Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This little turtle is about to be released into a protected pond site. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. From the parking lot you pull into off a suburban drag, you’d never guess you are about to enter a protected wetlands, where hope for an endangered turtle species hangs in the balance. Pull on your rubber boots, head through the reeds down a thin, winding path flattened by the steps of the biologists ahead of you, and as your feet start to sink into the softening ground, you know you are getting close to your destination—the edge of a small pond with a big story. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. It’s unassuming, but this spot—marked by nothing more than a temporary wooden plank for our safe balancing—is where hundreds of turtles have made the journey back into the wild over the past 20 years through an ambitious conservation effort to bring the native western pond turtle back from the brink of extinction in

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Even if you haven’t seen the crested screamer at the zoo, you almost certainly have heard it.  When these birds vocalize, it is obvious why they are named “screamer”—their double-noted trumpeting or guttural drumming can be heard up to 2 miles away! You’ll find our screamers in an exhibit near the flamingos in the Temperate Forest zone .  Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo

Posted by: Susan Burchardt, Zookeeper A raptor flies over a wind turbine. Photo by Gretchen Albrecht/Woodland Park Zoo. As part of our wildlife conservation efforts in the Pacific Northwest , Woodland Park Zoo collaborates with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on the Raptor Ecology of the Shrub-Steppe conservation program. This spring, zookeepers Gretchen Albrecht, Ros Bass-Fournier, Jean Ragland and I returned to eastern Oregon for three weeks to continue research begun last year . We recorded data on how nesting hawks interact with wind turbines. Hours of observation gives us important insight into how raptors are adapting to this new change to the shrub-steppe habitat. Lupine in a field of turbines. Photo by Gretchen Albrecht/Woodland Park Zoo. Shrub-steppe is a grassland habitat that occurs in western North America. Grasses and shrubs make up the shrub-steppe landscape. The most common shrub, or woody plant, is sage brush. There are many birds,

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Many of you have met Kakuta Hamisi, and if you have, you won’t forget him or his incredible, inspirational stories. In his 12 years as cultural interpreter at the zoo, Kakuta has shared his stories of his life experiences growing up and engaging in conservation work in rural Kenya with nearly 100,000 zoo visitors! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo You’ve probably taken a tour with him through our African Savanna exhibit, or heard him talking out by the hippo exhibit about his work restoring waterholes in his native Kenya. And if you have met Kakuta and been inspired by his experiences, you’ll understand why it’s now so hard for us to say goodbye as he prepares to head back to Kenya for a major new step in his life—running for the Minister of Parliament position for the newly created Kajiado East Constituency that stretches from Chyulu Hills National Park to the outskirts of Nairobi City. The constituency has an estimated

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Phyllium giganteum finds protection from predators in its remarkable camouflage, colored and shaped to look exactly like a leaf. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. This insect's camouflage is so convincing, it even has notches that make it look like a leaf out of which other insects have taken small bites.

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Kookaburra at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. I have quite a few favorite animals. When you work at the zoo, it’s hard to pick just one, but I never walk past the kookaburras without smiling. These birds are totally one of my favorites. Why? Here are the top ten reasons kookaburras are one of the coolest aves at the zoo: 1. Kookaburra itself is a very fine word, try saying it without smiling… impossible. The name "kookaburra", COOK-ah-burr-ah, came from the aboriginal tribal group, the Wiradjuri people, of New South Wales in Australia. They named this bird for the laughing sound it makes, onomatopoeic of its call. 2. Kookaburras sit in trees and laugh all day long. Although they vocalize more at dusk and dawn, kookaburras have one of the most unique vocalizations of any animal. Their laugh is so distinctive that it has been widely used in soundtracks on television, in movies, and more rece

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Help us name our three new, female  Visayan warty pigs and you can win up to $500! With your votes, each pig will receive a name reflecting its native habitat in the Visayan Islands of central Philippines. The contest is easy to enter: Clip out an official ballot from any copy of  The Seattle Times  from  July 22 - August 3, 2012  and vote for your favorite three names. The names are: ADLAW (sun) BULAK (flower) LASANG (forest) MAGDULA (playful) BANHAAN (nosey) GUAPA (beautiful) All ballots must be dropped off at a  participating U.S. Bank location  by August 4, 2012 . The three names with the most votes will be chosen for our Visayan warty pigs! When you cast your vote, you’ll automatically be entered to win* in our random prize drawing. The grand prize is a $500 Visa gift card courtesy of U.S. Bank and a Visayan warty pig ZooParent adoption. Two runners up will each receive a $100 Visa