Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Alissa Wolken, Communications Photos by: John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo The tools of the trade for hand raising a wallaroo joey: 1. A heavy duty pillowcase-like pouch for sleepy time 2. A handmade bottle adapter equipped with customized parts all the way from Australia for feedings 3. A kangaroo plush so the baby can redirect his playful bites and kicks at something other than one of us! 4. A lot of patience, a lot of compassion, and a sharp focus on letting a wallaroo be a wallaroo When it became apparent at six-and-a-half months of age that wallaroo joey, Yuri, wasn’t receiving from his mother the nutrition he needed to grow, we were ready to step in. But just as importantly when hand raising an animal, we’ve been getting ready to step back out. For Yuri, first it took a village, but now it takes a (wallaroo) mob. The first days of hand raising Upon the first signs that intervention was needed, Yuri was taken to the zoo’s Animal Health Complex wh

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications …49…50! Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. With two late-in-the-season Humboldt penguin hatchings, Woodland Park Zoo has hit a new milestone— 50 chicks hatched since 2010, the first breeding season in our new penguin exhibit. Over the last six breeding seasons at the zoo, penguin chicks have typically hatched between April and May. While the two chicks are latecomers, they are genetically valuable to the North America population. They are the first offspring for 3-year-old father Maximiliano and numbers 11 and 12 for 8-year-old Dora. Video: Tiny penguin chicks mark 50th hatching at Woodland Park Zoo. The chicks are off exhibit in nesting burrows where they are under the care of the parents. To ensure the chicks are achieving growth milestones, staff weighs them as they develop. Staff minimizes intervention to allow the parents to raise their chicks and gain parental experience. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Stellar. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. Enticed by a bowl of blueberries, red panda Stellar knows what to do. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. She makes her way to her keeper in a behind-the-scenes room, gets up on her hind legs and props herself onto a T-stand—constructed by the keeper for this very purpose—and waits for her reward. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. While Stellar takes berries from her keeper or sometimes buries her face full in a bowl of biscuits soaked in apple juice, a member of our animal health team conducts a non-invasive ultrasound exam on her. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. We’re hoping for signs that will verify a pregnancy. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. Several months ago, we introduced our new male red panda, Yukiko, to 8-year-old Stellar. The pair has successfully mated and now the ultrasound examinations are regularly underway—eve

Posted by: Alissa Wolken, Communications All the way from Wisconsin, a very special delivery has turned into a very special new addition—Woodland Park Zoo’s first hooded crane chick. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Our hooded crane pair has been producing infertile eggs over the past several seasons. When we learned a fertile egg was available to foster from the International Crane Foundation, we worked together along with a Denver Zoo Curator and Species Survival Plan coordinator to give our pair the chance to rear a chick here at Woodland Park Zoo. Packed in a little cooler, the egg flew to Seattle and upon landing at the airport was welcomed with a special sign we drew up. Photo by Erin Sullivan/Woodland Park Zoo. We brought the egg back to the zoo and candled it to assure it was still viable. Candling is the process of holding an egg up to a high powered, focused light source for a few seconds to see if an egg is fertile or to check the health of a d

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor A baby porcupine is known as a porcupette. It’s the cutest vocabulary word you’re likely to use today, as we’re confident you’ll be sharing this little face with everyone you know: Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo. Born last Friday, May 15, this North American porcupine baby, whose sex is not yet known, weighed just over a pound at birth. It’s now pushing about 1.5 pounds (700 grams). Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo. We thought of a few other things that weigh 1.5 pounds, but 175 packets of sugar, or four and a half bananas, or a small pineapple don’t stand up to this cuteness—though the pineapple may give it a run for prickliness. The resemblance is uncanny. (left) A porcupine baby at Woodland Park Zoo in 2013, photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. (right) Growing pineapples, photo by Roman Lashkin via flickr Creative Commons . About that prickliness. We get

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor It’s official: the lion cubs are now going out on a daily schedule, 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., weather permitting. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. We want to see your photos! Please share your best cub pics with us on Facebook or tag @woodlandparkzoo on Twitter and Instagram .

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Have you noticed the shaved patches of fur on the lion cubs? This cub has a distinct shaved patch on his hip. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. These patches help us tell the three brothers apart at a quick glance. And now that the brothers have names— thanks to your votes and an assist from dad Xerxes —we want to give you the inside scoop on which cub is which! You can see the right shoulder shaved mark on the cub on the far left, and the hip shaved mark on the cub on the far right. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. You voted for Tandie  (meaning “fire”) as your favorite name for the cubs, and keepers decided to give it to the cub whose right shoulder is shaved. This cub is the spitfire of the three, making him a perfect Tandie! The name Gandia (meaning “clever”) was given to the cub who has shown the most independence and curiosity. He is easy to spot by the shaved mark on his  hip . Finally, the biggest cub was dubb

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Photos by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo With the help of zoo fans, proud papa Xerxes chose Gandia and Mandla as names to complement Tandie, the first name chosen by community members in an online poll. Here comes trouble! Tandie, Gandia and Mandla get a snarl of approval from dad Xerxes. Tandie : meaning fire Gandia : meaning clever Mandla : meaning power/strength Naming lion triplets is not an easy task, so we asked you to help parents Adia and Xerxes with the decision. First, 10 names were selected by the zoo’s lion keepers and derived from languages that reflect parts of the South African lion’s native range. Then, during the zoo’s two-week online naming poll, voters chose their top preferences. On Tuesday we revealed the name with the most votes, Tandie (meaning “fire”). Mom Adia and dad Xerxes weighed in today to choose from runners up Gandia, Mandla and Pule.  Xerxes scopes out the goods... Keepers used this o

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor We call them cute, we call them precious, and now we want to call the lion cubs by the names you help pick! Vote now and you’ll also have the chance to enter to win a random drawing for a ZooParent lion cub adoption. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. The one name with the most votes will automatically be selected, and then it gets interesting! We’ll take the 2nd, 3rd and 4th most popular names and leave it to mom Adia and dad Xerxes to finish the job. On Thurs., Jan. 29, we’ll present the parents with enrichment choices, each associated with a name, and the two they touch first will be the names they select. We’ll announce all the final name selections and share photos here! Cast your #namethelions vote for your top three preferred names. The name choices are derived from languages that reflect parts of the South African lion’s native range. For inspiration, here’s the scoop on our triplets: Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo