Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Eating fish and swimming around come naturally to our Humboldt penguin chicks . But to make sure they are getting the best possible diet and are comfortable and confident in their surroundings, our keepers are currently giving the chicks some one-on-one attention behind the scenes before they join the adults out on exhibit. The two oldest chicks , hatched April Fool’s Day and Easter Sunday, have lost their downy feathers and now have waterproof feathers for swimming. To get them used to being in water, the chicks have round-the-clock access to a shallow pool behind the scenes at the exhibit, where they can practice floating and swimming. And while eating is no problem for these chicks, they do now have to learn how to accept fish directly from their keepers like all the adult penguins do. Hand feeding is especially useful because it allows the keepers to keep track of just how much each bird is eating as well as ensuring that each individual r

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications You can call the meerkats cute, you can call them curious—and soon, you can call them by the names that you give them. We’re kicking off a meerkat naming contest today and the mob got in on the fun by “casting” the first votes (which mostly involved them exploring and playing with a ballot box!). Now it’s your turn. Our “Name the Meerkats” contest, sponsored by U.S. Bank and The Seattle Times, starts today with an awesome grand prize of a trip for four to San Diego! We have selected 16 names that reflect the meerkats’ native southern African habitat and now it is your turn to cast your vote for up to eight of your favorites. Just pick up your ballot at any participating U.S. Bank location , in The Seattle Times, on zoo grounds, or on our contest website and drop it off at any participating U.S. Bank now through June 15 to enter to win*. The eight highest vote getters from the following choices will become the new names for our four male and fo

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Our not-so-tiny-anymore snow leopard cubs Gobi (now 65 lb) and Batu (now 56 lb) turned 1 year old this week! We celebrated their birthday with two incredible paper-mâché “cakes” for the cubs made by one of our very talented staff members (Thanks, Regina!). Keepers put the cakes out into the exhibit space while the cats were behind the scenes. But once the snow leopards came out, it took just seconds for them to spot and sniff the fun, new enrichment in their exhibit and pounce! The crowd of school kids and visitors encouraged them with chants, “Get it! Get it!” And they all thrilled to see mom Helen and the cubs stomp, bite, shred, and roll those cakes down the hill—leaving quite a mess behind! But what’s a birthday party without a little mess? We’ll continue celebrating Gobi, Batu and the majestic species they represent with our annual Snow Leopard Day event coming up on August 14. The cubs were born last year as part of the Species Surviva

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications In April, we celebrated the hatching of five Humboldt penguin chicks . Yesterday, we showed off a couple of these chicks to local press, and are they growing fast! The biggest chick weighed in at 8 pounds and is just 3 inches shy of reaching full adult height. While penguin chicks do grow surprisingly fast, they still have that adorable “babyish” look. Wearing the downy plumage they were born with, their gray, waterproof feathers are starting to grow in. The three sets of parents continue to raise their young in nesting burrows in a quiet, off-exhibit room. The chicks shown in these photos hatched on the first of April and on Easter Sunday, representing the oldest chicks from this year’s breeding season. We don’t know the gender of the chicks yet but will find out in the near future through DNA testing. So, when do you get to see the chicks? Our plan is to introduce them to the outdoor exhibit sometime in late June to mid-July, but first we nee

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We introduced you last week to our newest addition —the baby pudu now on exhibit in the Temperate Forest biome at Woodland Park Zoo. Here is footage of her at one-week old getting her check-up from vets and then exploring the exhibit. This birth is significant for our Species Survival Plan efforts for this endangered species. The newborn female is the sixth offspring between her 12-year-old mother and 10-year-old father. Video produced by Ryan Hawk, script by Hannah Letinich, voiced by Celeste Sabers/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The pudu is the smallest deer in the world. A baby pudu then is, well, tiny. See for yourself: This tiny pudu female was born over the weekend at the zoo and we joined the vets, keepers and members of the press today for the neonatal exam of the baby. It was a quick exam that went well, and then baby rejoined her mother back on exhibit near the flamingos in the Temperate Forest area of the zoo. You can see them out on exhibit now, though you’ll have to look closely as these small babies are often well concealed by their mothers to protect them from predation. Not familiar with this animal? The pudu, pronounced POO-doo, is the smallest deer in the world, native to South America. At the zoo, we house southern pudus, which range in the wild throughout the lower Andes of Chile and southwest Argentina. Natural habitat for the endangered pudu continues to diminish due to overpopulation, clearing of land for agriculture, logging, hunting and other h

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