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What’s Happening at Woodland Park Zoo
What makes Woodland Park Zoo famous? The 92-acre zoo is famed for revolutionizing the world of zoos by immersing visitors in naturalistic exhibits. The top award-winning zoo set an international standard for animal care and realistic landscape exhibits that allow animals to thrive and be seen in naturalistic environments. In 1979, Woodland Park opened the first naturalistic gorilla exhibit in the world, establishing a prototype. For more zoo highlights click here.

Tracing Woodland Park Zoo’s 107-year evolution yields a treasure-trove of stories about advances in wildlife conservation, exhibit design, education, veterinary science and plant care. Please consider us a resource for any features you may do that involve these topics or others, such as worldwide conservation efforts, family classes, botanical gardens and more.

Here’s a taste of what’s happening and angles of interest:

Hot and Cold Spots at Woodland Park Zoo

Discover the “hot” and “cold” spots at Woodland Park Zoo. Fall and winter offer visitors of all ages and backgrounds an expanded repertoire of animal behaviors. Ask for a rainy day tour map at the gates or print one here. And, don’t forget to seek dry, warm shelter and sustenance in the Rain Forest Food Pavilion and take a global shopping expedition in the ZooStore:

• Discover animals and plants that have adapted to the cold in the award-winning Northern Trail — indoor, underwater views of grizzly bears swimming or wrestling and river otters gliding. Mountain goats, snowy owls, wolves, elk and bald eagles are also along the trail.
• Escape winter’s chill and trek through the different layers of a rain forest in the warm, humid environment of the award-winning Tropical Rain Forest. The interior portion displays ocelots, pygmy marmosets (the world’s smallest monkeys) and tropical birds. The outdoor loop showcases the new Jaguar Cove, lemurs and monkeys, and covered shelters feature two gorilla groups.
• Enter the world of earth’s smallest animals — arthropods — at the indoor Bug World. More than 22 species are showcased such as Australian walkingsticks, dung beetles, flamboyant flower beetles, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and African giant millipedes.
• Experience a slice of desert life in the heated Day Exhibit featuring a gallery of smaller-scale exhibits with amphibians and reptiles. Kids especially delight in the gigantic Brazilian cockroach exhibit swarming with thousands of “nature’s recyclers”. A walk through Night Exhibit treats visitors to two-toed sloths, a variety of prosimians, tamanduas (lesser anteaters), fruit bats, vampire bats and endangered Rodrigues fruit bats.
• Take shelter in the Adaptations Building with covered viewing of felines, other small mammals and rare Komodo dragons.
• African Village…Celebrate African culture and the country’s wildlife through the eyes of the people who live there. A recreated schoolhouse offers sheltered viewing of a savanna dotted with giraffe, zebra, gazelle and patas monkey.
• Explore the wild life of “down under” at Australasia where covered areas offer viewing of wallaroos, kookaburras, emus and other animals native to this corner of the world.
• Journey through the tropics of Asia and come upon the zoo’s herd of elephants, including an Asian elephant calf living amidst a Thai forest. Continue to the Trail of Vines where orangutans, siamang apes, monkeys, Malayan tapirs and Indian pythons can be viewed from covered shelters.
• Zoomazium, is an all-season, nature-themed play space for children ages toddler to 8 years of age. Imagine climbing a mini-mountain to its cool, windy, white-capped summit; curling up in the warmth of a fox’s den; or exploring a mysterious cave, complete with “lava” and a volcano’s rumble. These and scores of other adventures await in Zoomazium – an exciting, year-round, nature play space. Here, young children will exercise their bodies and minds in a stimulating environment where they can explore, connect and learn through play. Six discovery zones feature three-dimensional play with interactive puzzles, physical objects, exploring opportunities and visual surprises. Zoomazium is an adventure world designed by and for kids to discover the mysteries of the natural world. Zoomazium is free with zoo admission. For more information, visit the Zoomazium Web site.

What's coming up and what's new:

Historic Carousel – Opened July 2006

Carousels were once considered America’s premier amusement ride in the 1900s. Of the more than 5,000 wooden carousels originally built, the number has dwindled to fewer than 150 still in operation today. Woodland Park Zoo is fortunate to become the permanent habitat of one of these rare, treasured masterpieces. The 48 classic, hand-carved wooden carousel horses and the restored vintage 1918 carousel will open this summer on the zoo’s North Meadow. The carousel, the 45th constructed by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1918 for the Cincinnati Zoo, is a gift from Linda and Tom Allen of the Alleniana Foundation. The carousel will provide generations of carousel riders the opportunity to experience a celebrated piece of American history, provide support for the zoo’s education and animal care programs through ticket sales, and offer families another way to have year-round fun while visiting the zoo.

