Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Stephanie Payne-Jacobs, Zookeeper Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. At 5 months old, Yola’s physical strength and self-confidence continues to develop in leaps and bounds, influencing the steps we take to ensure a smooth transition into her gorilla family. We’ve come a long way from the initial visits during Yola’s first months , which consisted of a mostly sleeping infant, to the current youngster in perpetual motion. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Yola’s burgeoning confidence and expanding knowledge of complex gorilla social cues is evident in the way she interacts with her mother and responds to the activities within her group. She watches closely as the gorillas communicate vocally and physically throughout the day. Yola has observed rambunctious play sessions, common displays of dominance and subordination, nest building, foraging and occasional disputes peacefully settled. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. We've heard stories of river otter sightings during hiking trips or kayak voyages, and some Northwesterners have even spotted otters while simply walking the dog. If you have ever observed a wild river otter in Washington state—or if you encounter one on your next outdoor adventure—we want to hear from you. Become an Otter Spotter and submit your sightings to our new community science initiative , part of our Living Northwest conservation program. We're collecting data on otter sightings across Washington as we launch a new research project that takes a closer look at the state's virtually unstudied river otter populations. Led by Michelle Wainstein, PhD, a local ecologist and conservationist, the research project—River Otters of Western Washington: Sentinels of Ecological Health—has a special focus on one of Washington's most used waterways. Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Th

Every tiger life is precious, which is why we are very sad to share news about the deaths of three tigers in Peninsular Malaysia. Two tigers were discovered with poachers and the third, a mother pregnant with two cubs, was killed from a collision with a moving vehicle. When Woodland Park Zoo first turned its focus to tiger conservation in 2012, scientists estimated 500 Malayan tigers were left in the wild.  Just four years later, with better data and increased poaching, we believe only about 300 remain. With numbers that low, the loss of three tigers underlines the importance of protecting each individual tiger. Surprisingly, our field partners have found a nugget of encouraging news in this otherwise discouraging report.  Some background: you may recall from previous Tiger Team reports Woodland Park Zoo and Panthera’s Malayan Tiger Conservation Partnership conserves critically endangered Malayan tigers and forests by mitigating threats in the 3.7-million-acre Greater Taman Negar

Earlier this year, the Malaysian Government’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) released a heartwarming video featuring a wild Malayan tiger playing with her rambunctious 5-month-old cub. To most of us, images of a springy cub pouncing on mom are downright adorable, but to conservationists, seeing a vigorous tiger family tells a more important story. The health of mother and cub tells biologists there is sufficient prey for successful reproduction. Locating and protecting adult tigers is only the first conservation step—ensuring that they can raise cubs is the key to a bright tiger future. Welcoming the new year with good news about Malayan Tigers from Jabatan PERHILITAN on Vimeo . Credit: Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) Peninsular Malaysia If you have been following our Tiger Team updates , you already know Malayan tigers face serious threats to survival, specifically from wildlife poaching and widespread habitat loss. In some communities, t

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Little brown bat, Canandaigua, NY, photo by J. N. Stuart via Flickr On March 31, Fred Koontz, PhD, the zoo’s vice president of Field Conservation, shared with us some important news he had just received from Penny A. Becker, PhD, a wildlife diversity division manager at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). It was potentially devastating news. Penny’s email had detailed the first white-nose syndrome detection in a Washington state bat. The bat, found by hikers near North Bend, positively tested for the deadly disease. A mere 30 miles east of Woodland Park Zoo and the first case of white-nose syndrome west of the Rockies, the discovery could be catastrophic for local bats. This is disturbing news for bat conservationists across the country and very concerning for the bats in our own backyard. While you may not have heard much about the disease in the West, it is infamous on the East coast and much of the Midwest.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Our big guy, Towan. Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. It is with heavy hearts that we share the news today: our sweet old fellow, Towan, has passed away. The 48-year-old orangutan—the oldest in North America born in a zoo—was feeling the aches and pains of getting older, and he passed during a medical examination that was needed to find a new treatment plan to help with respiratory issues that were not responding to medicine. His keepers were by his side, and from the outpouring of love we saw yesterday when we first announced his pending examination, we know he was in all of your hearts as well. Towan (right) and his sister Chinta were the first twin orangutans born in a zoo, here at Woodland Park Zoo in 1968. Photo: Robert Kelley. This community has known and loved Towan since he was born here with twin sister Chinta back in 1968. Many of you watched him grow up and as the decades passed, he watched us too. He saw Woodland Park

