Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications We’ve got exciting news! A Chilean flamingo chick has hatched at Woodland Park Zoo, marking the first time the zoo has successfully hatched a Chilean flamingo in its 109-year history! The chick hatched in an incubator on August 25, following a 29-day incubation period. To ensure a higher chance of survival, a team of dedicated and expert staff are hand-raising and hand-feeding the chick off public exhibit for now. You might remember the arrival of a new flock of more than 25 flamingos last year. They debuted in a brand new 4,000-square-foot exhibit that opened in May 2008. This spring represented the first full breeding season for the new flock in the new exhibit as the graceful birds put on a striking show of synchronized courtship and ritualized behaviors for zoo guests – head flagging, wing saluting and marching in sequence and unison. This active display culminated with nest building, egg laying and one chick to date! Zoo guests can see the

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Fall is around the corner, which means it’s time for Woodland Park Zoo’s annual Fall Fecal Fest. Garden enthusiasts and Zoo Doo loyalists, get ready to enter a drawing to purchase the highly coveted Zoo Doo. The pungent piles of poop make up the richest, most highly aromatic and exotic compost in the Pacific Northwest. This year there is less Zoo Doo to go around, making the lottery more competitive. How do you get your hands on this precious poop? Dr. Doo is accepting entry cards for Zoo Doo or Bedspread (a composted mulch made from the manures and bedding of the zoo’s non-primate herbivores) from September 11 through September 25 only . Entry cards will be randomly selected according to supply and demand. Dr. Doo will contact the lucky drawn entries only. The Fecal Fest traditionally sells out. The rules: Only one postcard per person is eligible for the drawing. Phone orders will not be taken. Send a standard postcard to Zoo Doo, Woodland P

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Snow leopard cubs Batu and the newly named Gobi ( thanks to your 35,000 votes !) made their public debut this past Saturday during Woodland Park Zoo’s 3rd annual Snow Leopard Day event. Watch the cubs take some of their first steps into the exhibit and explore the new sights and smells. If you want to see them in person, the cubs are typically given access to the exhibit from noon to 3:00 p.m. daily. Video by Ryan Hawk.

Posted by: Kim M. Murray, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Science, Snow Leopard Trust Read on for an update on tracking wild snow leopards from the Snow Leopard Trust’s field research base in Mongolia. The Snow Leopard Trust is one of Woodland Park Zoo’s Partners for Wildlife *. Summer is the busiest season at the Snow Leopard Trust’s research camp in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. This summer our crew spent long days in the field looking for sites with recent snow leopard activity to deploy our trap cameras. By early July we had 41 cameras distributed over a 500-square-mile area, making it the most ambitious camera trapping study ever undertaken for snow leopards. The cameras remained in the field for a month; now we’re reviewing the images to see how many cats we photographed. Because every snow leopard has a unique spot pattern, just like a human fingerprint, we can use these photos to identify individual cats to estimate the size of the snow leopard population. We’re also using GPS sat

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications After nearly a year of nourishment and care by Woodland Park Zoo turtle experts, 53 endangered western pond turtles swam their way back into the wild when we joined Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to release the turtles last week at wildlife refuge sites in Pierce and Mason Counties. On hand to help release the shelled reptiles was 7-year-old Harrison Keyser of Sammamish, Wash. (pictured at left with his sisters) who arranged a “Turtle Trot” to raise more than $300 for the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project. Harrison told us he thought “it was really cool letting the turtles go in the pond” and he’d like to do this again next year. We’d be happy to have you back, Harrison! The 10-month-old turtles were collected last fall from the wild as hatchlings and head started at the zoo to give them an edge on surviving in the wild. Collection Manager Mike Teller and his keepers have a system for growing the turtles to just the right size: “W

Posted by Ric Brewer, Communications Below: WPZ staff member David Droppers with Zoo Corps interns Claire and Brenna, transport endangered Oregon silverspot butterflies for release (top) and releasing them at Cascade Head Reserve. (Photos by Katie Remine ) On Thursday, August 13, Brenna and Claire, two of our Zoo Corps teen interns got the great opportunity to have a direct impact on wildlife conservation by participating in the release of endangered Oregon silverspot butterflies at a protected site in Cascade Head Reserve, Oregon. The site, run by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department and The Nature Conservancy is not only protecting some of the last vestiges of this rare native butterfly, it also is the site of what is becoming an ever dwindling habitat, coastal grasslands. The zoo has been participating in the Oregon Silverspot Butterfly Recovery Project by raising butterfly at the zoo and releasing pupae back to this location which also hosts the butterflies' favorite fo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Don't miss the debut of the snow leopard cubs tomorrow, Saturday, August 15, at noon during our 3rd annual Snow Leopard Day . The male cub will get his name--chosen by your votes--and the public will see the cubs take their first official steps into the exhibit! Enjoy a full day of activities (9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.) celebrating one of the world’s most endangered and elusive wild animals. The third annual event is hosted by the zoo and its conservation partner, the Snow Leopard Trust , to highlight the fascinating adaptations of the snow leopard and critical conservation efforts to protect them in the wild. Activities include: * Keeper talks and special enrichment for the snow leopards * Conservation talks by Snow Leopard Trust * Book launch and signing of "Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia" with author Sy Montgomery * Snow leopard-inspired crafts for kids * Special themed programs for