Results tagged “woodlandparkzoo”

        

Woodland Park zookeepers tossed soccer balls to some of their charges last Wednesday to commemorate the first round of the MLS Cup Playoff Western Conference Semifinals, which ended, of course, in a lame tie. The Sounders better win Sunday or AMY GET MAD!! Regardless, check out the 15-year-old, 850-pound grizzly brothers, Keema and Denali, demolishing the hapless balls while five-month-old snow leopard cubs Gobi and Batu and the zoo’s Humboldt penguins take a more friendly, frisky approach. The soccer balls are part of the zoo’s animal enrichment program which aims to promote natural animal behavior and keep the animals mentally stimulated.

Once again, mosquitoes have ruined our summer. On Tuesday, one of the older penguins at Woodland Park Zoo died of avian malaria, the vets think, which relies on mosquitoes to do its dirty work (it's not transmissible penguin-to-penguin or penguin-to-human).

The Tillamook County Creamery Association 100th Anniversary Celebration at the Woodland Park Zoo.

• Out of the gate from the 12 post position, Assessment (6-1) won Sunday's 74th running of the Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs. The top race brought in $796,268 worth of wagers, a single-race record.
• Finally, the Woodland Park Zoo's male snow leopard has a name: Gobi. Regardless of what 35,000 people wanted, we still think a Thundercats-inspired name would have been so much cooler.

We're sad to report that one of the Woodland Park Zoo's Humboldt penguins has died. The 18-year-old male, Chiquito, formerly of Chicago's Brookfield Zoo, "died after a brief illness related to the ingestion of a sealant material used in a concealed pipe in the exhibit’s pool." No need to worry about the exhibit's other penguins--zoo staff have since located and removed the loose pieces of sealant, and two other penguins with similar (but less severe) symptoms are being closely monitored and show no signs of GI blockage. This is exactly why we need universal healthcare, people. Pour one out for Chiquito tonight.

Now thanks to the Woodland Park Zoo, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project, there's a few more of these wee turtles in the wild.

We've been following the young lives of the Woodland Park Zoo's once ittty-bitty twin snow leopard cubs born May 25. The spotted white fluff balls have gotten big enough that they are scheduled to make their public debut on August 15, the zoo-dubbed International White Snow Leopard Day.

Look at that face! In the above video, the now six-week-old Woodland Park Zoo snow leopard cubs undergo another vet exam, complete with their first vaccinations and deworming. Awwwwww. There's only one little baby "peep" in the video (at 0:42), but you have to watch till the end to see the cubs trying their first solid food, chicken.

ADORABLE: The Fourth of July is a great excuse for you to eat, so why should it be any different for the adorable little critters down at Woodland Park Zoo? Today and tomorrow are the "Red, White and Zoo" days at Woodland Park, when all the animals get to have a picnic lunch with watermelon, corn on the cob, and popsicles. And be adorable! The fun's actually started already today (see here for the schedule of which animals get fed when), but if you hurry, you can make the noon otter feeding, which would really make your day, because otters rock. 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. // Woodland Park Zoo // N. 55th St. & Phinney Ave N. // $16.50 adults/$11 3-12/under 3 free!

• The light rail isn't even officially opened, and it's already getting grief (and being hit by cars too) from Tukwila residents, who are complaining about loud (88 decibels worth) of high-pitched squeaking from the recent light rail test runs.
• Yesterday, the Seattle Courant (which dubbed itself "Seattle's first online daily newspaper") kicked the bucket. Although the editor still believes "real journalism will survive the transition from analog to digital," he warns us all "it's just going to be scary for a bit."
• The P-I's Seattle 911 blog didn't get a warm welcome from the classy broads infamous Rick's dancers (awaiting the big bosses' legal outcome) who flat-out told the guy, "Newspaper reporters aren't good for us."

Huen, an 8-year-old male tree kangaroo, will soon be getting busy with a mate at Woodland Park Zoo. It's part of the Zoo's work as conservation ambassadors through the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP). This year TKCP celebrated the passage of Papua New Guinea's first ever national Conservation Area to protect tree kangaroos in their native habitat. (Photo: Ryan Hawk)

• The train tracks near Carkeek Park on were shut down for nearly four hour Saturday evening, after a California-bound train struck and killed a 25-year-old Seattle man.
• It will be tough to finding your favorite Scandinavian treats of pickled herring, lutefisk and svinneribbe. After 49 years of business, Ballard's Olsen’s Scandinavian Foods announced over the weekend that they will have to close their door. Sales have already begun.
• Fremont was certainly the "Center of the Universe" for everyone painted head-to-toe in body paint this weekend. Once again, the annual Fremont Fair and the Solstice--naked people--Parade did not disappoint.

