Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications Zoo Doo compost is ready for Spring Fecal Fest. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. Get your hands on the most desired poop in Seattle. Woodland Park Zoo’s Spring Fecal Fest is here. The annual poop event attracts local gardeners to enter the lottery to purchase the exotic, highly-coveted Zoo Doo and Bedspread that Dr. Doo, also known as the “Prince of Poo,” the “GM of BM” or the “Grand Poopah,” has been piling all winter. Entries are accepted through March 17. What goes in must come out, and what comes out is great for your garden! Photo credits: Elephant by Dennis Dow/WPZ, Giraffe by Ryan Hawk/WPZ, Zebra by Ryan Hawk/WPZ, Oryx by Dennis Dow/WPZ, Hippo by Mat Hayward/WPZ. Pick up where the animals left off. Zoo Doo is the richest, most prized compost in the Pacific Northwest. Composed of species feces contributed by the zoo’s non-primate herbivores such as elephants, hippos, giraffes and more, Zoo Doo is perfect to grow your veggies a

Posted by: Laura Lockard, Director of Public Affairs and Communications Friends, we need your help! We have an opportunity to clean up Puget Sound by making a major difference here at the zoo—using green technology to keep hippo waste from overflowing into local waterways. It’ll take the support of the state legislature to get us there, so we’re asking you to raise your voice and let Capital Budget Chairs, Rep. Hans Dunshee and Sen. Jim Honeyford and their committees know you support this effort! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Here is what’s at stake: Woodland Park Zoo is asking the state legislature to help with our commitment to sustainability and resource management in the Puget Sound area by requesting state capital funding for our priority sustainability project: reducing water waste from the zoo's hippo pool in the African Savanna exhibit. With an approximately $2 million state investment, completion of the hippo pool project would accomplish the following:

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications In Seattle’s scenic Carkeek Park, you might spend a lot of time looking out at the boats, across at the mountains or up at the clouds. But have you ever looked down? There’s a world teeming below your feet in the Carkeek wetlands, a world we’re just beginning to document with the help of volunteers through the Amphibian Monitoring Program , a Living Northwest citizen science project. Video: Amphibian Monitoring with Citizen Scientists. Produced by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo. The citizen scientists have all signed up for a 6-month stint, committing to do monthly monitoring sessions in local wetlands of their choice to help document the presence of native and non-native amphibians. Carkeek Park serves as a training ground for new volunteers. At the Carkeek Park practice session, citizen scientists use an AquaScope to peer underwater without disturbing wildlife. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Amphibian Monitoring

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Hello down there! A tree kangaroo climbs up high in Woodland Park Zoo's Day Exhibit. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Woodland Park Zoo is home to endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroos , native to the cloud forests of Papua New Guinea. From the trees, tree kangaroos can leap 60 feet to the ground without getting hurt. Don’t try this at home! Picking coffee in Papua New Guinea. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. You can help protect tree kangaroos and their tree-top homes by looking for PNG YUS coffee, now back in stock at Caffe Vita  thanks to a partnership with Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program . The conservation coffee supports eco-friendly livelihoods for the landowners that share tree ‘roo forests.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications A case of trout is on its way to our sea eagles now that Denver Zoo has made good on its Super Bowl wager with us. We agreed to modify the wager so that instead of their bird curator, John Azua, hand delivering the trout while wearing a Seattle Seahawks jersey, he is heading off on a planned trip to South America to support condor conservation. Denver Zoo bird curator, John Azua, congratulates the Seahawks. Photo courtesy of Denver Zoo. Though we won’t meet John in person, the good sport posed for this photo. In the end, birds win—Seahawks, sea eagles and condors alike!

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This Valentine's Day, tell your special someone that you love them and the environment by going paper-free and sending a Woodland Park Zoo e-card instead. Below is a peek at the card designs. Start building your Valentine e-card now . Original photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo; modified. Original photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo; modified. Original photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo; modified. Original photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo; modified. Original photo by Dale Unruh/Woodland Park Zoo; modified. Original photo by Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo; modified. Original photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo; modified.

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Photos by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo With Valentine’s Day on the way, you might find yourself selecting flowers—perhaps a beautiful orchid—for your partner. But did you know orchids have their own partners? Orchids and certain fungi share a symbiotic relationship. The idea of symbiosis, whose Greek roots mean “living” and “together,” sounds almost romantic. Yet when it comes to symbiosis—the relationship between two species in which one species is dependent on the other—not all is created equally (i.e. “It’s complicated.”) Dendrobium speciosum in our Tropical Rain Forest exhibit. If symbiosis were a box of chocolates (we’re really going hard with this Valentine’s Day theme), it would come in different flavors—some sweet, and some you want to spit out. Mutualism is any relationship between individuals of different species where both individuals benefit. Commensalism describes a relationship between two living organism