Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Bobbi Miller, Field Conservation Never heard of the Louisiana pine snake? Maybe that’s because it is the rarest snake species in North America. The Louisiana Pine Snake Species Survival Plan (SSP) is one of the newest conservation projects the zoo is helping to fund and support. The program aims to return the snake to central Louisiana after a 60-year absence. In fall 2009, scientists conducted on-site inspections of five potential release sites and eventually selected a location in the Kisatchie National Forest that would provide an appropriate habitat for the reintroduced population and its future offspring. Zoos that are participating in the SSP are helping by breeding these snakes to produce offspring for eventual release, with the goal of releasing 40 newly hatched Louisiana pine snakes in 2010. The next step is then to monitor subsets of the snakes released using radio-telemetry to learn more about how the animals are surviving, what their home range is like, and how

Posted by: Eric Kowalczyk, Zookeeper It was a perfect day for birding weatherwise for our annual Early Morning Birdwalk at the zoo this past Saturday: temperatures in low 50s, perfectly blue skies, no wind. If only the birds would cooperate! About 30 guests met us at the zoo's South Entrance at 6:45 a.m. After a brief introduction, we split the group up into two smaller parties. One group was led by raptor keeper Tom Aversa and docent Pat Bredouw. The other group was led by me with great assistance from docents Anna Martin and Laurie Ann Dudley. We wandered around the most likely places on the zoo grounds in hopes to spot some migratory birds that have stopped here for some fattening up before their next leg of their nocturnal migration north. The total bird count was 32 species. Some of the migratory species seen/heard by at least some include: western tanager, Townsend's warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, Wilson's warbler, warbling vireo, black-headed grosbeak, white-cr

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Here’s your chance to get more involved in the zoo blog! We dedicate a lot of blog space to telling you our inside scoop on the zoo. But we know that you all have some great scoop too. Our members and frequent visitors know some of the best tips for making the most of the Woodland Park Zoo experience. You know the best times to go, the preferred picnic areas, the prime parking spots, the best exhibits for kids, the classes you can't miss, the tastiest menu items and so much more. (Here's a tip posted by Kiki on May 10, 2010: “Best time to go is first thing in the morning. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch the keepers crossing the giraffes from the barns into the savanna, which gets you really close up to the animals.”) Now we’ve created a section of this blog dedicated to your best tips. You can give a tip or get a tip under our new “Zoo visitor tips” tab located in the sub-header of our blog. Just click on that tab ( or this link )

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