Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This week marks Woodland Park Zoo’s 111th birthday, and what a 111th year it has been! In 2010 we celebrated conservation successes, won a national best exhibit award, hatched endangered species and so much more. Here’s my personal pick of the top 10 zoo stories of 2010, in no particular order. What were your favorite zoo experiences this year? 1. Endangered penguin chicks hatch in new exhibit 2. Snow leopard cologne sniff test helps conservation research in the wild 3. Rescued golden eagle finds new home at zoo 4. Meerkats return to the zoo after 10-year absence—and they’re meerkute! 5. Elephant Chai predicts winner of the Apple Cup 6. Zoo wins national Best Exhibit Award for sustainably-built Humboldt penguin exhibit 7. Teens raise and release endangered turtles into wild 8. Community celebrates endangered species with zoo’s Limited Edition art and Trophy Cupcakes 9. Zoo blog readers help raise money to fight ...

Posted by: Martin Ramirez, Curator It's been a very busy time for our new meerkats. Their first visitors, in the form of zoo staff, got a sneak peek of them a few days before the meerkats were set to debut to the public. The meerkats took well to the crowd and spent just as much time looking back at all of us as we spent watching them. The other fun, new feature is a faux wildebeest skull. The first day they got it they completely excavated it and explored every nook and cranny. I just hope our young visitors understand that it is an artificial skull and that the meerkats had nothing to do with its demise! Over this past weekend, the exhibit was officially opened to zoo guests. As crowds gathered around the window, the one word I could hear over and over again was “CUTE!” I reminded many of the visitors I encountered that the meerkats are not just cute, but meerkute —and all the fascinating things that make them amazing to watch, like their social structure, and their burrowing an...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’ve been thinking about the things that make meerkats special, and their distinctive moves—scurrying to burrows or acting as sentinels—really stand out. And now, we honor those moves with some dance moves of our own! Presenting…“Do the Meerkute” Show us how you “Do the Meerkute.” Download the free mp3 (recognize that voice? It’s The Presidents of the United States of America’s Chris Ballew!) and make your own dance video. Then submit it as a video response to our  YouTube video . Full instructions are available on our website . Of course, the meerkats are more than just cute —and we encourage you to come see them for yourself and learn all about their social structure and amazing adaptations. Don’t miss their debut on May 1 with opening day festivities including live music, meerkat-themed giveaways, keeper talks, crafts and more. We hope to see you there! Video credits: Producer: WONGDOODY, Seattle; Composer: Eric ...