Woodland Park Zoo Blog

A young snow leopard has come to join the snow leopard exhibit. The male, named "Tom" (his littermate was given the moniker "Jerry"), was born in 2006 at the Los Angles Zoo and arrived here in February. After clearing quarantine, the cat took up residence in our Australia snow leopard exhibit. His keepers note that Tom is a very social cat, very vocal to keepers and other animals, and responds well to his caretakers and to Nadia, the 14-year-old female that has been here for a number of years. He has more white in his coat that Nadia, is a little larger, and but still has more "filling out" to do. Tom's keepers say that his favorite play items are cardboard boxes---which he promptly shreds to pieces! Due to the big age difference between the two cats and Nadia's advanced age, we are not looking to breed these two animals. Another younger female will be arriving soon and we hope to receive a breeding recommendation four these two new cats from the S

The baby gorilla now has a name, thanks to 3-1/2-year-old Rhys Olson of Seattle (o.k., he had a bit of help from his dad, Rick!). Uzumma is an Igbo-langugage word that means "bearer of joy to the family". Rhys wins a year-long membership to the zoo, a $150 Ivar's gift card, a gorilla "adoption" through our ZooParent program, a large plush gorilla toy and a framed print of the baby and her handprint. Ivar's CEO Bob Donegan announced the winning name today at 10:00 a.m. at the gorilla exhibit with Rhys and his dad in attendance, along with five other top contests. Some of the other suggested names were Ekemma, Igbo for "beautiful Eke Market day"; Abeni, a Yoruba word for "one who you must beg for to have". The zoo's gorilla keeper staff and volunteers served as judges. We thank everyone who entered (nearly 1,000 entries overall) and we congratulate Rhys and his family on their achievement! (Photo of Rick Olson and gorilla naming winner

Dr. Brady Barr, the enigmatic host of National Geographic's Dangerous Encounters: Countdown Croc, appeared for a special presentation in Zoomazium yesterday. The celebrated herpetologist (that's someone who studies reptiles, for those of you not in the know!) visited prior to his National Geographic lecture held at Benaroya Hall. Thanks to spring break (and before the torrential hail storm), more than 100 kids were treated to a talk about reptiles and got the chance to meet a blue-tongued skink, tortoise and ball python up close while Brady filled them in on lots of info about their natural history, conservation status and his adventures in the field. We hope that Brady can come back and visit longer---though we're glad he didn't bring one of his 23-foot-long crocodile friends!

The contest has ended, the names researched and checked and on April 4, the baby western lowland gorilla female born last October will finally receive her new name which is...ah, of course you'll have to wait! In association with Ivar's and Kidd Valley restaurants, we asked the community to find an appropriate name for the baby. We generally try to use names from the languages found in their original range countries so contest participants were able to choose from Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or Swahili. We had lots of great suggestions until it was narrowed down to just seven and then the winner randomly drawn from those. The winner will be announced during the Primetime Primates day which takes place during our inaugural EcoWeekend event. At 10:00 a.m. on April 4, representatives from the zoo and Ivar's CEO will announce the name and zoo visitors will be treated to delicious "babycake" cupcakes from Cupcake Royale (while supplies last, of course!). Meanwhile, here are a

We're kicking off our first-ever EcoWeekend beginning April 3 at the zoo. This is a pre-cursor to celebrating Earth Day and so we've combined several themes and events over four days to celebrate wildlife and habitat. April 3 is Leap Around the Zoo, a 1k just for younger children and their parents/guardians; April 4 is Primetime Primes, which celebrates the many species of primates AND marks the public announcement of our baby western lowland gorilla's new name; April 5 is Bear Affair and The Big Howl, complete with a non-safe campsite demo featuring our own grizzly bears. If you haven't seen this in years past, it's worth the trip to watch as they, shall we say, "dismantle" a campsite that's incorrectly set up for bear country (see the video of last year to the right in the Video Bar); and April 6 is the Coffee & Chocolate Festival which celebrates, with tasty samples, eco-friendly coffees and chocolate. For more details, visit the EcoWeekend

The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program is based at Woodland Park Zoo and in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, the eastern half of the island of New Guinea located north of Australia. This remarkable island is just now being revealed to science with a variety of new species being discovered and identified. Kangaroos in the trees may seem strange to many people; the common image of a kangaroo is the iconic image of the variety found in Australia. But tree kangaroos, of which there are about 10 species, inhabit the tall forest canopies of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australia. Looking a bit like teddy bears with long tails, these elusive marsupials were becoming rare in PNG due to hunting and loss of habitat from logging. The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) has been successful because it has been directly involving the indigenous land owners in decisions about how and what land can be used. Also, the program helps fund health care and nutrition projects for the villagers. They i

When the new Chilean flamingo exhibit opens on May 24 at the zoo, you’ll see the gorgeous flock of flamingos right away, but there are also interesting natural stories built into the exhibit for you to discover over time. Ripples and clam holes in the ground you stand on hint at the coastal mudflat habitat where the flamingos overwinter. You might notice tiny footprints leaving the very real-looking flamingo “nest” your 5-yr-old is playing on. Your 8-yr-old will definitely find the model of the flamingo head that shows the special filtering structures they use to sieve brine shrimp out of the water for dinner. Right now members of our exhibits team are busy building these fascinating details into the exhibit for you to discover this May. Here you see Stephanie Snyder working on the 3-D model of a flamingo head. After carving the model in clay, she’ll cast it in a very durable material to hold up to the curiosity of many children—and adults!—this summer. (Photos by Ryan Hawk)