Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood Among the things our early learners are missing (for now) is close contact with their extended families. There’s nothing like a storybook read by Granddad or an outing with their coolest Auntie to make a youngster’s day special!  Our gorillas are a great example of the importance of extended family in the lives of little ones. New mom Uzumma is doing an incredible job with her newborn son, and that’s certainly thanks in part to the attentive care she had throughout her early life from her mother, Amanda. And when that little one gets a little older, he and his mom will have plenty of support from their extended, blended family—and will likely be providing support themselves!  Little Yola, exploring a spring day. Uzumma’s example of excellent infant care will benefit four-year-old Yola as she grows up. Her own mother, Nadiri, didn’t know what to do when Yola was first born, having been keeper-reared as a newborn due to her own m

Editor's note:   Clare’s reading of this wonderful story is courtesy of the fine folks at  Lerner Publishing Group  and will be available for you to watch and share until Sept 30, 2020. We will remove the link to this video after the 30th of September, 2020, thanks for understanding. Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications Yola in 2016. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Looking for a way to keep your little ones entertained while learning from home? How about joining us for a Growing Up Gorilla read-aloud story time! You may know about the new addition to our western lowland gorilla family—a baby boy born to first-time mother Uzumma and silverback Kwame . Uzumma is a great mom, no doubt thanks to skills passed down from her own attentive mother. But what happens when a mother gorilla doesn’t know how to care for her baby? Nadiri and Yola in 2016. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Seattle author Clare Meeker spent more than two years d

Posted by Janel Kempf, Early Childhood Music and dance are important to so many people, in cultures all around the world. We use it to express joy and sorrow, to deepen our connections to our culture and nature, and even to learn. Animals around the world and all over the zoo use music and dance in their daily lives as well—and at the zoo, some of them are hard not to notice! Siamang pair Bagus and Sam live in the Trail of Vines near the Malayan tapir and the orangutans, but can be heard well outside of zoo grounds when they really put their hearts into singing duets. Their complex song is an important pair-bonding activity for these small apes, and in their native habitat lets other siamang pairs know their territory is already taken.   Pair bonding is a common purpose in the animal world for dancing, too—just like it can be for people! Not far from Bagus and Sam, in the Assam Rhino Reserve, a beautiful bird couple may have caught your eye. They’re demoiselle cranes Louis and Anto

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Just in time for World Penguin Day on April 25th... we are proud to announce the hatching of a pair of Humboldt penguin chicks! The first chick hatched on April 3 to mom Rosie and dad Leo, and their second chick hatched three days later. The parents have produced seven other chicks together from previous breeding seasons. Video:  https://youtu.be/gYN3LLbP4GA The new chicks represent the 73rd and 74th successful hatchings of Humboldt penguins at the zoo since its first breeding season in 2010, which was a year after the zoo opened the penguin habitat. With the new additions, the zoo’s colony currently consists of 41 penguins. “Being playful, curious and charismatic, penguins are a favorite for our guests, and we can’t wait to share the new penguin family with our community,” says Mark Myers, bird curator at Woodland Park Zoo. “Every chick produced in our colony is an important addition

Posted by Tany Holzworth, Learning and Innovation Woodland Park Zoo volunteers are at the heart of our mission to save wildlife and inspire everyone to make conservation a priority in their lives. These animal lovers make local impacts with global waves! Our volunteers use their unique skills to ignite hope and action for conservation in our community. During National Volunteer Week, April 19-25, we want to thank all of our volunteers for sharing their passion and talent with our zoo community. To our volunteers, we appreciate you, we value you, and we miss you.  Though we can’t possibly illustrate the scope of diversity and richness of our volunteer community in a single blog post, we've asked a few of our volunteers to share highlights of their experiences at Woodland Park Zoo and why they choose to volunteer with us. To celebrate National Volunteer Week, we hope these stories make it clear just how vital volunteers are to our mission. Let's applaud our volunteers

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