Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications Hi Juniper! Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Editor’s note: Big thanks to animal keeper Maddie Weholt for all the great info! Whether it’s for animals or for people, a regular visit to the doctor’s office is part of a good healthcare and wellness routine. But what about when it’s for a 400-pound-and-still-growing young brown bear? This July, our animal care team performed a complete routine physical on the well-known and well-loved 2-½-year-old female—and she passed her exam with flying colors! But what does a doctor’s appointment look like for a big bear like Juniper? Let us take a behind-the-scenes peek at all the ins, outs and in-betweens of Juniper’s day at the “doctor’s office.” Aside from medical care for illness or injury, all our animals get routine health and wellness checkups—but how often that happens depends on the species and what our veterinary staff recommends to best meet their needs. In the case of our brown bear...

Posted by Hattie Potter, Development Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Juniper and Fern are beary best buddies! It's been a while since we last gave an update on our brown bear besties, Juniper and Fern, and we didn't want to let another month go by without catching up with these fluffy girls! It seems like just yesterday that the zoo first welcomed these rescued cubs , but these two are growing fast. Thanks to your support, we're able to continuously apply new strategies for leading edge animal care and wellness, ensuring that our urban forest provides animals like Fern and Juniper the best environment to learn and grow. Their animal care team took a little time to answer our questions and fill us in on what these two have been up to! The 2-year-old cubs spend lots of time swimming, chasing each other and napping together. What are the names and ages of our brown bears? It's estimated that Fern and Juniper were born in January of 2022. The zoo celebrate...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos and video by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Happy fabulous 1st birthday, Fern and Juniper!  Juniper and Fern (Ferniper) discover their cakes together! Woodland Park Zoo’s rambunctious, charismatic brown bear cubs , known fondly as Ferniper, turn 1 year old January 31! The zoo celebrated their milestone birthday by treating the cubs to ice cakes concocted with fruit and veggie juice made with the cubs’ faves: apple, cantaloupe, carrot, honeydew, pear, oranges, romaine, watermelon, yam, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, corn, and even a couple of tropicals—papaya and mango—nom nom! Watch:  https://youtu.be/6-CnDaBgTB0   It is estimated the cubs were born in January 2022. Both cubs were rescued from their native habitats. Juniper is a coastal brown bear from Anchorage, Alaska; Fern is a grizzly bear from Montana. They were too young to survive on their own. Bear cubs learn everything about being a bear directly...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, Woodland Park Zoo Keema was the bestest grizzly bear. Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of our older male grizzly bear, Keema. The 28-year-old was humanely euthanized on Christmas day due to a severe decline in his health, including a lack of appetite and reduced mobility. Keema would have turned 29 on January 15. Male grizzly bears have a median life expectancy of 21 years in human care, and often less in the wild. For the past few months, the zoo’s animal care team has had Keema under close observation . He has undergone diagnostic examinations due to declining mobility, but the veterinary team did not find any treatable underlying diseases. The geriatric bear has been on prescribed analgesics and joint medication to address his arthritis and keep him comfortable for as long as possible. “While Keema had been hanging in there, he had been declining in mobility which is not uncommon for aging animals. He ...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photo and video by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Brown bear cub, Juniper, and grizzly bear cub, Fern, are exploring their outdoor habitat together, and it’s double trouble, double adorable! Juniper’s presence has helped Fern acclimate to her new home much faster than usual. “Fern is responding to behavioral training and is making herself at home. Having Juniper here has truly helped,” said Erin Sullivan, an animal curator at Woodland Park Zoo. “The cubs are fast becoming best buds and Juniper has taken Fern under her wing. Zoo-goers are going to really enjoy watching the cubs grow, play and get into mischief together.” The naturalistic setting for the brown bears in the Living Northwest Trail offers a wealth of enrichment including a braided, flowing stream; a bear-sized swimming pool with live fish; exhibit “furniture” such as rocks for basking in the sun; tree stumps that make great scratching posts; browse and novel scents; and a q...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, Woodland Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo’s newest bear cub, a female grizzly, is growing and thriving, and she now has a name. Culturally resonating with the abundance of fern throughout the Pacific Northwest, the cub’s name is Fern! Fern was named by special friends of the zoo. Maryanne Tagney and David Jones are longtime supporters of Woodland Park Zoo's conservation efforts. Maryanne's active role in Northwest conservation issues and environmental politics for more than 30 years has moved the needle on the zoo’s ability to preserve and recover landscapes and learn to coexist with wildlife. "We were honored to be asked to name little Fern, the zoo’s adorable new rescued grizzly cub! She is a living and breathing example of the critical wildlife conservation work that we have been supporting since the zoo first created the Living Northwest Conservation Program,” said Tagney. “We were delighted to arran...

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications with Animal Keeper Allison Barr Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Keema! The big grizzly puts on quite a show while splashing in the bear pool, 2022. Since Juniper the brown bear cub joined the Living Northwest Trail in July , the little floof has been grabbing the attention of visitors and has amassed quite a following on certain social platforms, ahem #cutestbearcubinthewholeworld, but all along folks have been asking after Keema, our older grizzly bear too. Keema is still our favorite (we can have more than one), and we're so happy to see his fan club is still going strong. There were lots of questions about how Keema was doing after losing Denali (his brother who passed away in 2020), what he would think of Juniper and the new cub , and how the older bear is doing in his golden years. We asked dedicated animal keeper Allison Barr a few questions about the big guy and her answers will make you fall even more in love with K...

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications This female grizzly cub will be introduced to our other orphaned cub, a brown bear named Juniper. The two of them will live together in the Living Northwest Trail bear habitat. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo  In mid-July, we welcomed a brown bear cub rescued in Anchorage, Alaska . Now, 3 months later, Woodland Park Zoo welcomes another cub: a female grizzly that was orphaned in Montana due to conflicts between her mom and humans. The cub currently weighs 95 pounds and arrived at the zoo October 3. She is currently in a 30-day quarantine at the zoo’s hospital—standard practice for new arrivals to ensure the wellness of all our animals. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) had recently responded to a wave of bear conflicts stemming from a combination of human safety concerns, habituated bear behavior, unsecured attractants and other issues. On Sept. 20, FWP bear specialists captured an adult female grizzly bear—the moth...

We're Going on a Bear Hike...! Did you know May 24th is National Scavenger Hunt Day? This long weekend, join us for a short virtual scavenger hunt with our Going on a Bear Hike singalong video! Look for the animals who sing, stretch, sneak, hop and swim along as we take you on a hike through the zoo in search of grizzly bear brothers Keema and Denali! Watch: Going on a bear hike:  https://youtu.be/NuK-w2DLUgM As you watch, practice stretching, sneaking and swimming with your young learners! You might even pause the video to ask them to show you their biggest hop and quietest sneak! Now that you've enjoyed a virtual bear trek at the zoo, it's time to get outdoors for your own neighborhood scavenger hunt! Zoomazium to You: Scavenger Hunt Weekend! Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood It doesn’t matter where you look, there’s always something worth seeing. It’s easy to think of wildlife and habitats as living far away—a pride of lions on the African savanna, ...