Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Stephen Reed, Communications On World Rainforest Day, Woodland Park Zoo celebrates the beautiful biodiversity of all forest creatures here in Washington state and around the globe. By protecting critical habitats, we can protect treasured species that call these places home. Hello toco toucan! Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo At Woodland Park Zoo, guests can experience the wonder of rain forest creatures including toucans, poison dart frogs and golden lion tamarins. These animals live in the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit, which has been closed through the pandemic and is expected to reopen soon. Our golden lion tamarins will be happy to see you when the Tropical Rainforest building reopens to the public. Photo: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo In the field, Woodland Park Zoo is committed to saving species, like the Pacific marten, a threatened species with a shrinking population in the Olympic Peninsula temperate rain forest. Pacific martens are about the size of a small house ...

Posted by Stephen Reed, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Havam, a male joey was born last August to mom Omari and dad Rocket. We're celebrating our five Matschie’s tree kangaroos, Rocket, Elanna, Omari, Keweng and Havam  every day, but especially on Saturday, May 29 for Tree Kangaroo Awareness Day! Tree Kangaroo Awareness Day spotlights endangered tree kangaroos and the important role they play in their ecosystem. The five tree kangaroos, who currently live in a habitat that is off-view from the public at Woodland Park Zoo, enjoy snacking on yams, arugula, swiss chard, corn and dandelion greens. Elanna is described as “sassy” and “cheeky” by her animal keepers and Keweng, Elanna’s daughter, has inherited some of her mother’s personality. Omari and her son Havam are more laid-back and settled. Rocket, the father of Havam and Keweng, is more hesitant to try new things, but he loves to dig into yams and carrots. His name is Havam which is the word for “...

Posted by Stephen Reed, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Gray wolf sisters Kaya, Doba and Shila recently celebrated an 11th birthday! The three sisters, born April 27, 2010, from a litter of nine at New York State Zoo at Thompson Park, joined Woodland Park Zoo in October of that year. All three sisters take after their mother with white coats. Wolf sisters Kaya, Doba, and Shila turn 11 years old on April 27. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo Gray wolves (Canis lupus) display complex social pack dynamics, and the three sisters at Woodland Park Zoo are no different. Kaya, the dominant female of the group, plays the role of peacemaker and tracks any changes happening around the enclosure. With a reserved personality, she exemplifies quiet strength and stability. Doba plays a subordinate role in the group but is also the most curious. As the least wary of the wolf sisters, she excels at training and is usually the first to investigate new enrichment such...

Posted by Stephen Reed and Meghan Sawyer, Communications This has been a year of many challenges and changes—and for some that also has meant some hardship, separation and even loss. Still, there is much to be thankful for. We have been inspired by kids from our community who have found creative and thoughtful ways to safely reach out with kindness, spread joy and show they care for animals and for people.  Mia and her friends have a safe, socially-distanced meet-up at the zoo! Photo: Courtesy of Mia's family. MIA Nine-year-old Mia really likes the animals and the people at Woodland Park Zoo—and before the pandemic, she used to go there on a bus to meet up with and visit friends. In the spring, when quarantine started, Mia was only able to see classmates and teammates on video screens.  When they were unable to visit in person, Mia left animal-inspired care packages for her friends with t-shirts and coloring sheets. Photo: Courtesy of Mia's family As a way to reach out and get...

Posted by Stephen Reed, Communications Woodland Park Zoo is celebrating Earth Day from home this year. April 22, 2020 marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, an incredible milestone for a day dedicated to protecting the planet and celebrating nature. How are you planning to celebrate Earth Day this year?  While we aren’t able to celebrate with all of you in person, we hope you will join us in some of the following activities that can help protect our planet and inspire a connection with the incredible animals who share our home. Happy Earth Day! Uzumma and her newborn. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgre/ Woodland Park Zoo Here are a few ways to get Earthy with us... Join Woodland Park Zoo on April 22, for a virtual Town Hall presented by Amazon.  This Earth Day, chat live with zoo experts and hear inspiring stories of how we’ll do anything for animals, even while we’re closed. We want to connect you directly with zoo staff who, even during this unprecedented...

