Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Mark Myers, Curator Stop by the flamingo exhibit and you’ll notice two small, white puffs emerging among all those pink feathers. That’s because two Chilean flamingo chicks hatched at the start of October, and are being cared for now by their parents out in the flamingo exhibit. This is the first time that our colony of flamingos is raising chicks on exhibit. Last year, the flock produced three chicks which were hand-raised by the zoo’s team of expert staff before being introduced to the colony. The flock decided to breed a bit late in the year, but the chicks are well insulated and should have no problems with acclimating to colder temperatures. Chilean flamingos typically breed at very high altitudes in the Andes. So far, the parents are doing a great job of caring for their young. With flamingos, both parents care for their chick, feeding them “crop milk,” a dark red secretion produced in the upper digestive tract. The substance is nutritionally similar to milk that is p

Posted by: Katie Remine, Education Connecting children to nature is essential to our mission and we do it every day on zoo grounds. But nature is all around us and we’re always excited about the opportunity to take nature lessons outside of the zoo gates and head into the community. We’ll be doing just that on Sat., Oct. 16 at Seward Park where we’ll be taking part in the National Wildlife Federation’s Hike & Seek family event—and we’d love to see you there! A cross between a nature hike and a scavenger hunt, Hike & Seek is a great way to get your family and friends out into nature and experience a local park in a whole new way. Step off from base camp after loads of activities for all ages, and use your map and mission guidebook to create your own interactive nature experience. Along the way, you’ll learn about trees, water, plants, animals and birds. Woodland Park Zoo staff will be there to guide the Stop & Study station on animals. Families will have the opportunity to

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications With native Oregon spotted frog populations decimated by 80%-90% in our own backyard, we’re committed to recovering their numbers and working towards a self-sustaining wild population. To help with that recovery, Woodland Park Zoo recently released 643 endangered Oregon spotted frogs into the wild. Reared at the zoo for the first months of their lives, these frogs took quickly to the protected lake where we released them, jumping right into their new environment. The work starts when Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife collects batches of Oregon spotted frog tadpoles and eggs from the wild and we rear them at the zoo for several months giving them a safe, predator-free home as they go through metamorphosis. This year’s frogs arrived to us as tadpoles in April and May. Before release, the frogs are screened for health, measured and weighed, and some of them are tagged so that scientists can identify and track them over time once releas

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications To get a powerful, independent-minded African lion to cooperate with its own daily care and veterinary check ups, keepers use ongoing training with positive reinforcement to make the animal a comfortable participant. In this video, lead keeper Anne Nichols takes 12-year-old African lion Kalisa through some standard training exercises behind-the-scenes at the zoo. Video produced by Ryan Hawk, voiced by Anne Nichols/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Dr. Randall Kyes, Global Field Training in Conservation Biology, WPZ Partner for Wildlife For more than 10 years, Woodland Park Zoo has supported the Global Field Training in Conservation Biology (GFTCB) program, a WPZ Partner for Wildlife . Through GFTCB, Dr. Randall Kyes, from the University of Washington and One Earth Institute, and colleagues in Bangladesh, Nepal, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and Brazil have been working together to foster the next generation of global conservation leaders, training university students and professionals to be responsible for the survival of the biodiversity in their home countries. Here is the most recent news from the field from Dr. Kyes… This past summer, we completed our 13th annual Field Course in Conservation Biology at the Tangkoko Nature Reserve in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We had 10 participants including seven university students, one ranger, and two members of a local conservation o

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Lions sleep. A lot. But when not sleeping, their instinct is to stalk and hunt prey . To nurture those instincts and add some excitement to our lion exhibit—both for the lions and for visitors—our keepers recently experimented with the addition of an enrichment lure line. The lure line is basically a pully system stretching across the exhibit that allows the keepers to whiz a piece of meat or other tempting treat through the air, enticing the lions’ instincts and springing them into hunting action. We did the first test of the lure line last week and had surprising results. Keepers expected Kalisa, our female lion, to show the most interest, but it was in fact Hubert, our male, who had the biggest reaction. As the line whizzed past the pair, Kalisa cautiously observed, following its movement with her head. Hubert was the first to approach. Swinging with his paws, he got the chicken into the grip of his claws and mouth and ripped it off the li

Posted by: Lucas Engles-Klann, 5-year-old animal lover With help from his parents and the support of Woodland Park Zoo, 5-year-old Lucas Engles-Klann, a WPZ member and budding conservationist, would like to invite you to his Third Annual Dine Out for Animals fundraiser… Hi all you zoo fans! Come to the Third Annual Dine Out for Animals which is happening Sunday, October 3rd from 2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. We're going to have a great time at Elemental and Elemental Next Door in Wallingford, thanks to Laurie and Phred who are donating their space again. Last year, we raised $5,000 for gorilla animal care and habitats at Woodland Park Zoo. This year, Dine Out will benefit even more animals: the zoo's gorillas plus also the turtles in the Day Exhibit, the Northern Trail grizzly bears, and the wildlife impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf. Why do I organize Dine Out every year? Since I was two years old, I've been really passionate about wild animals and saving them. I learned the l