Yesterday, the Woodland Park Zoo uploaded the first video of the new snow leopard cubs to YouTube. The footage was shot Friday and consists of yet another weigh-in session. The female (Helen) weighed in at 3.8 lbs and the male (Tom) at 4.3 lbs. Starting at the one-minute mark, you can hear the cubs' noises, which are much more like a bird's peep than the yowl of the big cats they will grow up to be.

  

A pair of cutie pie snow leopard cubs, a male and a female, were born on Memorial Day at the Woodland Park Zoo. The above photos show the cubs at their neonatal exam and weigh-in (they currently weigh between 3.6 and 4 lbs). The 3-week-old cubs are the first offspring for the 4-year-old mother, Helen, and 3-year-old father, Tom. Whoa, baby: these cubs take the tally up to 29 snow leopards born at the zoo since 1972. That's a big deal, especially considering there's only about 3,500 snow leopards left in the wild. While you can't see them in person just yet (they're busy bonding with mom and drinking lots of milk), fans of the kitties can check out more photos and video via the zoo's blog, YouTube page, and Twitter.

The Woodland Park Zoo tells us they have a new mouth to feed--a tawny frogmouth chick hatched last Thursday. They're pretty excited because Woodland Park Zoo is one of only four zoos to gotten some egg-fertilizing tawny-frogmouth-on-tawny-frogmouth action in the last six years.

We hadn't had any bear posts today, but luckily this just came in under the wire. Woodland Park Zoo's "Bear Affair & Big Howl for Wolves" (presented by Brown Bear Car Wash!) returns June 6. Admission is free as part of your zoo admission, which runs: Adult (13-64) $16.50; Child (3-12) $11.00; Toddler (0-2) free. There will be “bear-safe” camp site demonstrations (see above), keeper talks, treats for bears and wolves, and--hey, where'd little Jimmy wander off to?! Ha ha! We kid, of course. Fun fact: Approximately 25,000 black bears exist in Washington.

According to Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, the zoo is dirtier than a frat bathroom with twice the STDs. With elephants dying of herpes and generally pinned into tiny confines, the group contends it's time to stop gawking at their expense and release them to a happy retirement in far-off sanctuaries.

WaMu no more, BECU Zoo Tunes summer concert series is back again and this time with a new sponsor and a new kick-ass lineup. Bringing "Love Shack" to the Woodland Park Zoo--and presumably driving the animals crazy--the iconic B-52s will be kicking off the series on June 17. Adding two more shows to the series, this year's Zoo Tunes will also bring back 2008 fan favorites: Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, and Amos Lee. Tickets go on sale 8 a.m. Monday, May 4, at all Metropolitan Market locations. Zoo Tunes 2009 complete lineup after the jump.

AP photographer/videographer Ted Warren noticed we posted a video of the Woodland Park Zoo's new penguins yesterday and sent us this video to check out, featuring the Humboldt penguins and narration by the Zoo's penguin profiler Celine Pardo. It's an informative--and splashy--two minutes!

Above you can see the Woodland Park Zoo's Humboldt penguins in their new, quasi-natural environment. The exhibit opens to the public on Saturday, May 2, so you have to content yourself with video for a little while yet. The Zoo tells us "the penguins, 10 males and 10 females, arrived three weeks ago from five other zoos and aquariums," and were put in quarantine. They range in ages from one to twenty years old, and you can adopt a penguin for just $50, though confidentially we hear you probably want to avoid the teenagers.

First of all, may we just say it's great to be back in the Seattlest saddle again after a somewhat extended absence! We actually...*sniff*...missed you guys. Alright, back to business. Thanks to Twitter, we now know about a neat local cooking site named, appropriately, CookLocal. They're covering the very important rutabaga and sunchoke baked chips beat this week. West Seattle Blog passes along news about South Seattle Community College's new scholarships, money set aside to help out anyone who's ever been in the U.S. foster care system. The Weekly's Sara Brickner reports on N.A.S.A.'s show at Nectar last night on Reverb, with photos and all ("go-go dancers, a giant visualizer screen and aliens" is part of the write-up, reason enough for you to click on that link). And over at the Seattle Post-Times, they're upset about the new, unsightly ads on Washington ferries. Of course, the pictured ad supporting the Post-Times' case is for the Woodland Park Zoo's flamingos exhibit--not exactly the devil incarnate.

No Zoo Doo this spring! Woodland Park Zoo just notified us that their highly popular Fecal Fest Zoo Doo lottery--which brings that "fresh Zoo smell" to your backyards and P-Patches--has been canceled for spring because of a shortage of safely Grade-A poop. Turns out there are "unacceptable levels of the herbicide clopyralid" in the Zoo's doo--the herbicide is used on hay and wheat fields, doesn't break down easily, and now that it's stored in the animal manure, would likely wreak havoc on gardeners' pea, sunflower and tomato crops. Is that all? "In laboratory tests, clopyralid caused what a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviewer called 'substantial' reproductive problems," says Mindfully.org. Circle of goddamn life people! Used on wheat fields, eh? What's in your poop? (Strictly a rhetorical question.)

