Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Bobbi Miller, Field Conservation Did you see today’s Seattle Times cover story about the Cedar Creek Corrections Center inmates helping to raise and reintroduce endangered Oregon spotted frogs to Washington habitats? It’s all part of a great recovery program Woodland Park Zoo has joined with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Northwest Zoo and Aquarium Alliance . Here in our own Northwest backyard, we’ve seen populations of the Oregon spotted frog diminish significantly, all but lost to wetland degradation and chytridiomycosis—a deadly, fast spreading fungus. Add to that the introduction of predators such as the bullfrog, and this native frog has disappeared from much of its original habitat. These factors prompted Washington state to list the species as endangered in 1997. It may also ultimately lead to a federal endangered listing soon. But hope is on the horizon. Woodland Park Zoo has joined a multi-institution recovery project that is pairing cap

Posted by: Walter Dupree, Animal Collections Manager On June 23, Woodland Park Zoo became home to another significant addition…a bouncing eleven-month-old female giraffe named Tufani. She came to us from Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri. For those that remember, this is the same zoo that sent us Olivia, our other female giraffe . In fact, Tufani and Olivia are half sisters. And no, they don’t seem to recognize each other, but with giraffe, you never know. Like Olivia, Tufani is a Rothschild’s giraffe also known as Baringo or Lado giraffe. Although she is not a Reticulated giraffe like our males, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan manages them as one sub species so we have future breeding recommendations already. But don’t expect to see any infant giraffe running on the savanna anytime soon as our girls are still a bit young. If you’ve never seen a giraffe shipment before, it’s an interesting undertaking. I bet a few of you are wondering how we ge

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The two endangered snow leopard cubs are one month old today, and we took some new photos this morning to document their growth. Check out the full photo album from this morning's session on Woodland Park Zoo's Facebook fan page . Become our Facebook fan to get automatic zoo updates in your Facebook news feeds. The two cubs remain behind the scenes with their mother while they bond and grow, but stay tuned to the blog for more updates on the duo. Photo by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Mark Myers, Curator Woodland Park Zoo’s first ever tawny frogmouth chick is growing up! What first looked like a cottonball is now starting to look more like the adults of its species. At 20 days of age, the chick is doing great and achieving all the expected developmental benchmarks—it has clear eyes, its flight feathers are growing well and its weight is up to 5.9 ounces (it would take six stamps to mail it!). The first-time parents are doing well too. The male, shown here, has been sitting on the nest during the day brooding the chick. The chick has been given the name Nangkita, an aboriginal word inspired by its native Australia meaning “place of little frogs.” It’s a fitting name given the bird’s wide, frog-like mouth. Typically tawny frogmouth chicks leave the nest between anywhere from 25-35 days of age. Photos and video by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Peter Miller, Keeper In the last few weeks on the blog, we’ve introduced you to baby bugs , birds , and mammals . So now it’s time for baby reptiles… Meet a newly hatched, endangered black-breasted leaf turtle. When this turtle was born on June 5, it weighed in at 5 grams—about the weight of a quarter—and its shell is about the size of a quarter too! A lot of care goes into preparing for a hatching like this. It took about 2 months to gestate in our incubator which was set at about 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit. One of the most striking and conspicuous features of this unusual turtle is its large and protuberant eyes that give an alert expression. Their diet includes snails, slugs, earthworms and other forest floor invertebrates, although some captive individuals apparently also feed on fruit and vegetables. Like most Asian turtle species, the black-breasted leaf turtle is in grave danger of extinction due to over-collection from the wild for the food, medicine and pet trade. Tu

With help from his parents and the full support of Woodland Park Zoo, 3-year-old pre-school philanthropist Lucas Engles-Klann would like to invite you to his second annual Dine Out for Animals fundraiser... Hi all you Zoo Fans! I love animals, and I know you do, too. Although I'm only 3 years old, I want to help Woodland Park Zoo help people learn how to save animals and the habitats they need for their homes. So please come to my second annual Dine Out for Animals fundraising dinner at Elemental, next Sunday June 28 from 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. All proceeds will help the zoo care for its amazing primates--including my friends, the gorillas. Love, Lucas Engles-Klann Lucas's love of gorillas inspired him to host the first annual Dine Out for Animals last year, where money raised went to support the creation of a new "jungle gym" for our gorillas . Now Lucas is ready to expand his project to support other primates at Woodland Park Zoo, and he is hosting the second annua

( Parents’ Night Out childcare is available at upcoming ZooTunes concerts on 7/1 and 7/2-- please register online to guarantee your child's spot . Read on to hear one five-year-old’s experience at the first ever Parents’ Night Out…) Posted by: Janel Kempf, Education While our almost-five-year-old daughter, Elena, has come with us in the past to many ZooTunes concerts (her first live music experience ever was They Might Be Giants when she was just six weeks old), WPZ was offering an interesting new option the night of The B-52s concert: Parents’ Night Out childcare ! I knew I’d be more willing to dance embarrassingly to an 80’s band without any chance of grandma hearing the next-day report of how weird I am. Elena was excited too—why hang around with mom, dad, and their friends when you can play all evening at Zoomazium ? So, I signed her up, and dropped her off at 5:00 p.m. the night of the concert. (In plenty of time, by the way, to meet my husband and friends back in line and