Willawong Station – Opened 2005

The walk-thru experience transports visitors to the world of Australian parrots and offers visitors a fun opportunity to feed more than 150 free-flying colorful birds – they literally eat out of their hands! The bird collection includes: budgerigars (known as parakeets or budgies), cockatiels (the smallest member of the cockatoo family) and rosellas. Visitors also are encouraged to discover more about the birds they are interacting with, and to learn about responsible care and conservation for birds both in the wild and at home. The exhibit costs an additional admission of $1, which includes a seed stick to feed the birds; free for kids 2 and under; $1 for each additional seed stick. Hours vary seasonally. For more information, visit the Willawong Web site.

The “Wild” Side Meets Zoo Life — Environmental Enrichment
To make the lives of the zoo’s animals more enriching and entertaining, zookeepers introduce a variety of activities to encourage a full spectrum of species-specific wild behavior. Enrichment approximates the challenges and opportunities animals would face in a wild environment and reinforces natural behavior such as exploration and foraging.

Samples of enrichment activities:

• Sun bears, sloth bears: whole fruit buried; hidden logs drilled with holes and stuffed with raisins or live mealworms; bamboo popsicles scattered; allspice and other spices sprinkled; honey and molasses drizzled on tree snags.
• Felines: elephant poop for cats to roll in; catnip; herbs and spices such as fennel, cinnamon, nutmeg; frozen chicks and gizzards hidden in logs.
• African wild dogs: fresh herbs and spices such as fennel, cinnamon, nutmeg; sticks buried in sand and smeared with spices or civet musk; hidden horse meatballs; meat smeared on logs.
• Tropical Rain Forest birds: fruit kabobs (grapes and other fruit hung on trees); bamboo.
• Orangutans: artificial durian fruit stuffed with peanut butter; logs stuffed with raisins.
• Gorillas: fruits and vegetables scattered every morning; hidden logs stuffed with raisins and other treats.
• Grizzlies: frozen salmon carcasses and apples tossed in underwater viewing pool.
• Wolves: knucklebones; frozen chicks.

A Spark of Hope for the Future — Conservation at the Zoo

• Zoos now play an increasingly important role in preserving wildlife, and in educating future generations about the importance of conservation. The animals Woodland Park cares for represent critical populations of endangered species.
• Woodland Park Zoo participates in 35 Species Survival Plans (SSP) created and administered by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA). SSPs are cooperative breeding programs that work to ensure genetic diversity and demographic stability in North American zoos and aquariums. Additionally, SSPs involve a variety of other collaborative conservation activities such as research, public education, reintroduction and field projects.
• Since 1998, the zoo has awarded 346 grants to 95 different conservation projects in 41 countries around the globe. Woodland Park Zoo currently partners with 43 field conservation projects in more than 30 countries around the globe including the U.S., Tanzania, Kenya, Colombia, Aruba Island, Pakistan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia.
• The zoo’s Partners for Wildlife promotes real outcomes and solutions for species and habitat preservation through collaboration: tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea; African wild dogs in Botswana, Africa; cranes and other wildlife endemic to Muraviovka Park in Siberia’s Amur region; and snow leopards in all 12 snow leopard range countries.
• Staff-directed conservation projects are supported through Partners for Wildlife, bringing the zoo, field conservation efforts and local universities and agencies together in collaboration. For example, the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Program, in collaboration with Oregon Zoo and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, has successfully quadrupled the population of turtles and is increasing public education about wetland habitats in Washington state.
• For a closer look, go to visit the World Wide programs pages on the zoo's website.

Woodland Park Zoo Doo Fecal Fests

• The zoo holds its annual fall and spring Fecal Fests to meet the insatiable demands of Zoo Doo.
• During the Fests, the zoo accepts mail-in orders by garden enthusiasts and randomly draws about 200 entries.
• Prices for pick-up trucks: 8x4 bed $60; 6x4 bed $45; 6x3 bed $35. Garbage cans $8 to $10, and bags $4 to $6 depending on size. Two-gallon and pint-sized buckets also are available in the ZooStore for $14.95 and $4.95, respectively.
• For more scoop on the poop, call 206.625.POOP (7667) or visit the Zoo Doo page on our Web site.

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