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications There are hundreds of animal species that call Woodland Park Zoo home—animals that are native to many different remote habitats around the world. This includes species ranging from orangutans of the Asian tropical forest and penguins from the Pacific coast of South America to hippopotamuses and ostriches of the African savanna. But there is another community of animals that rely on the green spaces found right here at home—on our grounds and in other neighboring Seattle area parks. You may have seen them here or in nearby habitats. Or maybe you haven’t noticed them at all... but they are here if you look. We share much of our green space with local and native wildlife. A wild blue heron takes advantage of the lemur's pool. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Set on 92 acres, Woodland Park Zoo offers a lush canopy that is made up of more than 90,000 plants, trees, flowers, shrubs and other greenery representing more than 1,...

Posted by Wei Ying Wong, Vice President, Learning and Innovation Zoos and aquariums inspire wonder and forge connections to nature, but that emotional journey may be more powerful than we imagine. Most people can recall, in vivid detail, a time they experienced an emotional connection to an animal—whether visiting a zoo or aquarium or in your own backyard—we call that connection empathy. Increasingly, research shows that our connection with the natural world, and the creatures in it, inspire us to commit to making sustainable choices. Woodland Park Zoo has embarked on a journey to scientifically interrogate the mechanisms that lead people to emotional empathy and how those connections lead to sustainability actions. We are now analyzing how zoos and aquariums can intentionally inspire everyone to take meaningful actions on behalf of a healthier planet. Research tells us that human beings often make decisions that are driven by a complex interplay between emotion, environme...

By: Alejandro Grajal, PhD, President and CEO, Woodland Park Zoo Illegal wildlife poaching is one of the leading threats facing endangered species. Experts estimate the sale of products harvested from endangered species (items such as tusks, pelts, horns, and body parts) on the black market to be in the billions of dollars annually. One of the most effective ways to end the bloody practice of killing endangered species is to enforce bans on wildlife trafficking. That is exactly what voters in Washington state did when they passed I-1401 in 2015 with more than 70% of the vote.  Watch video of the press conference: https://youtu.be/mH96_-OEcpc Thanks to voters, our state enforcement officials at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have the authority to prohibit and prevent the sale of animal parts from endangered species such as elephants, rhinos, pangolins, tigers, marine turtles and others. I am proud of their efforts and those of Washington Attorney General Bob Fer...

Posted by: Alejandro Grajal, PhD, President and CEO, Woodland Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo’s mission to save species and inspire everyone to make conservation a priority in their lives depends on our ability to convince people that they can be the heroes of their own conservation stories. The first step on that journey is recognizing our connection to nature and wild creatures. Watch:  https://youtu.be/CIZnvA4y3RQ Zoos and aquariums strive to make that connection tangible and vibrant, often to great effect. I’m sure that you can remember the last time you were at a zoo or aquarium, whether it was yesterday or 20 years ago. The Empathy Project at Woodland Park Zoo is working to apply scientific research to the concept of empathy and how its influenced by experiences at our zoo. Empathy is defined as a stimulated emotional state that relies on the ability to perceive, understand, and care about the experiences or perspectives of another person or animal. That’s why ...

Posted by Alejandro Grajal, PhD, President and CEO One of the most cherished rights of humans is the ability to influence our destiny. Democracies enable the right to vote, which is missing in many parts of the world. While in the United States, voters this fall may wait in long lines this election season, here in Washington all you need to do is put your ballot in the mail. Easy! A young visitor meets a fancy friend at Molbak's Butterfly garden. Photo by Dennis Dow/WPZ. Ballots are arriving in your mailbox now for the November ballot, and at the zoo, we are urging all of our supporters to vote.  In addition to many very important races at the local level, there are two important initiatives on the ballot. Blueberry meets with her fanclub. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/WPZ. For those of you in Seattle, there is Prop 1, the Families,Education, Preschool and Promise Plan.  Prop 1 replaces two levies about to expire – one that helps preschool and one that...