Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Woodland Park Zoo is a photographer’s paradise so take your best shot and enter it for a chance to win the cover of Woodland Park Zoo’s 2011 calendar, hitting member households this November. Photographers—amateur and professional alike—are invited to submit their best animal photograph taken at Woodland Park Zoo. To enter, upload your photo to http://www.zoo.org/calendar-contest from August 16-30. Zoo judges will select their top 10 choices and open up the final voting to the public. Voting takes place online from Sept. 7-10, when the finalist photos will be posted to the zoo’s Facebook page. There you can cast votes by clicking a photo’s “Like” button. The photo with the most “Likes” as voted on by zoo fans will win the cover shot and a prize package including a one-year zoo membership for two adults and two children, plus a $50 zoo gift card . What makes for a winning photo? We’re looking for photographs that showcase the beauty and dram

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications You cast the votes, we tallied (for hours and hours!), and it’s decided. Today we revealed the names you selected for our new mob of four female and four male meerkats—though the meerkats were far more interested in the watermelon enrichment they received as part of our Red, White & Zoo celebration! The winning names, in order of most votes received: ZIMBA (Zambian town) NATA (southern African river) MOLOPO (southern African river) KIWANO (Kalahari fruit) KALAHARI (African desert) DINAWA (“beans” in Tswana) ACACIA (African tree) NGAMI (lake in Botswana) We received more than 2,600 ballots through our naming contest presented by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times that ran from June 1-June 15. You had the chance to select up to eight of your favorite names from 16 choices that reflected the meerkats’ native southern African habitat. We counted more than 16,600 individual votes in total for the different names! Big thanks to you all for voting

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications You can call the meerkats cute, you can call them curious—and soon, you can call them by the names that you give them. We’re kicking off a meerkat naming contest today and the mob got in on the fun by “casting” the first votes (which mostly involved them exploring and playing with a ballot box!). Now it’s your turn. Our “Name the Meerkats” contest, sponsored by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times, starts today with an awesome grand prize of a trip for four to San Diego! We have selected 16 names that reflect the meerkats’ native southern African habitat and now it is your turn to cast your vote for up to eight of your favorites. Just pick up your ballot at any participating U.S. Bank location , in The Seattle Times, on zoo grounds, or on our contest website and drop it off at any participating U.S. Bank now through June 15 to enter to win*. The eight highest vote getters from the following choices will become the new names for our four male and fo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The poll is open! Cast your vote to name Woodland Park Zoo's male snow leopard cub, plus enter to win a snow leopard prize package. Vote as often as you'd like for as many names as you'd like now through midnight, August 12. We'll announce the winning name when the cubs debut on Saturday, August 15 at noon on Snow Leopard Day. The female cub has already been named Batu (pronounced BAH-too), a Mongolian name meaning firm, hard, honest. Photo: This male snow leopard cub, pictured here at 9 weeks, needs a name selected by you! Photo by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications “Hey, sweetie” may sound pretty cute, but a male snow leopard cub needs a befitting name to match his majestic beauty. Starting next week on August 4, you can help name the 2½-month-old cub through Woodland Park Zoo’s online naming poll. The female cub has been named Batu (pronounced BAH-too), meaning firm, hard, honest in Mongolian. You'll have your choice of four Mongolian names for the male cub: - Gobi (go-bee) – named for Gobi Desert in Mongolia - Boke (rhymes with poke ) – “Strong” - Irbis (ear-biss) – “Leopard” - Vachir (voch-err) – “Thunderbolt” Mongolia is one of the 12 countries that is home to the endangered snow leopard. The winning name will be announced when the cubs make their public debut at Snow Leopard Day on Saturday, August 15. The third annual event is hosted by the zoo and its conservation partner, the Snow Leopard Trust , to highlight the fascinating adaptations of the snow leopard and critical conservation efforts to

The Search is on, Seattle! The UW and The Seattle Times are back with a 3rd year of the popular Emerald City Search . This year, the search is sponsored by Woodland Park Zoo with a special Year of the Frog theme, to help promote our amphibian awareness campaign . The first clue to help you find the hidden Emerald City Search medallion was revealed in The Seattle Times today, and an additional clue will be printed each day for 10 consecutive days. The clues, written by UW experts, are tricky, so consider working with a friend to solve the riddles and find the location of the medallion. First contestant to find a medallion hidden somewhere in the city wins $2,500 in cash and prizes. Official rules here. Good luck!

Congratulations Lindsay H. and Megan A., our two ZooTunes VIP Ticket Giveaway trivia contest winners! Look for emails from Woodland Park Zoo to find out how to claim your prize. Thanks to all who took a stab at these tricky zoo trivia questions for a chance to win two VIP tickets to The Avett Brothers with Shawn Mullins ZooTunes concert. Curious about the answers? Here they are! 1. What carnivore is found farther north than any other non-human land mammal? Arctic fox 2. What animal uses regurgitation as a defense mechanism to startle the predator and lighten the load for escape? Turkey vulture 3. Zoos have been successfully repopulating what animal into biological reserves in Brazil for over 20 years? Golden lion tamarin 4. Indonesians call what animal “ora”? Komodo dragon 5. The record holder for what animal has over 375 pairs of legs? Millipede 6. What tropical rain forest feature was considered by the Maya to be a holy connection between the land and the heavens a

It’s time for a giveaway! And this one is sweet. You can win… Two (2) adult day passes to Woodland Park Zoo Two (2) WaMu ZooTunes tickets for The Avett Brothers with Shawn Mullins (8/27/08) VIP seating for the concert! To enter, just correctly answer the zoo trivia questions below. Two winners will be drawn at random from all eligible respondents with the correct answers. Not sure of the answers? Browse our website or visit the zoo to look for hints. (Click on the questions to view larger--may open new window.) Think you know the answers? Email webkeeper@zoo.org with your guesses through Sunday, 8/17, 10 p.m. PST. Only one entry per individual, so encourage your friends to enter as well! Two winners will be selected at random on Mon., 8/18. Good luck!