Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Happy Leap Day to you on this Wonderfully Wild Wednesday ! A clucking frog? During the breeding season, the Oregon spotted frog’s call is a series of clucking noises. We’re doing our part to keep them clucking. At Woodland Park Zoo, we raise Oregon spotted frogs until they are large enough to survive on their own, then release them into protected wetlands here in Washington. The Leap Day celebration continues at the zoo today and Sat., March 3 . We’re celebrating amphibian conservation success stories through frog-themed crafts, keeper chats on frogs and amphibians, puppet shows and interactive activities. Hear from national experts, including our curator of herpetology, Dr. Jennifer Pramuk, about what is being done to save amphibians. Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society members also will be on hand to discuss frogs and other amphibians. On March 3, kids ages 3-12 dressed in green or other frog-themed gear will receive ...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications From observing pond turtles foraging, biologists have found that western pond turtles swallow all their food in water and appear unable to swallow food in air! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Mark Myers, Curator When a recovered turtle found in Edmonds, Washington turned out to be a representative of an endangered native turtle species, Woodland Park Zoo got the call to assist. Partnering with the Washington Deparment of Fish and Wildlife, Woodland Park Zoo has been involved with the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project for 20 years, but in that time only rarely have we seen cases of western pond turtles being found in this state outside of protected habitats. The turtle was found on a road in Edmonds and picked up by a family that brought it to the Just Frogs and Friends Amphibian Center. From there the amphibian center contacted Woodland Park Zoo. We don’t know how the turtle got to Edmonds or out on that road, though judging from its comfort around people, it may have been a pet at one point. Woodland Park Zoo was brought into the mix to perform a health assessment of the turtle to determine its potential to be released into protected wild habitat ...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project, which is working to bring native turtles back from the brink of extinction in Washington state. Woodland Park Zoo plays a major role in the recovery effort, a collaborative project that also includes partners at Oregon Zoo , U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife . At WPZ, we headstart endangered western pond turtle hatchlings at the zoo, giving them a chance to grow in safety until they are large enough to avoid being eaten by predators. Then each year we release these headstarted turtles back into protected habitat in Washington state to help re-establish a self-sustaining wild population. When this program started 20 years ago, there were only 150 wild western pond turtles left in Washington state. Now, thanks to these conservation efforts, those numbers are up to 1,500. We’re honored to play this unique role...

Posted by: Dr. Randall Kyes, Global Field Training in Conservation Biology, WPZ Partner for Wildlife For more than 10 years, Woodland Park Zoo has supported the Global Field Training in Conservation Biology (GFTCB) program, a WPZ Partner for Wildlife . Through GFTCB, Dr. Randall Kyes, from the University of Washington and One Earth Institute, and colleagues in Bangladesh, Nepal, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and Brazil have been working together to foster the next generation of global conservation leaders, training university students and professionals to be responsible for the survival of the biodiversity in their home countries. Here is the most recent news from the field from Dr. Kyes… This past summer, we completed our 13th annual Field Course in Conservation Biology at the Tangkoko Nature Reserve in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We had 10 participants including seven university students, one ranger, and two members of a local conservation o...

Posted by: Ric Brewer, Communications Five-year-old best friends Hannah Madsen and Sophia Rascoff aren’t just all about fingerpainting and playing dress up. These two enterprising kids are helping to make a better future for the endangered western pond turtle by raising money for their care at Woodland Park Zoo. During a visit to the zoo, Hannah watched the video near our Template Wetlands exhibit that features the story of our conservation efforts for this native turtle. Hannah’s mom, Susan, said her daughter was so taken with these shelled creatures that she wanted to help. So she enlisted classmate and buddy Sophia and put together a bake sale to help raise money for the zoo’s Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project . The girls made a colorful sign to display at the sale and offered a variety of homebaked and donated pastries and cookies. Susan said some people even gave a $20 bill for a single cupcake! Susan contacted the zoo to see if the girls, along with some of their classmates ...

