Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Stephen Reed, Communications Woodland Park Zoo is celebrating Earth Day from home this year. April 22, 2020 marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, an incredible milestone for a day dedicated to protecting the planet and celebrating nature. How are you planning to celebrate Earth Day this year?  While we aren’t able to celebrate with all of you in person, we hope you will join us in some of the following activities that can help protect our planet and inspire a connection with the incredible animals who share our home. Happy Earth Day! Uzumma and her newborn. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgre/ Woodland Park Zoo Here are a few ways to get Earthy with us... Join Woodland Park Zoo on April 22, for a virtual Town Hall presented by Amazon.  This Earth Day, chat live with zoo experts and hear inspiring stories of how we’ll do anything for animals, even while we’re closed. We want to connect you directly with zoo staff who, even during this unprecedented time, are con

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood We’ve all been home for a while now, and some of us are starting to get a little antsy. For those of us with a houseful of early learners (and just one early learner can be a houseful!), getting a little antsy probably started around day two. Just like growing bodies need new clothes on a regular basis, growing brains need new experiences just as regularly.  We’re not the only smart species in need of lots and lots of sensory input! Ambassador Animal Lucy is a raccoon, a super-smart and curious critter. If you’ve ever had the good luck to see Lucy working with her keepers at the zoo’s Alvord Broadleaf Theater behind Zoomazium, you’ve probably seen her recycle—gathering up objects and putting them in a recycling bin. One of the most delightful things about this behavior is that she does it with her hands! A raccoon’s hands (okay, technically their front paws) are incredible tools, similar in many ways to our own hands. And they are very

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood Editors note: While Woodland Park Zoo is temporarily closed to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in our community, our staff and educators want to share a few ways you can connect young learners to nature and nature play... and what better way than to bring Zoomazium to you! Each week, we'll add an activity to this blog to help your family create innovative and educational play time at home. For more information about activities for families, visit  zoo.org/zootoyou . This week, enjoy some more time with the birds... We know you miss all your favorite zoo animals—and we know there are plenty of you who especially miss the birds. From Lola the aplomado falcon to Gomez the Humboldt penguin to Mbuni the ostrich, we have as many wildly different birds as there are people to love them! Sweet little chickadee! Photo via  https://www.flickr.com/photos/seabamirum/ If you have young bird lovers at home missing their feathered

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications with Judy Sievert, Gorilla Keeper Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo We’re so excited to share another update with you on western lowland gorilla Uzumma and her baby who was born just a little more than three weeks ago on March 4 . This past week has been an exciting time for our gorilla family with milestones big and small. But even the smallest of actions, like Kwame tenderly touching his son’s foot for the first time, makes our hearts soar… and Uzumma continues to settle into motherhood like a pro. Gorilla keeper Judy Sievert tells us that Uzumma is one of the most nurturing and attentive gorilla mothers we have ever seen at Woodland Park Zoo. This comes as no surprise to us as her mom, Amanda, was an exceptional mother to her. Uzumma’s nurturing behavior is not only amazing for her baby, but also a wonderful example for a couple of the other females in the group who one day might be mamas too. Since Uzumma was

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood Editors note: While Woodland Park Zoo is temporarily closed to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in our community, our staff and educators want to share a few ways you can connect young learners to nature and nature play... and what better way than to bring Zoomazium to you! Each week, we'll add an activity to this blog to help your family create innovative and educational play time at home. For information about our temporary closure please visit zoo.org/health . Enjoy these relaxing springtime bug salutations! Springtime bug time! Photo by Gianni via Flickr While we’re all helping our neighbors by staying home, some of our most important neighbors are hard at work just outside our doors—bugs!  It’s springtime, and there are millions of insects, spiders, worms and other invertebrates (animals without backbones) doing their own special jobs. They might be flying from one early flower to another, pollinating as they go.

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren Agoutis are rodents native to South America, and the new pups mark the first birth of the species for Woodland Park Zoo. Welcome to the world wee ones! A pair of red-rumped agoutis (rhymes with cutie) were born March 18 at Woodland Park Zoo to 2-year-old mom Nutella and 3-year-old dad John Agouti. The new pups mark the first birth of the species—which is part of the rodent family—at the zoo. “We will determine the sex of the pups when they are 1 month old, when we do a complete physical exam to assess their health and ensure they are growing well,” says Dr. Tim Storms, an associate veterinarian at Woodland Park Zoo. Sniff, sniff, sniff. Agoutis have a keen sense of smell, which comes in handy for a small rodent that needs to sniff out food and look out for predators Unlike many small rodents which are born hairless and with eyes closed, newborn agoutis have fur and can see right from birth. “The p

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood Editors note: While Woodland Park Zoo is temporarily closed to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in our community, our staff and educators want to share a few ways you can connect young learners to nature and nature play... and what better way than to bring Zoomazium to you! Each week, we'll add an activity to this blog to help your family create innovative and educational play time at home. For information about our temporary closure please visit zoo.org/health . Can't wait to see examples of your own Creature Feature! Have you been to a Creature Feature? One of our favorite daily activities in Zoomazium is Creature Feature, a fun puppet story followed by a visit from an Ambassador Animal. While the zoo is temporarily closed, our dedicated animal keepers are still hard at work giving these creatures the very best care. Your favorites like Obi the ball python, Bolivar the red-footed tortoise, and all the other anima