The good people at Videogum had this clip from Fox News' coverage yesterday of the Woodland Park Zoo's monkey on the lam:

NWCN just tweeted that a DeBrazza monkey has escaped and Woodland Park Zoo is in lockdown while its recovery is in progress. No word on the sex, but if it is a male escapee, it'll have a bright blue scrotum, which may aid in spotting it. Seriously. That is an Animal Fact! [UPDATE: The monkey has been caught. Lockdown is over. Please return to your normal daily routines. The Zoo says, "The animal had been at the zoo since May 2008, but was just being introduced for the first time to its outdoor exhibit this week, located in the zoo’s award-winning Tropical Rain Forest. It was his second day in the exhibit. We’ve returned the animal to its behind-the-scenes holding area until further notice. This will allow us to assess the exhibit and make any necessary modifications."]

A pair of female ocelot kittens, born at the Woodland Park Zoo on September 23 of last year, are making their first public appearance today at 3 p.m. in the Tropical Rainforest Exhibit, which is kept at 80 percent humidity just like a circuit party. The widdle kittens are named Novia and Corisandra; two weeks ago, Corisandra weighed in at 6.1 pounds and Novia 4.7 pounds. As we understand it, everyone will gather around and then a low hum will turn into "Circle of Life," growing to a crescendo as a baboon lifts them high overhead! Which reminds us that the Lion King is in town, if you haven't gone yet.

TRUNK SHOW: Downtown's Art/Not Gallery hosts Seattle's first ever non-human art show, A New Breed of Art: Creations by Woodland Park Zoo's Animals. The Puget Sound chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers curated the exhibit, which features around twenty pieces of art painted by the zoo's elephants and orangutans. The painting sessions are part of the zoo's enrichment program to keep the animals physically and mentally stimulated, while also encouraging their inner van Goghs. The exhibit runs through March 5th.

• The winds, they are coming! West Seattle Blog has our area's official wind advisory re-published on their site, and the advisory includes a mention of possible local power outages.Time to charge up your computer batteries and boil a few eggs to last you for the duration.
• Pedestrians and cyclists, remember to wear bright-colored clothing or reflective gear when you're trekking through the dark and rainy city. And drivers, you're in charge of heavy machines barreling at potentially dangerous speeds, so watch where you're going. A woman was hit by a car last night at 23rd & Cherry and a cyclist was the victim of a hit-and-run by someone driving a blue Olds Cutlass or Chevy, reports Central District News.
• The Sable Verity goes into detail in her analysis of the final school closure list released yesterday. While she's upset about some of the closures, there's no love lost on the African American Academy: "I say tread lightly and don't wear yourself out for a lost cause."

• Capitol Hill Seattle is asking for your help in making a "Collective Hill Playlist" filled with songs about or mentioning Capitol Hill. Do you have any songs for the list? Sorry, but "Posse on Broadway" has already been mentioned.
• If you're arachnophobic, we'd recommend not reading this little item. A Ballard family that found a Black Widow spider in a bunch of grapes from their neighborhood Fred Meyer, has donated the spider to the Woodland Park Zoo's Bug World.
• Local blogs are still aflutter about an anonymous poem about Snowmageddon 2008, which could be the first local viral email of '09. Both the Big Blog and The Rainier Valley Post talked about the snow poem.

HOLIDAYS AT THE ZOO: Even the animals at the Woodland Park Zoo are getting into the holiday spirit. For the next three days of the zoo's Winter Celebration, zookeepers will bring the animals gifts of tasty treats like "wreaths trimmed with fish or assorted fruit, evergreen trees with ornamental fruit, or wrapped boxes filled with favorite tidbits." For today, the schedule of feedings is sun bears at 11 a.m., grizzlies and pigs at noon, and the elephants at 2 p.m. Tomorrow, the orangutans, otters, golden lion tamarins, and tigers get theirs, and Wednesday closes things out with the emus, gorillas, and Australian birds and keas.

• West Seattle Blog has the "final, FINAL" numbers on usage of the Elliott Bay Water Taxi. Our West Seattle compatriots promise these aren't fake final numbers and that they are larger than the previous final/unofficial numbers.
• We've always wondered how they built the Space Needle and Vintage Seattle has given us the answer, posting some truly jaw-dropping photos of the construction of The Needle.
• We don't know whether to laugh loudly or shake our heads and cry about the latest local blog--Capitol Hillebrities. Like the egos of Capitol Hill hipsters aren't big enough on they're own. Still, it was only a matter of time before someone started taking party photos on The Hill....apparently that time has come.