Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This is a tale of two joeys: A 7-month-old wallaby who is just emerging from its mother’s pouch… Wallaby joey peeks out of the pouch. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. …and a nearly 4-month-old wallaroo who is giving us a whole new perspective on what goes on inside the pouch. What we've seen will amaze you.  Let’s take a closer look at the developmental stages of the two joeys.  Wallaby Joey Emerges A hand, an ear, a nose—for the last few months, we have kept a close eye out for any sign of the latest wallaby joey emerging from its mother’s pouch. Born the size of a lima bean back in October, our newest wallaby joey has finally begun to peek out! Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. You can see it still has quite a bit of developing left to do. Soon the joey will grow in a furry coat and spend more time peeking out. As we head into summer, we’ll see the baby eventually begin to take litt

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Celebrate moms of all species with us at the 24th annual Mom & Me presented by Verity Credit Union , Sat., May 10, 2014, 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Moms get half off admission during the event and families can look for fun activities throughout the day, including live performances on the North Meadow, keeper talks focused on wildlife moms, and a scavenger hunt that could win you a flight tour for two from Kenmore Air! Ready to round up the family and plan an outing? Send a free Mother's Day e-card to make your plans. Here's just a little taste of the e-card designs you can choose from:

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Giraffe calf Misawa browsing. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Giraffes are the tallest browsers in the world, reaching up to the tip-top of acacia trees on the African savanna. The acacia leaves themselves are packed with water, so the giraffes can go a long time without drinking. In the wild, giraffes spend most of their day nibbling on these leaves, a slow process because they can only grab a few leaves in each bite. They can eat up to 75 pounds of leaves in a single day. That is a lot of browsing! At the zoo, keepers provide our giraffes with special, sky-high enrichment in their indoor barn to encourage their browsing instinct. We stopped by the giraffe barn on a soggy spring day to check out some of their indoor activities. Our video host, Jordan Veasley, spoke with keeper Katie Ahl about the importance of recreating the wild browsing experience. In the video below you can see Katie and Jordan prepare bucket enrichment for

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Baby Solomon Island leaf frogs. Photo by Alyssa Borek/Woodland Park Zoo. Solomon Island leaf frogs,  Ceratobatrachus guentheri ,  also known as triangle frogs, are a very special type of amphibian because they go through their tadpole stage inside the egg, hatching as completely formed froglets. The juvenile frogs emerge from their eggs as fully developed frogs in a process called direct development. Instead of spending their first days as a tadpole, or polliwog, these frogs are hatched ready to leap! The tiny frogs grow very quickly, starting at only an eighth of an inch when they emerge. They eat very small insects until they are large enough to transition to an adult diet of arthropods and larger insects, and even smaller reptiles and amphibians. The little froglets practice ambushing tiny insects, a behavior they will use later to pounce on any prey that happens to wander through their territory. It’s amazing to see these tiny c

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications It’s almost time to meet a cheetah ! The newest animals to join the Woodland Park Zoo family will debut in a temporary exhibit May 1, with zoo members getting a special sneak preview on April 30. The celebration continues with an official grand opening presented by Chevron on May 3. Missy the cheetah, photographed at Wildlife Safari in Oregon. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. How did the zoo’s new, temporary cheetah exhibit come about? It all started with a call from the Species Survival Plan , a conservation breeding program across accredited zoos. They enlisted our assistance to care for a pair of 14-year-old, female cheetahs for six to 18 months. The pair, Liz and Missy, has come to us from Oregon’s Wildlife Safari. By providing a temporary home for the girls, we are able to help the conservation breeding program by creating additional space for the next generation of offspring produced at Wildlife Safari. Between the two

Posted by: Karen Stevenson, Woodland Park Zoo Volunteer; additional contributions by Gretchen Albrecht, Zookeeper and Anna Martin, WPZ Volunteer Photo by Gretchen Albrecht/WPZ. Just a few weeks back, the memo came through. It read only, “They’re back!” “They” are barn swallows, Hirundo rustica , and we’re celebrating their return. Here in the Pacific Northwest, barn swallows are harbingers of spring’s longer, warmer days. Warmer days awaken long-dormant insects, and barn swallows—like most little insectivores—follow their food (mostly flies and mosquitos, but also beetles, bees, wasps and so on). They summer here, then when “summer” moves south, they do too, following available food all the way to northeastern South America and the Caribbean basin. Barn swallows are comfortable in our big cities, small towns, neighborhoods and farms. While other swallow species prefer to nest in natural structures hidden from view, such as cliffs or tree cavities, barn swallows build mud nes

Posted by: Gigi Allianic with Rebecca Whitham, Communications She’s got quills, they’re multiplying. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. The littlest new addition to Woodland Park Zoo is a female North American porcupine, born April 4 in our Northern Trail exhibit. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Porcupine babies, known as porcupettes (seriously), are born with a soft coat of quills that begins to harden within hours of birth. This immediately protects them from predators...and thick gloves immediately protect us from them! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Our porcupette was born to Molly and Oliver, both 3-year-old residents of Northern Trail. This is their second offspring. The baby has access all day and night to the porcupine exhibit, but for now prefers to spend most of her time exploring in a den behind the scenes. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo She grooms herself a lot and is experimenting with different solid foods, like this spec