Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Joanna Klass, Woodland Park Zoo Animal Care Manager Editor's Note: In addition to being an Animal Care Manager at Woodland Park Zoo, Joanna serves as Vice Chair for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Anseriformes Taxon Advisory Group. She also volunteers with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which heads up the research project she writes about here. Emperor geese at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo If anyone saw me walking through the airport last June, they would’ve thought ‘TSA is going to love her!’. The item in question was a portable incubator, which on the outside looks like a hard, black briefcase with wires and a temperature readout on the front. In other words, not your typical roller-bag luggage. So, why was I taking this unusual item through the TSA gauntlet? It had a very important place to be—the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwestern Alaska. I was invited by Tasha DiMarzio, a waterfowl biologist for the Alaska D...

Tamlyn Sapp, Waterfowl Animal Keeper Photos by Tamlyn Sapp, Woodland Park Zoo unless otherwise noted Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo ‘Tis the season for holiday music to ring, but the ears of many zoo guests are left ringing after visiting the most raucous birds at the zoo—the southern screamers and the Chilean flamingos! This flamboyant group of South American birds often showcase their choral talents in harmony. But what is all this ruckus really about? Let me introduce you to my jolly friends and I will explain why they have so much to say and what it all means! Southern screamers (Chauna torquata) are native to South American grassy marshes and agricultural lands, spanning Bolivia to Argentina. These birds can be domesticated and are known to be good guard animals due to their deafening “oh-WOOOW” screechy bark, which can be heard up to a mile away! When threatened, screamers will let out a low drumming warning rumble from their chest, and in times of contentment t...

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications and Katie Remine, Field Conservation Can you spot the amphibian in the photo below? We'll give you some clues: it's native to the Pacific Northwest, grows to be about two inches long, is mostly nocturnal, loves the dampness of our area and is the official Washington State amphibian! This Pacific tree frog has perfect camouflage to blend with damp, wet forest leaves. Photo: Diana Koch/Woodland Park Zoo Amphibian Monitoring Volunteer Did you find the northern Pacific tree frog ? They are hard to spot when they aren't on the move, since they're perfectly adapted to blend into their (and our) PNW environment. This frog species can even morph to change color to match their environment depending on the season. Hello, little buddy! Photo: Diana Koch/Woodland Park Zoo Amphibian Monitoring Volunteer The presence of amphibians—such as frogs, toads, salamanders and newts—is an indication of a healthy ecosystem. They are...

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications A spur-winged lapwing chick stands next to one of its parents. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Say hello to the newest members of our zoo family. These young birds that look like cotton balls on stilts are spur-winged lapwing chicks. The name is quite a big mouthful for such little cuties … and their hatching is a first for this species here at Woodland Park Zoo. Their sexes haven’t been determined yet. Spur-winged lapwings are all legs—as seen here on this chick. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Spur-winged lapwings are wading birds that can be found on the shores of a variety of habitats including marshes, mudflats and lakes. In nature, this species is native to the sub-Saharan belt across central Africa but are also found in some Middle Eastern and east Mediterranean countries, including Turkey. While not endangered, this species does face threats from loss of their wetland habitats related to...

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications Photos by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo A Western pond turtle that has grown up at Woodland Park Zoo is ready to return to the wetlands of Washington state. Woodland Park Zoo is proud to be part of the W estern Pond Turtle Recovery Project . Western pond turtles were once plentiful up and down the coast of Washington to northern California and down to Baja, Mexico. However, loss of habitat, commercial exploitation for food, disease, drought, and introduced predators, such as bullfrogs and large-mouth bass, have decimated populations of the species. More than 1,000 released pond turtles are thriving at protected sites in our state. By the early 1990s, only about 150 Western pond turtles remained in two populations in Washington state and the species was nearly extirpated from our region. In 1991, Woodland Park Zoo joined forces with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to recover Western pond turtles by initiat...