Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor VIDEO: Tigers sniff and lick GoPro camera. Produced by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. It may be April Fool's Day, but this is no joke: tigers return to Woodland Park Zoo when the all new Banyan Wilds exhibit opens May 2! The tigers—three brothers named Liem, Olan and Eko— arrived last month from the Little Rock Zoo. Right now the brothers are in a standard 30-day period of quarantine where we monitor their health and establish training and care routines with them. This is a chance for them to acclimate to their new surroundings, get to know their new keepers, and settle in comfortably. Zoo photographer Ryan Hawk set up a GoPro camera in one of the tigers' behind-the-scenes quarantine areas to get this first footage of the coolest new stripes in town. A GoPro camera is set up in a behind-the-scenes quarantine area for the tigers to get up close video. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. We'll be sharing more and more

Posted by: Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Hop, skip and bounce to Woodland Park Zoo for egg hunts on the North Meadow and Easter-themed treats for the zoo’s animal residents at the 14th annual Bunny Bounce , Sat., April 4, 2015, 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. The spring event offers amazing egg hunts for children ages 1 to 8, crafts, bunny encounters, and eggs-citing zoo programs throughout the day. Space for egg hunts might be limited and is open on a first-come, first-served basis.As part of the zoo’s conservation mission, families must bring their own egg hunt basket or reusable bag. For the health and well-being of the zoo’s animals, candy will not be placed inside the eggs—egg hunt participants will receive their treats as they exit the zoo. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. While the kiddies hunt for eggs, the orangutans, meerkats, lions, and other wildlife residents will nibble on specially made Easter baskets lined with flower

Posted by: Stephanie Payne-Jacobs, Zookeeper Calaya enjoys organic flowers from the zoo's Rose Garden. Photo: Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Calaya joins the dating game As animal caretakers, the daily welfare of the gorillas is our highest priority, but looking ahead and planning for the future of each gorilla is just as important. Such long term plans may revolve around future breeding opportunities, socially appropriate groupings or age related concerns. At the heart of this planning is making sure we meet the mental and physical health of each individual, while also assuring the genetic sustainability and health of the population. Recently, Woodland Park Zoo had to say goodbye to a member of the gorilla family due to a match-making opportunity that we felt was in the gorilla’s best interest. In late February, Calaya, a young adult female gorilla from Vip’s group, was transferred to National Zoo in Washington D.C. as part of a breeding recommendation by the Speci

Story by Ariel Mark, mongabay.com contributor Originally published by mongabay.com ; republished in part via The Global Forest Reporting Network Habitat loss and illegal hunting are leading drivers behind mammal population decline and extinction in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. But what's driving these drivers? Road infrastructure, according to research. Dr. Reuben Clements* from James Cook University, along with his colleagues, conducted the first-ever comprehensive study examining the impacts of road infrastructure on mammal populations in Southeast Asia. Their findings were recently published in PLOS One . An elephant crosses State Road 156. Photo by Reuben Clements. Roads pose extreme environmental challenges, particularly for conservation efforts in the global south, where roads are often intertwined with economic growth and habitat degradation. From just 2005 to 2010, Southeast Asian landscapes saw an increase of total paved roads from 16 to 51 percent,

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Photo by Steve Winter/Panthera. UPDATE:  Wow! Thanks for showing your stripes for tigers—your online votes from earlier this week helped our on-the-ground conservation partner, MYCAT, win funding to expand anti-poaching patrols in Malaysia. It's amazing what we can do when we join forces as a community with partners in the field to fight for a better future for wildlife!  ORIGINAL STORY: Woodland Park Zoo and Panthera work together with on-the-ground partners in Malaysia to protect tigers and their forests— and now one of those partners needs your help! MYCAT (Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers) needs your vote to receive $30,000+ to expand its CAT Walks program , where trained volunteers trek through Malaysia’s rain forests looking for signs of poachers. Snares and traps are recorded, deactivated and reported to the authorities. A poacher's snare hidden in a tree. Photo: Fred Koontz/WPZ. CAT Walkers celebra

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Malayan tiger brothers Liem, Eko and Olan arrived from Little Rock Zoo via FedEx cargo shipping last night! The tigers in their travel crates were unloaded from the FedEx cargo plane at Sea-Tac Airport, then moved to a truck where they were loaded in for a quick trip to Woodland Park Zoo. Photo: Martin Ramirez/Woodland Park Zoo. Keepers picked up the boys at Sea-Tac Airport and brought them to their new digs here at Woodland Park Zoo. They'll be getting settled behind the scenes before the all new Banyan Wilds exhibit opens May 2. Two of the brothers at their previous home, Little Rock Zoo. Photo: Karen Caster/Little Rock Zoo. The tigers, each traveling in their own crate, were brought to a behind the scenes area at the zoo specialized for big cats. They were accompanied on their journey by their keepers from Little Rock Zoo who helped them settle in with us. One by one we unloaded the crates into the holding area, allowing the

Posted by: Snow Leopard Trust, a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife Editor’s note: The Snow Leopard Trust’s work in Kyrgyzstan is in collaboration with Woodland Park Zoo , with special support from Partnership Funding by Fondation Segré, managed by the Whitley Fund for Nature. Less than a year after launching a pilot program to fight poaching of endangered snow leopards and their prey in Kyrgyzstan, the Snow Leopard Trust and its partners are ‘going national’ to cover all 19 of the country’s state parks and nature reserves, thanks to a grant from the UK government’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. Wild snow leopard recorded by a remote camera. Photo courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust. The project, known as the Citizen-Ranger Wildlife Protection Program (CRWPP), trains, publicly honors, and financially rewards park rangers and local community members who successfully apprehend illegal hunters. It addresses one of the most persistent threats to snow leopards and the