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications After nearly a year of nourishment and care by Woodland Park Zoo turtle experts, 53 endangered western pond turtles swam their way back into the wild when we joined Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to release the turtles last week at wildlife refuge sites in Pierce and Mason Counties. On hand to help release the shelled reptiles was 7-year-old Harrison Keyser of Sammamish, Wash. (pictured at left with his sisters) who arranged a “Turtle Trot” to raise more than $300 for the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project. Harrison told us he thought “it was really cool letting the turtles go in the pond” and he’d like to do this again next year. We’d be happy to have you back, Harrison! The 10-month-old turtles were collected last fall from the wild as hatchlings and head started at the zoo to give them an edge on surviving in the wild. Collection Manager Mike Teller and his keepers have a system for growing the turtles to just the right size: “W...

Posted by: Bobbi Miller, Field Conservation Did you see today’s Seattle Times cover story about the Cedar Creek Corrections Center inmates helping to raise and reintroduce endangered Oregon spotted frogs to Washington habitats? It’s all part of a great recovery program Woodland Park Zoo has joined with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Northwest Zoo and Aquarium Alliance . Here in our own Northwest backyard, we’ve seen populations of the Oregon spotted frog diminish significantly, all but lost to wetland degradation and chytridiomycosis—a deadly, fast spreading fungus. Add to that the introduction of predators such as the bullfrog, and this native frog has disappeared from much of its original habitat. These factors prompted Washington state to list the species as endangered in 1997. It may also ultimately lead to a federal endangered listing soon. But hope is on the horizon. Woodland Park Zoo has joined a multi-institution recovery project that is pairing cap...

Some tiny new pond turtles hatched today, just the start of their journey being raised here at the zoo until large enough for release back into the wild. Welcome, little turtles! View the slideshow of their "break-through"!

Woodland Park Zoo's presitigious education award from AZA is in good company--AZA also awarded the zoo and its partners "Significant Achievement in International Conservation" for our support of the Tarangire Elephant Project . The Tarangire Elephant Project is one of 35 conservation programs supported by Woodland Park Zoo in over 40 countries. For 15 years, the Tarangire Elephant Project has been studying and protecting the elephants in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park and the surrounding area—as well as other iconic wildlife there including zebra, wildebeest and buffalo. Having documented a gradual increase in the target elephant population over the years (linked to a decline in the massive ivory poaching of the 1970s and 1980s), other threats now loom including intense competition and conflict with a burgeoning human population. However, in an exemplary, long-term conservation partnership of zoos, governmental and non-governmental actors, and local comm...

Now you can watch the western pond turtle release from earlier this summer on YouTube. Turn up the sound so you can hear from the biologists and zookeepers behind the program, then see a turtle take its first dip in the waters. You can catch all of our newest YouTube videos by subscribing to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/woodlandparkzoo .

We were greeted with sunny skies yesterday morning for this summer's western pond turtle release. Twelve endangered turtles, headstarted for a year at the zoo, were taken to a protected pond site in the Lakewood area for the next step in their life cycle : life in the wild. A full contingent of helpers, including zoo staff and volunteers, 7-year-old Aimee Kessler and project donor Maryanne Tagney Jones, received the honor of gently putting the little turtles, weighing around 2 ounces each, into the waters of their new home. State biologists Michelle Tirhi and Tammy Schmidt checked over the turtles, ensuring that they were correctly marked (small notches are made in their shells for future identification, as well as tiny numbered tags). Michelle notes that the project has had a 95% rate of success in raising turtles since 1996. But we'll let the photos speak for the day. The zoo has proudly worked on this project for nearly two decades, increasing the wild population of these...

The release of 50 western pond turtles went well into a protected pond in Pierce County. Due to our headstarting program, their population has grown from a low of around 150 to more than 1,500! Here, zoo staff member Walter English paints a tracking number on one of the juvenile turtles shells. Thanks for the zoo's curator of reptiles, Dana Payne, for sending this photo.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 17, the zoo will be releasing endangered western pond turtles (Clemmys marmorata), some with tiny radio transmitters glued to their shells, into the wild in Pierce County. A portion of the group of 50 turtles will be released in Mason County. The 10-month-old turtles were collected from the wild as hatchlings and “head started” at Woodland Park Zoo to improve their chance of survival in the wild. Invasive bull frogs often eat the young hatchlings, so the headstarting provides a way for the young turtles to grow to a size that is too large for the frogs to consume. The turtles currently weigh about 2 ounces. Woodland Park Zoo, along with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Zoo have collaborated for more than a decade, raising turtles and letting them loose in protected ponds in Washington. From an all-time low of only around 100 turtles left in the state, this headstarting has swelled their population to more than 1,200!