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Our 4-month-old female gorilla has a name of her own. Through a public naming contest, nearly 3,500 names were submitted and the baby gorilla caretakers have selected the winning name: Yola (rhymes with Lola). Meet Yola. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Yola, which means “firefly” in the African language Hausa was chosen because the new gorilla has been a spark that has catalyzed and solidified the bonds within her mom’s group. Hear more from zookeeper Stephanie Payne-Jacobs on why they selected this name: Video: And our baby gorilla's new name is... We are grateful to all of you who submitted name suggestions, and many thanks to our gorilla fans who have followed the story of our new western lowland gorilla. She has sparked a fire in all of our hearts to fight for a future for this critically endangered species. Every time you visit the zoo, you support our conservation efforts in Africa and beyond. Show

Posted by: Snow Leopard Trust , a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife The Ranger Rewards Program aims to both recognize and empower Kyrgyz wildlife rangers for their difficult, sometimes, dangerous job. Photo: Snow Leopard Trust. A total of ten Kyrgyz wildlife rangers have received a Citizen Ranger Wildlife Award for their courage in the fight against illegal hunting in the country’s snow leopard habitat in 2015. They were publicly honored in a ceremony in Bishkek today, on World Wildlife Day. Chinasilov Baktibek, a regional wildlife inspector, received an award for his role in bringing to justice a poacher who had illegally hunted and killed a brown bear and an ibex in Sary-Chelek reserve. The poacher he captured with the help of two colleagues has been sentenced to pay a $12,000 fine. Another award was given to Abdykarimov Urustamaly Hamdamalievich, a ranger working with the Department of Rational Use of Natural Resources. He stopped and apprehended a group of poacher

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications All photos courtesy of Hutan Woodland Park Zoo, along with Oregon Zoo and Houston Zoo, announced today a new agreement with Borneo-based wildlife organizations to protect the endangered Borneo pygmy elephant. The new partnership between Hutan and the Borneo Elephant Zoo Alliance is the first of its kind to focus on the little-known Asian elephant subspecies. Hutan’s primary area of focus is the Lower Kinabatangan flood plain in eastern Sabah, a state on the Malaysian island of Borneo. The initiative will combat the frequent and sometimes deadly conflicts between people and elephants. Only an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 Borneo elephants remain in the wild on the island of Borneo. While Borneo elephants are fully protected under the 1997 Sabah Wildlife Enactment, their survival is threatened due to deforestation—largely driven by logging and palm oil production. Oil palm plantations are often adjacent to wildlife habitat. This inevitabl

Posted by: Snow Leopard Trust, a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife Editor's Note: Woodland Park Zoo is excited to share this latest news from our Partner for Wildlife, the Snow Leopard Trust . The Trust’s work in Kyrgyzstan is in collaboration with Woodland Park Zoo and we are very proud of our Field Conservation Associate, Kubanych Jumaby, for his innovative leadership. The following is adapted from an article originally published on the Snow Leopard Trust Blog ... The Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard Foundation Kyrgyzstan and the Kyrgyz Department of Hunting and Natural Resource Management are piloting a new, innovative conservation program: they are turning a hunting concession, where ibex were commercially hunted, into a co-managed nature reserve. The 100 square mile former concession area, Shamshy, in Kyrgyzstan’s northern Tian Shan mountains, is home to ibex, and seasonal populations of argali and wolves. It lies within a large snow leopard landscape, and has th