Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor If "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" is your holiday jam, brace yourself: this is as close as it gets! This Fri., Nov. 20, head to the Zookeepers' Holiday Silent Auction to bid on a chance to go behind the scenes with 15-year-old female hippo Guadalupe to create your very own hippo-kiss painting. Photos: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. With a mouth that can open to a massive 150 degrees and lips that are 2 feet wide, a hippo's kiss is unforgettable. As you can imagine, it's not always easy to make a hippo-kiss painting. But don't worry, we've got a how-to guide for that: Video: How to make hippo kisses (the definitive how-to guide) The silent auction is held by the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers. Along with the hippo kiss painting experience, this year’s auction will feature extraordinary experiences found only at the zoo, including opportunities to pa

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Photos by: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren knows a thing or two about patience and perseverance—being the zoo’s official photographer he is well versed in, well, waiting. Waiting for the light to open up, waiting for the lemur to jump, waiting for the rain to stop, and waiting for the crowds to clear. Then the shutter clicks and we all reap the rewards. But you don’t have to wait for fabulous photography because autumn is here and now is the perfect time to bring your camera to the zoo. With golden orange light cascading from crisp leaves, a rainbow of changing foliage and long, beautiful shadows dancing across zoo grounds, November is an ideal time for photographers of all skill levels to visit the zoo. Jeremy joined us in his official capacity as staff photographer in August of this year, although he had been a volunteer photographer for three years prior. Here he gives us some pro tips on making the

Posted by: Bruce W. Bohmke, Acting President and CEO November marks a yearly turning point as fall unleashes its contribution to the cycle of life, and along with it the certainty of change. As we prepare to close out the year and begin anew, I can tell you that we are thriving in the midst of change. Since becoming acting president and CEO in June, I have been impressed by the resolve of our staff and board to continue dreaming big. My focus is to ensure continuity in the delivery of our mission while also evolving the zoo of the future, as guided by six goals in our strategic plan and our Long-Range Physical Development plan. A Board Search Committee, aided by the executive search firm Spencer Stuart, is scouring the nation for the best, next zoo leader. I’m confident that excellent candidates will find irresistible our large and loyal membership, educational and conservation impact, and reputation as a standard setter in naturalistic exhibit design and animal care. We antic

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor with Gigi Allianic, Communications A wolverine is caught on camera as it approaches a noninvasive hair snare designed to snag a hair that can be used for DNA testing. Photo: Robert Long/Woodland Park Zoo. To study elusive wolverines in the wild, you need to know where they occur. To figure out where they occur, you need wolverines to trigger remote research cameras. To get wolverines to trigger the cameras, you need to attract them with a strong scent, which naturally fades after two to four weeks. To keep that scent refreshed after it fades, you need to hike into backcountry terrain with deep snow and dangerous avalanche conditions in the winter— and that’s where it gets tricky . Senior conservation fellow Robert Long installs a new device that could revolutionize his wolverine research in the Northwest. Photo: Roger Christophersen. Extreme winter conditions can make the small but critical task of refreshing scent lures or baits difficu

Posted by: Jenny Mears, Education Advanced Inquiry Program students reflecting on their experience in Northwest Wildlife Conservation, a regional field course in which students traveled to the Oregon coast to meet with stakeholders in the Oregon silverspot butterfly conservation program.  Interested in pursuing your degree through the Advanced Inquiry Program ? Join us for an informational forum on November 17 or January 21. The Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) is an exciting Master’s degree offered by Woodland Park Zoo in partnership with Project Dragonfly at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. This program is designed for a broad range of professionals from education, conservation, business, and government settings, and offers a groundbreaking graduate degree focused on inquiry-driven learning as a powerful agent for social and ecological change. The Advanced Inquiry Program combines graduate courses at the zoo with web-based courses, and provides students with hands-on, rea

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor with Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, Communications Nadiri, our 19-year-old, soon-to-be mother, rests on some hay inside the gorilla exhibit. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. And now the watch begins. Gorilla Nadiri could give birth any day now. Last night kicked off the round-the-clock birth watch so we have eyes on the pregnant gorilla at all hours of the day. Volunteers Harry, right, and Sue, far left, receive some last-minute guidance and refreshers from keeper Judy, center, before the start of the shift. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Zoo volunteers head in for their shifts nightly, monitoring the expectant mom overnight via a closed circuit camera. During the shifts, volunteers collect data and look for any telltale signs in her behavior that would indicate the onset of labor. A gorilla keeper is on call each night to respond if Nadiri goes into labor overnight. A keeper thumbs through paperwork the b

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren There is a new billy goat in town and his name is Albert. Hey, Albert! Albert, a young male Rocky Mountain goat, made his debut on the Northern Trail on October 27th. His sure-footedness and intuitive climbing abilities makes him perfectly adapted to his new home on the high rocky outcrop of the exhibit. We think Albert's woolly coat is quite striking against this mossy backdrop. Albert was born in May of 2014 at Calgary Zoo where he lived until moving to Seattle. He now joins the ranks with the oldest mountain goat in North America,  our 20 year old female, CK, who was born here at Woodland Park Zoo. At a year and half old, Albert is much younger than his woolly friend, so keepers are refraining from putting them together (think pre-teen and great, great grandmother). While they are not on exhibit together, they have visual and vocal access to each other in the barn and seem to get alo