On December 18th, 2012, the Woodland Park Zoo welcomed another significant birth – an endangered sloth bear cub. The offspring of 7-year-old Tasha and 16-year-old Randy is in a behind-the-scenes maternity den, with zookeepers keeping their distance to minimize disturbance to the family. An internal web cam allows monitoring of the cub, and the parents – and a photo glimpse for the curious public.
Sloth bear cubs are born extremely small, and blind at birth. At 3 weeks, the cub will likely open its eyes and, with normal development, walk at 4 weeks. With fewer than 50 sloth bears in North American zoos today, and fewer than 10,000 remaining in the wild, this cub is a rare addition.
Many donors have already joined in helping to fund an amazing new, state-of-the-art home at Woodland Park for the sloth bears, tigers, tropical animals and small-clawed otters. The current sloth bear exhibit is off-view while construction continues on the new exhibit. Find out more about the new area for the baby sloth bear at www.morewonder.org.
More Babies
In addition to the sloth bear birth, Woodland Park has welcomed other babies throughout 2012.
A small, non-descript sunbittern chick will grow into one of the most elegant birds to call the Zoo home, with a long neck, trilling whistle, and stunning feather display. Hatched on November 20th, the new chick shows little of its grandeur to come but is a special arrival – the first sunbittern hatchling at Woodland Park in close to 15 years.
The sunbittern chick egg was artificially incubated to prevent any chance of it rolling out of the elevated nest the sunbitterns maintain. Since hatched, zookeepers have stepped in to hand rear the chick, starting with 7 feedings a day every 2 hours. The weight of the chick is regularly tracked to make sure it hits all of its developmental benchmarks. At its latest weigh-in, it added up to about 3 ounces (90 grams.) The chick’s parents remain in the free-flight dome of the Tropical Rain Forest building where they are currently working on producing another egg or two.
The Zoo also welcomed lion cubs – two girls and two boys – last fall. On January 11th, the cubs underwent another successful health check-up – and they aced their exams. Now weighing in at a healthy 21 to 23 pounds each, the cubs have all grown in most of their baby teeth which allows them to start to sample solid foods – delectable ground turkey and raw beef.
As the cubs awoke from the exams, they were each returned to their den to rejoin their siblings and, later, mom Adia. The cubs are a playful, rambunctious foursome, prone to pounce all over mom and treat her tail as a plaything. With a sizable litter, concern can be raised about the difficulties this can pose for mom, but 3-year-old mother Adia continues to demonstrate an excellent ability to care for her quadruplets.
In November 2012, the Woodland Park Zoo welcomed hatchlings of two different breeds of turtles – Western Pond Turtles (native to Washington State,) and Egyptian Tortoises. With more than 50% of the world’s known turtle species facing extinction, these reptiles are one of the most endangered animal groups on the planet. With another successful turtle breeding season at the Zoo, Woodland Park has helped grow the populations of these severely endangered species.
In the U.S., Woodland Park Zoo has successfully supported more Egyptian tortoise hatchlings on average than any other zoo, with more than 75 tortoises born through a captive breeding program. At two weeks old, the Egyptian tortoises are the size of a quarter.
As part of the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project, the new hatchlings will be reared until determined to be large enough to survive in the wild. In Washington State, the species is endangered and its population is rapidly declining, yet for 21 years, Woodland Park Zoo has led the recovery project and released nearly 1,500 turtles back into protected habitats.
In August 2012, the new snow leopard cubs made their debut into the public exhibit. Keepers and exhibit crew members have worked hard to modify the exhibit to make it sight-impaired cub friendly. Both cubs, Asha and Shanti, were born blind in their right eyes. Modifications to the exhibit included removing low branches from the flora and padding some of the hilly grounds with hay for softer landings from any tumbles. Keepers will watch the cubs navigate the exhibit to learn more about the cubs’ ability to see their environment. Of course, they still have keen senses of smell and hearing, and their whisker assisted tactile abilities also help them navigate their surroundings.
To learn more about the Zoo, and the latest on new babies, new exhibits and other news at Woodland Park, check in on the Zoo blog. Or visit the website at www.zoo.org