Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications  Tasha watches as one of her brave cubs climbs higher up on a log. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. What’s better than one sloth bear cub? Two! We are so excited to share new photos of our adult sloth bear , Tasha, and her young cubs. Tasha has left the den and has been guiding her cubs outdoors, letting them climb and explore all the wonderful logs and branches. The cubs love the chance to practice their climbing and check out insect holes. Favorite pastimes seem to be sniffing out the exhibit and playing games of “King of the Branch.” A curious cub peeks into an insect hole. Photo by Dennis Dow/WPZ. Leaping sloth bear cub! Destination? Mom’s back; it makes a soft landing pad. The sloth bear is the only bear to carry its young on its back! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.   This little cub is getting crazy and showing off some moves! Sloth bear cubs are great climbers, balancing on their large

Posted by: Laura Lockard, MyZoo Magazine Editor-in-Chief Have you seen the latest issue of the MyZoo member magazine? Chock full of baby lions, behind the scenes information and a brand new kids section this latest issue was a hit! Woodland Park Zoo’s member magazine, MyZoo, is created with the help of many zoo staff from a diverse pool of departments. Like caring for animals, cultivating beautiful gardens, and educating students, the content we produce and share with you takes heaps of teamwork and passionate individuals. The lion cubs were an obvious story choice for the recent issue! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Before you see it, our editorial team starts with a theme for each issue as well as a handful of ideas. Of course we have to consider all of the timely events around the zoo, like four lion cubs being born! For the spring issue we were very fortunate to have our cubs in the spotlight helping to tell Woodland Park Zoo’s conservation story. When you

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Everyone has heard of an army of ants or a flock of birds, but how about a pounce of cats? A business of ferrets, a bloat of hippopotamuses, and my favorite, a float of crocodiles! A company of budgies hangs out at Willawong Station. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. It seems as if there are as many bizarre collective nouns as there are animals to describe. An ambush of tigers, a tower of giraffes, a gam of whales, a charm of magpies! So, why do we have so many unique collective names for animals? I mean, do we really need to say “There was a gaze of raccoons on my porch this morning”? And is there anything scientific about these terms? A mob of meerkats! Photo by Ryan Hawk/ Woodland Park Zoo. Giving groups of animals a special name has been a tradition since the late Middle Ages. (Might explain dray of squirrels). A lot of the blame for these bizarre words was given to prioress Dame Juliana Berners, a nun and writer, w

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA)—Woodland Park Zoo’s accrediting body—put out their latest Annual Report on Conservation Science , and the numbers are in. AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums contribute $160 million a year to wildlife conservation, supporting more than 2,650 conservation projects in 130 countries! “AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums are global leaders in wildlife conservation,” said AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy, in a press release announcing the report. “While AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums provide great care to animals in their facilities, they are also working around the world to make a positive impact for many imperiled species.” The latest Annual Report on Conservation Science shows that AZA-accredited zoos and aquarium funded an extensive range of projects, including support for anti-poaching teams in range country national parks, population assessments, research on marine mammal strandings as indica

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Photos by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo NOTE: The sloth bear exhibit is currently off view while construction is completed in the area. A temporary path will open on May 4 to give you access to see the cubs on exhibit. Until then, the cubs' time spent outside is off view to visitors. Thanks for your patience. We promise the cubs are worth the wait! Last Friday, our twin sloth bear cubs took their first steps outside. Technically, their very first moments outside weren't steps at all, as they rode out from their den clinging to mom's back. Their feet didn't hit the ground until a minute later, when the sights and smells piqued their curiosity and they hopped down to check out their new surroundings. Video: Sloth bear cubs outside for the first time. Produced by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. The cubs are now 3 months old, and up until now, they have been glued to mom's side in their behind-the-scenes maternity d

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The results of our Name the Cubs contest are in! More than 2,000 of you entered the contest for a chance to name one male and one female lion cub—and the winning names are: Male cub – Rudo (“love” in Zulu, pronounced ROO-doh ) Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Female cub – Busela (“happy and independent” in Zulu, pronounced BOO-sayla ) Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Two lucky winners— Tate and Ross MacDonald of Seattle and Pamela Garland of Olympia —are taking home the grand prizes for submitting these winning names, as selected by our panel of zoo judges. That grand prize includes a private viewing at the lion exhibit with a keeper! Rudo and Busela join their brother and sister, who also received names recently, this time with the help of zookeepers and donors who have helped bring big cats to Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. The other male is now known as Pelo (“heart” in Sot

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications Still image captured from internal monitoring cam on Monday, March 25, three days after birth.  The zoo welcomed three cubs to the count on Friday, marking the first jaguar birth at the zoo in nearly two decades! In the last few months, the zoo seems to be bursting with babies. Can we get a cub count? In November, we celebrated the birth of four rambunctious lions in over 20 years at the zoo. In December, mama sloth bear, Tasha, surprised us with not one but two newborns . And Friday evening, the rare birth of jaguar triplets sent the cub count soaring. In just six months, the zoo has welcomed nine cubs from three animal species! The three new cubs are celebrated as the latest members of the zoo’s newest generation. Zookeepers are using an internal monitoring cam to keep an eye on mom and jaguar cubs inside their behind-the-scenes maternity den. Catch a glimpse of what we can see on the cam in the video below. Video take