Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham and Gigi Allianic, Communications We’re deeply saddened to share this news with you: One of our precious snow leopard triplets did not survive his turbulent first weeks. The now six-week-old cubs have been well cared for by their mother Helen in their behind the scenes maternal den, but each of the cubs has displayed health concerns that have caused our keepers and vet staff to go into overdrive trying to help the cubs pull through these challenges. Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult but humane decision to euthanize the male cub yesterday after we determined that the little guy had multiple, severe heart defects that were causing early heart failure. Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo’s Director of Animal Health, tells us that it’s very rare to encounter disease concerns in the zoo’s newborn animals that are too severe for modern medicine to overcome, but in this case, there were no surgical or drug treatment options available. As you can im

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Remember our little penguin hero , the boy who spotted an abandoned Humboldt penguin egg in our exhibit and alerted a keeper to its need for rescue? Despite our all-points bulletin to locate him and thank him for his effort, we never found him after two months of searching. But we won’t let his act go unrecognized even if his identity remains a mystery! So we decided to honor our little hero by naming the penguin chick Ramón, a Spanish name that means “protector.” Ramón is now two months old and is thriving behind the scenes. His rocky start as an abandoned egg put his survival at peril, but thanks to the little boy’s call for help, penguin keeper Celine Pardo was able to rescue the egg before a crow or gull could snatch it. The egg was given to a pair of foster parents who took it in and successfully hatched it days after the rescue. The chick is old enough to start some training so he now works with his zookeepers behind the sce

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications These spring days can be such a tease, sunny and bright one minute and then a windy deluge the next, but ohhh the green! Bright shiny blades of emerald appear in magnificent patches across our lawns and meadows, flowers shoot up between cracks in the pavement and all the zoo appears to be bursting with life. Star magnolia after a heavy rain at the zoo . Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo. The science behind springtime weather has an immense impact on our zoo.  After just a few weeks of spring rain showers and warmer days, the blooming canopy on our 93 acres has changed the landscape considerably. Hundreds of trees, shrubs, and flowers are in full vigor. The thriving green scenery that cloaks the zoo this time of year makes a distinct impression on visitors and residents alike.  Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo During April and May, solar radiation begins to heat up the earth's surface more and more. T

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Pike Place Market. Fishmongers. Salmon. Grizzly bears. Woodland Park Zoo. Rain. This isn’t a game of Pacific Northwest word association—it’s a recipe for a rockin’ good time down at the Northern Trail this morning! Our friends from world famous Pike Place Fish Market brought their signature fish-tossing skills to our grizzly bear exhibit today at a media teaser for this Saturday’s Bear Affair presented by Brown Bear Car Wash event. The fishmongers planted themselves safely at the edge of the exhibit—a massive moat stood between them and the bears, don’t worry!—and got to tossing while grizzly brothers Keema and Denali looked on. The first few tosses of the 6-pound salmon were just for practice, though the bears seemed like they were hoping for a slip-up that would land a salmon in their direction. But once the rhythm got going among the fishmongers—tossing the salmon over the heads of dozens of school chil

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications River otters sometimes swim in circles, creating a whirlpool.  The maneuver pays off--the whirlpool brings up fish that were hiding on the bottom of the river or lake, making for easier snacking.   Photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Mark Myers, Curator of Birds It's that great time of the year when many of the birds at Woodland Park Zoo begin to nest and raise chicks. By far the most unique species we breed is the tawny frogmouth. They look like owls, but they're actually relatives of nightjars (nighthawks, whip-poor-wills, etc.). This primarily nocturnal species is native to Australia, and the zoo has two pairs in an off-exhibit area for breeding purposes. Tawny frogmouth chick at four days old. The ball of fluff in this photo is the fourth chick produced by a pair we received from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia in 2009. It hatched on May 17, and the parents are raising it on a diet of insects and small mice. When hatched, it weighed 0.6 ounces (17.5 grams). The small, white dot towards the upper tip of the bill is the egg tooth. This is what the chick uses to break the shell as it is hatching. The egg tooth will eventually fall off as the chick ages. The frogmouth

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A snow leopard’s spots are a thing of beauty, and in this case, that beauty is skin-deep. That's because the pigmented spots go beyond the furry surface and are actually part of the snow leopard's skin itself. You can see it here in this shaved patch on one of our snow leopard cubs . The cubs each had a tiny patch shaved during their first health exam to help zookeepers tell them apart on the internal web cam we use to monitor mom and cubs. Notice how the rosette on the shaved patch continues from fur to skin. Snow leopard spots aren’t just for looking pretty. They provide critical camouflage for these hunters, allowing them to blend into their rocky environment as they stalk prey. However, that camouflage and slinky elusiveness also make them difficult to study in the wild! That’s why our conservation partners at the Snow Leopard Trust use hidden cameras that are motion-activated to snap photos of