Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Megan Schenck, Resource Conservation & Sustainability Manager and Hallie Sykes, Graduate Student, Advanced Inquiry Program, Miami University Woodland Park Zoo’s commitment to sustainability and wildlife conservation is shared by concessions vendor, Levy Restaurants, our food service provider for zoo restaurants and catering. In the past two years, Director of Operations David Vangelder and Executive Chef, Antonio Sotelo have pushed sustainable practices in the Woodland Park Zoo kitchen and are now leading the charge at Levy nationwide. Chef Antonio Sotelo at 1899 Grove Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Vangelder and chef Sotelo are going the extra mile to source local products, offer a robust plant-based menu and reduce waste while giving back to the local community. Levy’s concessions at Woodland Park Zoo are prioritizing food that nourishes hungry visitors and the planet. The zoo and aquarium industry across the U.S. has a tremendous opportunity to join ...

Posted by Seattle Youth Climate Action Network We're inspired by all of our SYCAN teens! 2018 Photo: Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo The Seattle Youth Climate Action Network—known as SYCAN—empowers teens to address climate change in their communities through education, leadership, and action. This year, the SYCAN teens gathered remotely to create digital engagement tools focused on food and food-related business sustainability. Here is a post from that group in their own words, sharing what they were up to this summer—which included putting together a downloadable cookbook of sustainable recipes  for you to try, share and enjoy. Just in time for the holiday feast you might be planning, we hope this is a delicious and inspiring read! Photo by Calum Lewis on Unsplash One of the biggest trends to hit at the start of quarantine was home baking and cooking. Even in isolation, many found ways to connect by sharing recipes online. But what kinds of foods were being populariz...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Photos: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo From all of us here at Woodland Park Zoo, we give thanks to you—our amazing pack of wild-at-heart animal lovers who have helped make this world-class zoo a community tradition for 114 years. Of course, you can’t celebrate Thanksgiving without a feast and friends to share it with. So as you belly up to your perfectly set table to enjoy your holiday spread, allow us to start the meal off with an animal-inspired toast. [ Raise a glass ] Dearest friends… …Here’s to a drool-worthy Thanksgiving feast… …May your meal taste better than cardboard and may your guests not ruin your centerpiece… …May you wolf down your first serving so you can get to seconds. Then thirds… …Table manners aside, may you dive head first into the comforts and joys of the season... …And may your holidays be filled with tender moments. Cheers!

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Photos: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo For Thanksgiving dinner, you might consider your guests before planning the menu. Aunt Penelope prefers mashed potatoes, cousin Yanos prefers yams. But, what if your dinner guests turned out to be a pack of hungry animals?  A snow leopard prepares to dine. Different animals have different reasons for prioritizing some tastes over others, and it all comes down to evolution and survival; which foods will provide the quickest and most nutritious meal? Taste is a complex issue and tends to be shaped by evolution and environment. Here is a test: think of a time when you were really hungry, practically starving. Now, from the choices below, which meal would you have picked? Buttery, chocolate fudge ice cream in a hand-built waffle cone with sea-salt infused caramel drizzle, cocoa sprinkles and a dollop of heavenly whipped cream.  A hand tossed, crisp pizza pie topped with virgin olive oil and...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The Brownies gather around Lanny in the Commissary, waiting to see what’s behind the door. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. “Do you know what we do at the Commissary?” Lanny Kittleson, the zoo’s Commissary Lead, asked the Brownie troop. “Feed the puppies!” one girl guessed. Well, it’s not exactly puppies we’re feeding with the thousands of pounds of food that come in and out of the zoo’s Commissary each week—it’s the more than 1,000 animals representing 300 different species living at Woodland Park. Last week, the 3rd grade Brownie troop from Ballard’s Salmon Bay School had the unforgettable opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Commissary as a special thank you from zoo staff—after all, the 8- and 9-year-old girls donated part of their cookie sales money this year to help feed the zoo’s animals. Lanny rolled up the door to welcome the girls into the grain room. “It smells like cat food!” erupted from the cro...

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications Imagine the amount of food it takes to feed your family every week. The average American eats nearly 40 pounds of food a week. With two adults, maybe a teenager and a couple of kiddies gathered around the table, those appetites add up fast (especially now that Thanksgiving is here, and many of us double up on servings)! Now, imagine the zoo preparing dinner for three lions, three elephants and two full-grown hippos. Those 40 pounds of food, even the extra Thanksgiving servings, start to sound more like an afternoon snack now, don’t they? Trust us when we say that animal cravings are far greater than any hungry teenager in your household. At the zoo, our animals’ food comes through the commissary, which is more or less a grocery depot for the animals. Much like a neighborhood market might stock your family’s mealtime essentials, the commissary shelves each animal’s breakfasts, lunches and dinners based on the season’s freshest selec...

Posted by: Jim Bennett, Marketing His ultimate vision is to construct a semi-closed system aquaponic operation behind the zoo’s Rain Forest Food Pavilion, raising trout and cycling the waste to grow herbs and salad greens. The herbs would be used in Lancer Catering’s food service operations; the trout as treats for the zoo’s penguins. And no packaging or shipping would be needed to get the food to market. Far fetched? I talked to executive chef Brandon Bretz and general manager Maureen Gulley of Lancer Catering, Woodland Park Zoo’s food concession partner, about how they help the zoo source food locally to minimize their carbon footprint . While aquaponics is an amazing vision worth exploring for the future, what Lancer does right now is remarkable in its own right. Fish served at the zoo’s Pacific Blue Chowder House is sourced locally from Ballard Seafood using updated guidelines from Seafood Watch . Produce is also brought in from local growers via Charlie’s Produce. Bretz doesn’t j...

Posted by: Andrea Barber, Education If you plan on coming to the zoo this summer, you may see me pushing a cart filled with a colorful array of plastic fruits and vegetables. The cart is taken on a journey nearly every day this summer to different locations around the zoo. This special cart is our Animal Farmer’s Market, the scene for the summer education program, “Shop like an Animal.” Grab a basket and one of our summer program presenters will show you how to shop. There are 5 different animals from the zoo that you can shop for: a tiger, gorilla, meerkat, brown bear or giraffe. Each animal has different dietary needs in order to be healthy, and a shopping list shows you the quantity and types of food these animals really eat in one day. Depending on the animal you pick, you are assigned a budget with a certain amount of “Carbon Bucks” with which to shop. There are a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats and treats in our Animal Farmer’s Market. Each food is assigned a Carbon Buck am...