Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications It’s a boy! And a girl! And a boy! And a girl! Last week, our four lion cubs received their first health check-up and the exam revealed the quadruplets are healthy and that we have two males and two females on our hands. Our team of veterinarians performed the exam, which included a weigh-in, fecal sampling and an overall assessment of their health. They’ll get the first of a series of vaccinations at the next exam coming up in a few weeks. The cubs turn four weeks old this Saturday. Each cub weighs between 8 and 9 pounds, which is in the normal weight range for their age. Vets noted that the cubs had full, round bellies, meaning they’re nursing regularly. Adia continues to show excellent maternal skills, and she has herself some robust, healthy cubs. Mom and cubs remain in an off-view maternity den that allows the family to bond in a quieter environment. The cubs will go out in the public exhibit when they are older

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Snow leopard sisters Shanti and Asha, now 3½ months old, are proving to be playful and inquisitive cubs. For now, the two live behind the scenes with their mother, Helen, where they receive special veterinary care for their impaired vision. Our keepers and vet staff assess the cubs’ visual function on a day-to-day basis as the pair grows and explores their environment. Snow leopard cubs behind the scenes at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. The cubs were born with eye and eyelid defects, and each remains blind in the right eye. They recently went through another round of surgery, performed by Dr. Tom Sullivan, the zoo’s volunteer veterinary ophthalmologist with the Animal Eye Clinic, to correct their impaired vision. The procedure is a critical step toward a progressive, more permanent solution to create functional eyelids for the cubs. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. We know you all can’t wait to see Shanti and Asha mak

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Now 10-weeks-old, the zoo’s female snow leopard cubs , Shanti and Asha, continue to receive special medical care behind the scenes. Last week the two received cardiac ultrasounds as a precautionary measure. The ultrasounds were performed by the zoo’s volunteer veterinary cardiologist Dr. Jerry Woodfield of Northwest Cardiology Consultants in Seattle. Findings revealed mild functional deficiencies in several valves in the female cubs.   The zoo’s Director of Animal Health, Dr. Darin Collins, tells us that the function of their hearts does not appear to be compromised and there are no health concerns at this time related to their hearts. This is good news, as you’ll remember back in June we shared the heartbreaking news that their male littermate had to be euthanized because he had been born with multiple severe heart defects that were causing early heart failure. Photo by Dennis Do

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham and Gigi Allianic, Communications We’re deeply saddened to share this news with you: One of our precious snow leopard triplets did not survive his turbulent first weeks. The now six-week-old cubs have been well cared for by their mother Helen in their behind the scenes maternal den, but each of the cubs has displayed health concerns that have caused our keepers and vet staff to go into overdrive trying to help the cubs pull through these challenges. Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult but humane decision to euthanize the male cub yesterday after we determined that the little guy had multiple, severe heart defects that were causing early heart failure. Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo’s Director of Animal Health, tells us that it’s very rare to encounter disease concerns in the zoo’s newborn animals that are too severe for modern medicine to overcome, but in this case, there were no surgical or drug treatment options available. As you can im

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We have three little secrets to share: Triplet snow leopards were born on May 2! The precious cubs, born to 7-year-old mother Helen and 6-year-old father Tom, have been tucked away under mom’s close care in a behind-the-scenes den. Today marked the first day our keepers and vets were able to access the cubs for a quick health exam—which means it was also the very first opportunity we had to take photos. At 2-weeks-old, the cubs are a healthy weight, ranging between 2.1 and 2.4 pounds.   We were able to determine that we’ve got two females and one male on our hands. Snow leopard cubs are born with their eyes closed, and our little trio is just starting to open their eyes. After the brief exam, the cubs were quickly returned to mom who is taking excellent care of them. This is her second litter of cubs, and that maternal experience is paying off. She’s nurturing the three cubs very wel

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re just a little over a week away from officially debuting two species of wild pig at the zoo on May 5 and 6 — Visayan warty pigs and African warthogs . Warthogs have moved into the zoo's African Savanna biome.  When new animals arrive at the zoo, they go through a standard 30-day quarantine. Our newly arrived 1-year-old brother and sister warthogs—who came to us from Zoo Atlanta—are wrapping up their quarantine now and have just been introduced to their exhibit space so they can begin to acclimate to their new surroundings. But a big step for them before they could enter their exhibit space in the African Savanna was to head off to the vets for a health check-up in order to be cleared from quarantine. Female warthog gets her check-up by our Animal Health team. The warthogs recently completed their quarantine exams and got clean bills of health. The two were weighed, had x-rays taken and blood drawn,

Posted by: Martin Ramirez, Mammal Curator A month after arriving to Woodland Park Zoo via FedEx from Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas, 7-year-old, female sloth bear , Tasha, underwent her quarantine exam on Tuesday. At Woodland Park Zoo, the quarantine exam is the last major step in the process to clear a newly arrived animal out of standard 30-day quarantine and prepare them to move into their exhibit. Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo’s director of Animal Health, inspects Tasha's teeth. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Tasha received a full physical examination by our expert Animal Health staff that included blood work, radiographs and weight—essential baseline data that we keep on file to reference as we track an animal’s health over their lifetime. Close up of Tasha's claws. Sloth bears dig out insect mounds with their long, sharp claws. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Weighing in at 215 pounds, Tasha received a clean bill of health and has been approved to

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: Jane David, LVT, Hospital Manager, Animal Surgical Clinic of Seattle Maybe it is just coincidence that “ aguila ” means “eagle” in Spanish, but when a Steller’s sea eagle from Woodland Park Zoo needed specialized surgery for a fractured bone, Dr. Alexander Aguila of the Animal Surgical Clinic of Seattle was ready! On March 23rd, Dr. Darin Collins, Woodland Park Zoo Director of Animal Health, contacted the surgeons at Animal Surgical Clinic of Seattle regarding a potential fracture repair on the right wing of a Steller’s sea eagle named Natasha. Exhibited in the award-winning Northern Trail exhibit at the zoo, Natasha is the female of a breeding pair acquired in 2010 . Steller’s sea eagles are among the largest and heaviest of the raptor family, and Natasha weighs in at 13 pounds with a wing-span of over 6 feet! On the morning of March 22, Natasha (pictured in the background above) was found on the ground of her zoo enclosure. She appeared to be having difficulty main