Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Malayan tiger. Photo courtesy Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Serving on the exhibit design team for new Malayan tiger and sloth bear exhibits has been the highlight of my years at Woodland Park Zoo. Apologies in advance--you might see an extraordinary amount of exclamation points in this blog post because I am  so excited after all this time to unveil the cool features we’ve dreamed up for this new space! And with your support, we can make it a reality! An overview of the all new, 2-acre tiger and sloth bear exhibit complex. (Click to enlarge.) Artist rendering by Studio Hanson/Roberts. Our tigers and sloth bears currently live in 60-year-old exhibits, some of the last remaining old-school exhibits at the zoo. It’s time to transform this space into a state-of-the-art, naturalistic exhibit complex for these endangered species. We’re making it better for the animals, better for visitors, better for zoo staff and better for the environment

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Cold rain showers or accumulated snow in the suburban highlands didn’t deter 40 volunteers from trekking to Carkeek Park on Saturday for a training session on identifying eggs laid by local amphibian species. Volunteers inspect possible egg masses underwater at Carkeek Park. Photo by Stan Milkowski. Outfitted in knee-high boots or hip waders, the volunteers carefully treaded in Carkeek’s ponds under the guidance of biologists and naturalists from Woodland Park Zoo, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Seattle Parks and Recreation. The industrious scene was a practice session for a new amphibian program that teams ““ citizen scientists ” with Woodland Park Zoo, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park to survey amphibian egg masses in ponds and wetlands in western Washington. Hand-held GPS units, digital cameras, field identification guides and, for som

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications “I got a fever of a hundred and three, come on baby…” We’ve all heard the term “hot blooded” in reference to unabashed lust, but this Valentine’s Day we are cooling things off with a little biology recap. Sorry, all you stud-muffins and flirtatious foxes, but using the term “hot blooded” is actually pretty uncool in the zoological community. In the recent past, hot blooded (or warm blooded) and cold blooded were ways to describe an animal’s thermoregulation. Within the last 30 years, studies in the field of animal thermophysiology have revealed just how wild temperature control is between each species, and it’s pretty sexy stuff! Flamingos pair up to create a stunning heart-shaped beak rub.  Flamingos are endothermic homeotherms. By constantly ingesting shrimp, these water birds keep their luxurious pink feathers looking bright; the shrimp also keep their metabolic rate nice and even. (Photo by Mat Hayward / WPZ). There ar

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Roses are red, violets are blue…unless you’re a tetrachromat, it’s true. Apologies for the obvious segue to a post about color, but I couldn’t resist!  A blue bellied roller and a brightly colored orchid show us examples of some of the beautiful colors here at Woodland Park Zoo. Photos by Ryan Hawk and Kirsten Pisto/WPZ. Throughout the animal kingdom, there is enormous diversity in the structure and faculty of eyesight. Oftentimes, we relate our own human eyesight to the visual capabilities of animals, but most evidence points to the contrary: in fact, humans might be an underdog in visual perception. A rainbow sits over the North Meadow. Red has the longest wavelength and blue has the shortest. Photo by Dennis Conner/WPZ.   The human eye sees a wide range of what we call visual color, that is , measurable wavelengths in the range of about 390–700 nanometers. Our eyeballs have a ton of tiny little cones and rods in th

Posted by: Jennifer Larsen, Real Close Tour Guide and Tourism Marketing Coordinator I joined Woodland Park Zoo’s marketing team in late March, and 8+ months later it still is such a thrill to call this my place of employment! Having grown up in the Seattle area, I’ve been coming to Woodland Park Zoo since I was a toddler, and it has been an amazing experience to develop a tour program to share that sense of wonder with both visitors to Seattle, as well as zoo members and more frequent guests. Putting together the itinerary and content for our Real Close tour program which launched this year, I had the chance to meet people from all across the zoo’s departments including Animal Management, Education, Admissions, Horticulture, Animal Health, and Guest Services. Thanks to all of them, I am able to weave together stories, facts and anecdotes that entertain and inform our guests as I lead them around our award-winning exhibits. This past summer marked our first season of Real C

Posted by: Nora Venne, Education Our look at the life of 5-year-olds continues in honor of Zoomazium’s big 5th birthday . In this post, zookeepers shed some light on what life is like for a 5-year-old snow leopard . Q: Human children at age 5 are still very young and completely dependent on their families for care. Give us a brief description of what life looks like for a snow leopard. Is age 5 young or older for this animal? A: At 3 years of age, our male snow leopard Tom had all ready consummated a relationship and at 4 years of age he was a father of two! Next year at age 5 he will once again hopefully father more children. Cats mature very quickly. In captivity snow leopards can live to be 18, although some live longer and a very few live to 21. Scientists are still researching how long snow leopards live in the wild but a domestic housecat would be considered in its upper 30s in human years when it was 5. Q: For humans, kindergarten is just starting at age 5. Some

Posted by: Nora Venne, Education Happy 5th birthday, Zoomazium ! We’re celebrating 5 years of child’s play in Zoomazium with a look this week at what it means to be 5 for humans and different animals. Then the party continues this Saturday and Sunday , Nov. 5 and 6, with cupcakes, live entertainment and birthday-themed activities at Zoomazium including enrichment treats for some of the zoo’s notable 5-year-old residents. In this blog post, we spoke with penguin keepers at Woodland Park Zoo to learn more about what it is like to be 5 years old for a Humboldt penguin .   Q: Human children at age 5 are still very young and completely dependent on their families for care. Give us a brief description of what life looks like for a penguin. Is age 5 young or older for this animal?   A: Humboldt penguins are much further along in their maturity by age 5 than humans are. That’s because the average life span of a Humboldt penguin is around 20 – 25 years in the wild; 25 – 30 year