SEATTLE—While Seattle only got a dusting of snow, Woodland Park Zoo’s new cubs—a female brown bear named Juniper and a female grizzly bear named Fern—had fun today (November 29, 2022) exploring the light winter wonderland. Juniper especially loved catching snowflakes on her little pink tongue!
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SEATTLE—Woodland Park Zoo’s new brown bear cub is beating the heat with an ice treat in a kiddie pool! The female cub was recently rescued from Anchorage, Alaska where she was found without her mom. The zoo, who has the expertise and facility, is providing a permanent home for her.
The cub, who remains nameless and is 6 months old, is temporarily living off public view while she settles in. She’s learning her new routine well and learning the cues from the bear keepers. She’s currently eating protein, kibble, greens, an assortment of fruits and veggies and formula from a bowl. As she grows, she’ll be transitioned off formula and to a seasonal diet. She currently weighs approximately 100 pounds.
Stay tuned for more updates on the cub at: www.zoo.org/brownbear
Credit for video and photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo
Zoo takes in orphaned brown bear cub from Alaska “Sassy” cub temporarily living in non-public area
SEATTLE—Woodland Park Zoo is beary excited to welcome an orphaned brown bear cub to its home and family. The female cub, who currently weighs 89 pounds, was found roaming alone on an air force base near Anchorage, Alaska. She traveled via Alaska Air Cargo and arrived at the zoo July 13.
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Four-month-old Woodland Park Zoo sloth bear siblings, Mudhu (muh-DOO) and Lila (LEE-lah) sleep snuggled together in the spring sunshine under the protective gaze of their mom, Kushali.
In honor of #GiveBIG, enjoy this footage of Kushali and her cubs napping in springtime bliss!
In the wild, sloth bears live in forested grasslands, where they use their superior sense of smell to find ant and termite colonies beneath the ground. Once found, they wield their three-inch long claws to break them open before slurping up the delicious insects with the powerful suction force of their mouths.
Your GiveBIG gift helps create habitats that engage all of these natural behaviors—from digging, to slurping, to climbing on Woodland Park Zoo'ss newly updated tree structure, so that mom, Kushali, can teach her cubs everything they need to know to be a well-rounded member of the sloth bear community.
If you are able, please consider making a gift today to help ensure this kind of world-class care for all the animals who call Woodland Park Zoo home! https://www.wagives.org/organization/woodland-park-zoo
SEATTLE—Just in time for Earth Day, the names for Woodland Park Zoo’s brother and sister sloth bear cubs are in!
Drum roll, please…the name for the boy sloth bear cub is Madhu (muh-DOO), which means “sweet, honey,” and Lila (LEE-lah), which means “play, amusement.” Both names are Hindi to represent India, one of several countries where sloth bears live.
MORE PHOTOS BELOW THE FOLD!
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Cubs mark the first successful birth for mom
SEATTLE—The 2022 New Year started with an auspicious beginning for Woodland Park Zoo: the birth of twin sloth bears! The cubs—a boy and a girl—were born on New Year’s Day and marked the first birth at the zoo for the year.
The cubs, who are unnamed at this time, were born to first-time mom Kushali (kuu-SHAW-lee) and dad Bhutan (boo-TAHN). This is the second litter of cubs for Bhutan and the first successful birth for Kushali, who was born in 2012 at Woodland Park Zoo. The last birth of sloth bears at the zoo was in 2017.
Sloth bears in zoos are rare, with only 34 currently living in zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Every birth of sloth bears is significant for the Sloth Bear Species Survival Plan. Species Survival Plans are cooperative breeding programs across accredited zoos to help ensure healthy, genetically diverse, self-sustaining populations of select species or subspecies.
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Happy 1st birthday to Woodland Park Zoo’s littlest gorilla girl! She’s the one with the birthday, Saturday January 29, but YOU get the gift of this delightful little mashup featuring some of Zuna’s (and half-brother Kitoko’s) best moves!
Get the scoop on this little love: https://bit.ly/BirthdayGirlZuna
To learn more about WPZoo's youngsters, visit: https://www.zoo.org/growingupgorilla
To learn more about how you can help protect endangered gorillas, check out https://www.zoo.org/savinggorillas
World, meet Ande! Woodland Park Zoo’s baby Southern pudu, a male born in July, officially has a name. While Ande may be one of the world’s smallest deer, he’s actually named after the second-highest mountain range in the world—the Andes Mountains! It’s also where pudu like Ande are native to.
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Today is World Gorilla Day (it’s September 24) and this is the perfect time for an update on the youngest member of Woodland Park Zoo’s western lowland gorilla family—Zuna!
