successful, complex and at times controversial federal law that has protected many of our most prized wildlife species from extinction. As we enter the New Year, the future of two native Northwest species hangs in the balance. Currently, gray wolves are being considered for delisting from the Federal Endangered and Threatened Species protections, while Oregon spotted frogs are being considered for listing . Under other circumstances, it would be hard to find a stage, outside of a Grimm brothers’ fairytale perhaps, in which both of these species shared a national spotlight. At the zoo, kids are learning all about wild wolves and other carnivores, including humans’ misconceptions of them, in our Zoo Crew and new Coexisting with Carnivores educat

Posted by: Kate Neville, Corporate and Foundation Gifts Officer Photos by Kate Neville/Woodland Park Zoo I slouch lower in the boat and pull my hat further down over my face. It’s hot. The relentless tropical sun sends rivers of sweat down my neck…and we still have several hours to go before reaching our destination. This boat ride is the last leg of a two-day journey from Lae to the village of Ronji, a remote community in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe Province. My traveling companions are Woodland Park Zoo's  Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Director Dr. Lisa Dabek, and TKCP staff members Benjamin Sipa, Karau Kuna and Mikal Nolan. We’re traveling to the coastal village of Ronji to participate in a ceremony celebrating the community’s new bridge and field office. TKCP helped construct the bridge and office at the community’s request, thanks to support from Conservation International, the German Development Bank and Woodland Park Zoo. I glance back to the stern, where the captain

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications At last count, more than 260 babies were born at Woodland Park Zoo in 2013, and hey, there’s still a few hours left in the year! We may have had our hands full of cubs, chicks, pups and kits, but the year was also marked by many other new additions: from a new exhibit that transformed the oldest part of the zoo, to new conservation programs that fight for a future for wildlife. Let’s take a look at the Top 13 zoo stories of 2013 that made us smile, made us care, and made us act to make a difference: 13.  Living with bears Bears want cake. Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Picnics aren't just for Yogi Bear—here in the Pacific Northwest, you may truly encounter a bear while hiking, picnicking or camping in the great outdoors, and sometimes even in your own backyard. What do you when a bear crashes your barbecue? Better yet, how can you make sure the bear never gets invited in the first place? With the help of destructi

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s Science and Technology Program has awarded Woodland Park Zoo a generous two-year grant—a portion of which will help fund wolverine monitoring research in the North Cascades—as a part of the expansion of the zoo’s Living Northwest field conservation program. Woodland Park Zoo’s Living Northwest program uses hidden cameras that are triggered by the presence of animals to monitor wolverine and other carnivore activity in the North Cascades. Photo: Woodland Park Zoo. With the $240,000 grant, Woodland Park Zoo will continue to build the Living Northwest conservation program, which leverages zoo-based resources to carry out Pacific Northwest wildlife projects focusing on endangered species recovery, conservation science and community-based education. “Woodland Park Zoo conducts leading conservation research in our region,” said Susan M. Coliton, Vice President of The Paul G. Allen Family Founda

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This International Cheetah Day we have big news: the fastest land animal on earth will be here in a flash! A pair of cheetah will debut in a temporary exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo next May. The two females will be arriving from Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. Photo: Stephanie Adams/Houston Zoo The Species Survival Plan, a conservation breeding program among accredited zoos, enlisted our assistance to care for these animals for six to 18 months. We’ll share more as the plans come together over the next few months. Are you excited for this new addition? Animal curator Mark Myers helped round up some interesting facts about the new dotted denizens we all can't wait to meet: Range and Habitat Cheetah are distributed throughout the drier parts of sub-Saharan Africa. They are most frequently observed on open grassy plains, but can also be found in a mosaic of woodland and grassland habitats, using bush, scrub and open woodlan

Posted by: Fred Koontz, PhD, Vice President of Field Conservation These days, bad news is easy to come by in stories about tiger conservation. But I’d like to show you how the power of ordinary, caring people is changing that. Recently, I joined a group of folks in Malaysia dedicated to protecting tiger landscapes from the grip of wildlife criminals. Come with me on a CAT Walk through tiger country and see for yourself what conservation in a tiger hotspot looks and feels like. With massive, towering trees, Taman Negara National Park, created in 1939, is often referred to as the crown jewel of the world’s rain forests. Estimated to be 130 million years old, it is nearly twice as old as the Amazon rain forest. Woodland Park Zoo is part of a new, 10-year project with Panthera and Malaysian colleagues to save Malayan tigers in and around this park. Photo: Fred Koontz/WPZ.  BOOTS ON THE GROUND Last June, on a Malaysian site visit for WPZ’s Field Conservation Department , I joine