Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Martin Ramirez, Curator It's been a very busy time for our new meerkats. Their first visitors, in the form of zoo staff, got a sneak peek of them a few days before the meerkats were set to debut to the public. The meerkats took well to the crowd and spent just as much time looking back at all of us as we spent watching them. The other fun, new feature is a faux wildebeest skull. The first day they got it they completely excavated it and explored every nook and cranny. I just hope our young visitors understand that it is an artificial skull and that the meerkats had nothing to do with its demise! Over this past weekend, the exhibit was officially opened to zoo guests. As crowds gathered around the window, the one word I could hear over and over again was “CUTE!” I reminded many of the visitors I encountered that the meerkats are not just cute, but meerkute —and all the fascinating things that make them amazing to watch, like their social structure, and their burrowing an

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’ve been thinking about the things that make meerkats special, and their distinctive moves—scurrying to burrows or acting as sentinels—really stand out. And now, we honor those moves with some dance moves of our own! Presenting…“Do the Meerkute” Show us how you “Do the Meerkute.” Download the free mp3 (recognize that voice? It’s The Presidents of the United States of America’s Chris Ballew!) and make your own dance video. Then submit it as a video response to our  YouTube video . Full instructions are available on our website . Of course, the meerkats are more than just cute —and we encourage you to come see them for yourself and learn all about their social structure and amazing adaptations. Don’t miss their debut on May 1 with opening day festivities including live music, meerkat-themed giveaways, keeper talks, crafts and more. We hope to see you there! Video credits: Producer: WONGDOODY, Seattle; Composer: Eric Englehorn; Voc

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The much-anticipated BECU ZooTunes presented by Carter Subaru summer concert series is back for its 27th season! Be ready for a stellar line-up of performers. The concert series starts Sunday, June 27 with Grammy-nominee Jewel and runs for 10 extraordinary concerts, ending with Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project on Sunday, August 29 — with an incredible line-up of artists in between. Tickets go on sale 8:00 a.m., Monday, May 3 at local Metropolitan Market locations and at the zoo. 6/27 Jewel with Radney Foster ($28) 6/30 Steve Earle with special guest Joe Ely ($21) 7/14 Carbon Leaf ($24) 7/18 The Round 62 at the Zoo: A multi-arts collaborative show featuring Star Anna, Damien Jurado, and many more ($15) 7/21 Jimmy Cliff with Trevor Hall ($24) 7/29 Great Big Sea ($22) 8/3 Mary Chapin Carpenter / Shawn Colvin ($24) 8/11 The Levon Helm Band with Joe Pug ($26) 8/25 John Hiatt & The Combo ($22) 8/29 Herbie Hancock’s

Posted by: Martin Ramirez, Curator This week all eight meerkats were given access to one of the two rooms in their exhibit. In preparation, keepers coated the guest viewing window with wax. This is typically done so that animals see that there is a barrier there and don't run into it. After we let these little guys out they explored the entire exhibit from top to bottom. When they finally found the window they actually seemed annoyed that they couldn't see out! So we cleaned off a small section about 8 inches in diameter. All eight tried to peek through the small opening so we had to make it bigger. While we cleaned off the wax with a towel, one of the meerkats stood on the other side of the glass and seemed mesmerized by the circular motions of the towel. It was really cute to watch! At this point we decided to remove most of the wax to allow them to watch some of the last minute preparations taking place outside their exhibit. Later this week we will introduce the group

Posted by: Ric Brewer, Communications It’s National Volunteer Week this April 18 through 24, and we want to take a moment to thank our phenomenal 762 volunteers who give of their time, talents and devotion to animals and nature. Their dedication, whether it's helping to dice vegetables for gorillas, assist keepers with cleaning or the horticulture staff with our botanical collection, helping at public events, educating the public or providing office support, and the myriad of other tasks, helps us promote our mission of saving wildlife and habitat. Join us in thanking these incredible members of our community !

Posted by: Amy Davis, Zookeeper This Earth Day, help us raise money for the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers (PS-AAZK) by joining us at our annual book sale. Browse the selection of new and used books at the zoo on Thursday, April 22, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Proceeds from your purchases will go to assist our PS-AAZK keepers with conservation projects and continuing education so they can better serve our animals! The book sale will take place in the zoo’s ARC building, located next to the West Entrance, near Zoomazium. Hope to see you there and thanks for your support! Photo by Peter S. Miller.

Posted by: Martin Ramirez, Curator Finally, the day is here. After months of preparation, Woodland Park Zoo has meerkats again—behind the scenes at the moment and getting ready to debut to public on May 1. At 10:20 a.m. today, the zoo’s eight new meerkats arrived after a long and arduous road trip of about 1 hour from our neighbors at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. Actually, this is one of the shortest trips that an animal has taken to get to our zoo!   They arrived sporting their own fingerpaint markings on their heads and backs to help keepers identify them more easily during their first few days here. The colors chosen are combinations of pink, green, yellow and red, and will fade in a day or two. Eventually we will be able to tell them apart by just looking at their faces, but for now they all look the same! Keepers will monitor them very closely for the rest of the day and possibly into the night just to make sure they settle in okay. They will be intro