Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Ryan Driscoll, Lead Learning Facilitator, Woodland Park Zoo Are you passionate about conservation? Do you want to learn more about environmental issues and take action? Are you looking for ways to engage with your community about subjects that matter? You should consider the Advanced Inquiry Program at Woodland Park Zoo. Miami University's Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) is an exciting web-based master’s degree program that includes experiential learning and field study offered at Woodland Park Zoo. As an advisor and facilitator of the program, I often get asked who this program is for and what types of projects students do. As we start recruitment for the 2021 cohort, I couldn’t think of a better way to highlight the diverse array of professions, interests, and projects that this program supports than to let some of our current students share some of their experiences. I hope you leave as inspired as I always am when working with students in this program! If you

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications Photos and video by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren Kitoko, seen here with mom Uzumma, is 6 months old now.  It’s time for an update on our wonderful western lowland gorilla family, with the latest scoop from dedicated gorilla keepers, Stephanie and Judy! We wanted to start with the newest family member, little Kitoko. The 6-month-old baby boy—born to Uzumma and Kwame on March 4—is doing great and keeping his mama on her toes. You may recall that he was injured in a family scuffle several months ago, but he has recovered from that and continues to be right on track with physical and developmental milestones. 6-month-old Kitoko is bright-eyed and curious. He can often be seen reaching for and grasping everything he can get his hands on, including pieces of solid food that Uzumma may have dropped.  Bright-eyed and curious about everything around him, our awesome gorilla keepers tell us Kitoko seems to already recognize his name—looking tow

Posted by Meghan Sawyer, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo World, meet Keweng (kay-wing), or “Kay” as she is affectionately nicknamed for short!  This sweet female Matschie’s tree kangaroo, born to mom Elanna and dad Rocket in January, is named after a village in the YUS Conservation Area (YUS) in Papua New Guinea. YUS is home to Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program , and Keweng is one of the main villages in YUS. “Keweng is the home of Mambawe Manauno, the first landowner and former tree kangaroo hunter, who showed me tree kangaroos for the very first time in 1996,” explains TKCP founder and Director Lisa Dabek, PhD (also WPZ’s Senior Conservation Scientist). “Manauno was also the 2003 recipient of the Woodland Park Zoo Conservation Award. It’s so great to be able to pay tribute to his work with the naming of this special joey.” Day by day, little Keweng is becoming more familiar with the world around her. She was

Posted by Gigi Allianic Hello, snowy owl chick! Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo We're so excited to welcome a pair of snowy owl chicks to our zoo family, and these youngsters are all eyes! The last hatching of the species at Woodland Park Zoo’s was nine years ago. These owlets join the host of animals born or hatched at the zoo since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic including: a tawny frogmouth chick, a tapir calf, a gorilla baby, agouti pups, penguin chicks, scaly-sided merganser ducklings, a pudu fawn, a mountain goat kid, and more!  I see you! Snowy owl chicks, known as owlets, are covered in greyish down. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo First-time parents, mom June and dad Dusty, and their brood live in the Northern Trail habitat. “Mom sits on the nest most of the time, a sign of good maternal care. The owlets are beginning to venture outside the nest, so visitors may have the chance to see them on the ground,” said Kevin

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo This turtle-y awesome class of 2020 gets a head start on life! Washington state’s population of endangered western pond turtles will be bolstered when Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Woodland Park Zoo release close to 29 turtles next month to the wild at local protected sites. The turtles are a part of the collaborative Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project , a head start program initiated in 1991. It is Washington state’s longest-running species reintroduction project. Juvenile western pond turtles at Woodland Park Zoo are prepared to be released to the wild in August.  Each spring, WDFW biologists go in the field to attach transmitters to adult female western pond turtles and monitor them every few hours during the nesting season to locate nesting sites; the nests are protected from predators with wire exclosure cages. A portion of the eggs are col

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communications We've had a very productive spring and summer here at Woodland Park Zoo with the births and hatchings of so many little ones. The newest addition to our baby boom is a tawny frogmouth chick! The new chick represents the 38th frogmouth hatched at the zoo since the species’ first hatching in 2009. The zoo is currently home to seven adult tawny frogmouths. A newly hatched tawny frogmouth chick looks just like a white cotton ball.  Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Tawny frogmouths are nocturnal birds native to Australia. During the day, they perch on tree branches, using their cryptic camouflage to blend into their environment. The plumage of the tawny frogmouth is silver-gray, slightly paler below, streaked and mottled with black and rufous. Frogmouths are often mistaken as owls; although they have many habits similar to owls, they are actually more closely related to nightjars and whip-poor-wills, and do not have the s

Posted by Elizabeth Bacher, Communications A spur-winged lapwing chick stands next to one of its parents. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Say hello to the newest members of our zoo family. These young birds that look like cotton balls on stilts are spur-winged lapwing chicks. The name is quite a big mouthful for such little cuties … and their hatching is a first for this species here at Woodland Park Zoo. Their sexes haven’t been determined yet. Spur-winged lapwings are all legs—as seen here on this chick. Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo Spur-winged lapwings are wading birds that can be found on the shores of a variety of habitats including marshes, mudflats and lakes. In nature, this species is native to the sub-Saharan belt across central Africa but are also found in some Middle Eastern and east Mediterranean countries, including Turkey. While not endangered, this species does face threats from loss of their wetland habitats related to