Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood Note: Now that Washington schools will be closed statewide for the rest of the year, each Zoomazium to You post will include School Connections—a note on the academic skills addressed by each activity. These may be school readiness skills for very young children, or connections to Next Generation Science Standards or other statewide standards for early learners. Out in the forests and up on the mountaintops, this is the time of year bears are waking up. Wherever it’s cold and snowy, brown and black bears (the two species native to Washington) den up for the winter, snoozing through the season. When the snow starts to melt and the tasty spring seedlings sprout, they emerge into the sunlight to feast!  Photo courtesy of Western Wildlife Outreach. At the zoo, you’ll notice our brown bear brothers, Keema and Denali, slow down a lot during the winter, but they don’t curl up in a den and sleep for months at a time. Down here in the Puge

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications How do you prepare for a baby tapir’s (#SeattleWatermelon) home? There may not be any cabinet safety locks, electric outlet covers or furniture safety straps, but baby tapir-proofing an exhibit is done very carefully! This is our mom-to-be, Ulan. Unlike the dappled spots and stripes of a baby, adult tapirs are a more solid black and white. It takes a long time for a little watermelon to ripen! Pregnancy for a Malayan tapir lasts 13 months! Want to adopt a tapir? join our ZooParent program here https://www.zoo.org/zooparent/special In January, Woodland Park Zoo announced the joyful news that its Malayan tapir Ulan is expecting her first baby. The father is Bintang. And, starting now, the birth window has opened for Ulan. This means that animal care staff are closely observing the 8-year-old expectant mom for any unusual behaviors or signs of labor. Ulan’s due date is between April and June. Like human parents who put their hearts and

Posted by Katie Remine, Living Northwest Conservation Coordinator and Bobbi Miller, Wildlife Conservation Manager Just because we’re practicing physical distancing, doesn’t mean we can’t do our bit for wildlife and the great outdoors! There are still plenty of ways you can engage in conservation actions right from your living room or backyard. Woodland Park Zoo’s Wildlife Conservation staff invite you to join them as a wildlife conservationist with these five activities you can do from the comfort of your couch (or hammock)! A Seattle Urban Carnivore Project motion sensor remote camera documents a group of raccoons in the greater Seattle region. Photo courtesy of Seattle Urban Carnivore Project / Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle University. 1) Report your sightings of urban carnivores Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle University’s Seattle Urban Carnivore Project explores how mammalian carnivores, such as coyotes, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, and even cougars and bears live and inte

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