Little Zuna is nearly 8 months old right now and is doing great! She weighs around 11 ½ pounds now, which is double her birth weight. Zuna continues to become more and more active and while mama Nadiri tends to keep her close, she is on the move whenever she gets the chance. Sometimes, when Nadiri is trying to get some rest (because being a gorilla mama is a 24/7 job!) Zuna uses that time to venture out a bit—climbing or toddling around. She still takes bottles from the gorilla keepers a few times a day but is trying lots of solid foods now too, including cucumber, yams, carrots and a special fortified biscuit. She also loves to forage for any fruit rinds and extra tidbits of food that Nadiri drops as she eats her meals.
Continue reading "Zuna And Yola's Adorable Play Sesh!" »
Baby Gorilla
Visitors to Woodland Park Zoo are oohing and aahing as they catch their first sightings of baby girl gorilla, Zuna (zoo-nah). The 11 week old is now with her mom and family in the public outdoor habitat on a limited schedule: 12:30-3:30 p.m. daily (weather dependent).
Zuna, which means “sweet” in the African language, Lingala (lin-gah-lah), is the second baby for 25-year-old mom Nadiri (naw-DEER-ee) and the first between her and the dad, 21-year-old Kwame (KWA-may).
“We continue to bottle feed Zuna for her nourishment while mom Nadiri provides maternal care. She’s doing an excellent job. Once Zuna’s feedings are reduced, we’ll be able to extend her time outdoors,” said Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo.
The baby gorilla is becoming more active and steadily becoming stronger and more observant. “Zuna’s watching the other gorillas in her family with growing curiosity. Kitoko, our 1-year-old boy, is especially interested in her,” said Ramirez. “Once Zuna becomes more mobile, our zoo visitors are going to be in for a real treat watching these youngsters romp and play. As symbols of hope for their cousins in the wild, our gorillas can inspire our community to care about and take action on behalf of these gentle giants and other wildlife.”
The other members of Zuna’s family are: Nadiri’s 5-year-old daughter, Yola, Akenji and Uzumma, the mom of Kitoko.
Stay tuned to updates and milestones by visiting zoo.org/growingupgorilla and following the zoo’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. #GrowingUpGorilla.
Every visit to Woodland Park Zoo supports conservation of animals in the wild. Join the zoo by recycling old cell phones and other used handheld electronics through ECO-CELL to help preserve gorilla habitat. Funds generated from ECO-CELL support the Mondika Gorilla Project and Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
ZooParent adoptions are the perfect way to pay tribute to Zuna. ZooParent adoptions help Woodland Park Zoo provide exceptional care for all of its amazing animals and support wildlife conservation efforts in the Pacific Northwest and around the world.
Baby Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo
Woodland Park Zoo is jumping for joey over its 8-month-old Matschie’s tree kangaroo! The male joey (a baby marsupial), born last August to mom Omari and dad Rocket, is just beginning to venture outside the safety of his mom’s pouch. To the surprise of no one, he’s positively precious.
The 2-pound joey is named Havam (hay-vam) which is the word for “tree kangaroo” in one of the many languages of the YUS Conservation Area in Papua New Guinea, home to wild but endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroos. YUS is home to Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program, whose amazing work for the people and wildlife of Papua New Guinea would not be possible without support from donors and organizations like the Shared Earth Foundation, which ensures that all creatures have an enduring claim to sustainable space on this planet.
This joey’s journey may surprise you: Tree kangaroos are born hairless, blind and only the size of a jelly bean. In order to survive, the joey must quickly crawl from the birth canal, through its mother’s fur and into her pouch to immediately start nursing. At first, Havam did get a little bit too eager to make his debut, explains animal keeper Beth Carlyle-Askew.
“Havam exited Omari’s pouch a little early — we actually had to put him back in to finish growing for a few more months. Luckily an animal keeper saw him outside the pouch and knew exactly what to do. She kept him warm by putting him in her shirt, then put him in a fabric pouch with a heated pad until he could be returned to Omari’s pouch,” said Carlyle-Askew.
As each day passes, little Havam is familiarizing himself with the world around him. He makes short trips out of the pouch to explore his new home, but he still prefers the warmth and safety of Omari’s pouch. When he’s not nursing, Havam is starting to try solid foods, sampling all of his mom’s food to figure out what he likes best. He’s even been learning to climb up and around his enclosure! At 14 months old, Havam will wean from nursing and eventually become fully independent.
Havam is the third joey for dad Rocket, who fathered Havam’s half-siblings Ecki and Keweng, born to the zoo’s other female tree kangaroo Elanna in 2018 and 2020, respectively. This is the fourth joey for Omari, who had three other joeys at Santa Fe Teaching Zoo before coming to live at Woodland Park Zoo. All of the zoo’s tree kangaroos are currently living in a habitat that is off view to the public.
Woodland Park Zoo is home to the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program that is working to protect the endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroo and help maintain the unique biodiversity of its native Papua New Guinea in balance with the culture and needs of the people who live there. Consider supporting the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program here: www.zoo.org/tkcp/donate.