Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Daphne Matter, ZooCorps Intern Get ready for a day at Woodland Park Zoo that’s packed with action... climate action! Climate Action Day is an awesome (and informative) event that will take place on July 19th from 3:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. at the zoo and will be led by the ZooCorps Climate Action Team, a branch of Woodland Park Zoo’s teen volunteer program dedicated to inspiring change in our community through focused actions combating climate change. It is a completely youth-led event, as teens and children are the future of our world. ZooCorps and the Otter Spotter project. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, Woodland Park Zoo. This day will be an excellent opportunity for all ages to learn about specific and simple actions that can make change. Everyone can make an impact on the environment, no matter who you are, and we will focus on ensuring that impact is a positive one. We will work on how to build positive habits through realistic and sustainable practices tha

Posted by Daphne Matter, ZooCorps Intern Woodland Park Zoo staff are pledging to reduce or refuse single-use plastics during Plastic Free July! With support from Seattle Public Utilities, we are inviting you to join us by taking the Plastic Free for Me pledge.  Already ditched plastic bottles, straws and plastic bags? Think you are already single-use plastic free as can be? We bet there are ways you can do even more this month. We challenge you to confess to your single-use plastic habit and pledge to do one more thing during July: www.zoo.org/plasticfreeforme Every action, no matter how small, adds up to a huge impact when we all do our part. We think it's amazing how you are making a difference for wildlife! Photo of river otter by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo. We all have a less-than-awesome history when it comes to single-use plastics. Confess one way you have used plastics unsustainably or a single-use plastic habit that's especially hard for

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications This summer, Woodland Park Zoo is celebrating a very special birthday: Our Historic Carousel, which has been at the zoo since 2006, turns 100 years old! We love that this grand piece of cultural history has been part of so many special moments for our guests, and we hope it will be part of many more to come. Woodland Park Zoo Historic Carousel. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo The carousel, which features hand-carved horses and two chariots, was first constructed in 1918 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company and was only the 45th of its kind to be made. It has previously operated at the Cincinnati Zoo and the Great America Theme Park in Santa Clara, California. Eighteen years ago, Linda and Tom Allen, Candy Allen-Whitney and Thomas Allen and the Alleniana Foundation purchased the carousel and generously donated it to the zoo in the hope that generations of families would have the opportunity to experience a celebrated piece of A

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications For the first time in nearly three decades, we are celebrating the birth of red pandas: twin cubs born on June 19 to 2-year-old mom Hazel and 13-year-old dad Yukiko. The twins are the first offspring for Hazel while Yukiko has had offspring before he arrived at Woodland Park Zoo four years ago. Video: Red panda twins receive a quick health check from veterinary staff: https://youtu.be/XRlEBfQth9s The cubs are both girls, weighing in at 5 ounces each, confirmed during a neonatal exam. The zoo veterinary team says the twins are appropriate weights — a good indicator they are healthy and nursing. "We will continue to perform health check-ups periodically, particularly during the first several weeks, for weight monitoring, vaccinations, and critical blood and fecal sampling,” says Dr. Darin Collins. Both Hazel and Yukiko have been living off-view indoor and outdoors. Hazel gave birth in an indoor, climate-controlled den where sh

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications Seattle’s tallest baby is now Seattle’s tallest 1 year old giraffe! Happy birthday Lulu! We love you! Sometimes you CAN have your cake and eat it too! Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo The birthday girl and her animal keepers celebrated the occasion with a specially-made giraffe cake: an ice fruit cake adorned with an assortment of her favorite treats, leaves, and leaf eater biscuits with her name carved out of apple slices and the centerpiece #1 carved out of sweet potato. Delicious and nutritious! A cake fit for a giraffe. Photo by John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo.  Dad Dave, mom Tufani and aunt Olivia were all there to “help” her eat her cake! In September, Lulu will be old enough to move to a new zoo where she could eventually start her own family. Her future home will be Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska. This move is part of a recommendation made by the Giraffe Species Survival Plan, a conservation b

Editor’s note: Morgan Jensen is a high school senior at Bear Creek High School in Redmond, Washington. Morgan completed his graduating Capstone project as a community affairs intern at Woodland Park Zoo. Next month, he is heading to South Carolina, where he'll begin college at The Citadel. Morgan spots carnivores often in his backyard in east King County, and thinks it's pretty cool. Posted by Morgan Jensen, Community Affairs Intern The City of Issaquah and Woodland Park Zoo have something in common: each provide an opportunity to see many great animals up close. Surrounded on three sides by forested mountains and Lake Sammamish to the north, the Issaquah area is also home to abundant wildlife, including some of Washington’s most charismatic carnivores: black bears, coyotes, bobcats, and cougars. While sharing space with these animals has potential to lead to conflict, residents can take many actions to ensure a peaceful coexistence with carnivores. This is where the

Posted by: Elizabeth Bacher, Staff Writer Meet Papú, our newest and smallest ambassador-in-training.  Hello Papú! Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/ Woodland Park Zoo Ambassador animals have an important role at Woodland Park Zoo—they allow visitors to have up-close experiences and serve as catalysts for educating about their species. By interacting with them, we learn more about their wild cousins. We learn more about ourselves and our impacts on the ecosystem. We are moved to protect them and the wild spaces they represent. Simply put, we love them and they inspire us to make conservation a priority in our lives. It’s a big responsibility. What does it take to become an ambassador—to fulfill such an important role connecting people to wildlife? The answers to these big questions can often be found in the littlest places—and in this case, an egg barely the size of a ping-pong ball. The tiny egg came to Woodland Park Zoo from Sacramento Zoo, where its parents were not able