Carnivore Spotter: What do you see?

The Seattle Urban Carnivore Project, a partnership between Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle University, aims to explore how mammalian carnivores live and interact with people across urban and suburban areas in the Seattle region. Coexisting means understanding all the wildlife who share our neighborhoods.

The project’s online Carnivore Spotter tool allows our community members from across the greater Seattle area to report their carnivore sightings. Folks have reported coyote sightings in Queen Anne, black bears in Issaquah, bobcats in Bothell and everything in between!

Our carnivore team is especially excited when they receive reports with visuals such as photos! This allows others to experience the exciting sightings you all are seeing in our communities and also makes it easier to verify the report. Each report is individually reviewed, and those that do include photos, video or audio are verified to ensure that these observations are presenting the most accurate information about urban carnivores.

Let’s take a look at a few of our favorites so far!

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6. Coyotes are the most common species reported on Carnivore Spotter, comprising about 50% of the total reports. This coyote was sighted along someone’s backyard pool in the Eastgate area. Although the yard is fenced, it is not uncommon for a coyote to jump a 6-foot fence as they wander their urban habitats.

Interactions between species do sometimes occur, but it is quite rare to video two urban carnivores in the same place at once. One community member did just that! This video shows a black bear and coyote somewhat playfully interacting near Carnation, Washington.

With the increased use of remote cameras by community members, there are now more opportunities to capture photos of our urban carnivores. This photo shows a sow black bear and her two cubs, seemingly relaxing in someone's backyard. Black bear cubs stay with their mothers for over a year, learning how and where to find food for survival.

Speaking of coyotes... check out this adorable footage of a rascally coyote who found the perfect midnight souvenir. Coyotes can be playful, just like your dog! We have received a number of photos and videos that showcase the playful nature of coyotes.

Each report submitted to Carnivore Spotter is individually reviewed, and those that include photos, video or audio are verified to ensure that these observations are accurate. If you look at the Carnivore Spotter map you will see very few cougars (mountain lions). A community member from the Newcastle area recorded this verified cougar video on a home security camera. Whoa!

About 11% of the reports on Carnivore Spotter are of bobcats, a small felid, common throughout Washington state. This beautiful photo was captured in the Lake Sammamish area, which if you investigate the Carnivore Spotter map, is a very common place to see bobcats. The majority of the bobcat sightings occur east of Lake Washington.

Katie Remine, Coordinator, Living Northwest

Animal photos and video courtesy of Seattle Urban Carnivore Project / Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle University.

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Report, share and explore carnivore spottings throughout Seattle!

SAVING GORILLAS

We’d like to introduce one of our newest Conservation Partners: The Mondika Gorilla Project, which came about by expanding the efforts of an existing gorilla conservation program. The Goualougo Triangle Ape Project had already been working to preserve wildlife in Africa’s Congo Basin for more than 20 years. In 2014, it expanded to include the Djeke Triangle region outside the Nouabale-Ndoke National Park, resulting in the Mondika Gorilla Project.

The goal of the Mondika Gorilla Project is to build on existing knowledge of gorillas and chimpanzees that live in central Africa through longterm population monitoring. It also watches over the effects that human

activities are having on wildlife and the ecosystem. Western lowland gorilla populations have undergone a dramatic decline in recent years and the species is currently listed as critically endangered. Commercial hunting for bushmeat, loss of habitat due to logging, and the rise of diseases such as Ebola have all had an impact on the health of these great apes.

But saving gorillas, chimpanzees and their habitats involves more than just monitoring forestry practices, safe tourism and conscientious research. It also requires valuing local human cultures and land-use rights. The Mondika Gorilla Project has built a strong relationship with the local people of Bomassa, Bon Coin and Bayanga. It employs community members, providing ways for them to support their families and also offers alternatives to unsustainable hunting practices. All of this allows the local peoples to feel empowered and to take an active role in conservation efforts in their region. This is community-based conservation that works for wildlife and for people.

MEET KITOKO

Meet Kitoko, the newest member of our western lowland gorilla family, born in the wee hours of March 4. He is the son of 12-year-old Uzumma and 20-year-old Kwame—the first offspring for them—and his name means beautiful or handsome in the African languages Lingala and Kikongo.

Kitoko is a happy and curious baby—and seeing his growth and his antics are providing all of us with so much joy, laughter and smiles! He is meeting all of his developmental milestones—and our keepers tell us he is already showing that he has inherited some of his mother’s curious and determined personality! Either way, Uzumma will have her hands full as this baby grows and becomes more playful.

Uzumma has proven to be a wonderful mother—one of the most attentive and nurturing gorilla moms we’ve ever had at Woodland Park Zoo. Uzumma’s mothering skills come as no surprise, as her mother Amanda was also an exceptional mom. Maternal behaviors are learned—passed down from mother to daughter and by watching other females in the group raise their babies. You can follow the story of Kitoko’s birth, Uzumma’s experience as a new mother, and the excitement that a new baby brings to the whole gorilla family in our series of blogs and photos which you can find on our webpage zoo.org/ growingupgorilla. There you can also find information on how to symbolically adopt a baby gorilla through our ZooParent program, which helps fund conservation programs, like the Mondika Gorilla Project, and the daily care and feeding of our gorillas. You can also get the scoop on our gorilla conservation partners out in the field and learn more about saving species and protecting habitats.

The other members of Uzumma, Kitoko, and Kwame’s group are: 24-year-old Nadiri; 4-year old Yola, the daughter of Nadiri; and 18-year-old Akenji. Living in another group are: 41-year-old male Vip and 35-year-old female Jumoke.

Visit zoo.org/growingupgorilla to learn more!

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Zoo to School

During the COVID-19 closure, Seattle Public Schools Television teamed up with the zoo to make virtual field trip videos for their television and social media channels. The project delivered a dozen zoo lessons directly to K - 8 audiences, like this sweet video featuring Paco the flamingo with keeper Joanna!

Luna

Baby mountain goat, Luna, was born May 15 and is the first offspring for mom Atlin and dad Zeus. A generous zoo supporter, the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation, named her after Luna Peak, the highest mountain in the Picket range in the North Cascades.

Black Birders Week

In response to a racist event in Central Park in late May 2020, a group of Black bird lovers organized the first #BlackBirdersWeek featuring scientists, nature enthusiasts and birders. This group of inspirational, bird-positive voices is worth following all year round for birding advice and ways to make our outdoor spaces more welcoming and diverse. Follow #BlackInNature to learn something new.

Photo of co-organizer Earyn McGee via Wikipedia

Conservation Report

Woodland Park Zoo actively saves wildlife and wild places around the world by designing, implementing, and supporting conservation projects and programs. Your zoo has a robust conservation program, so we want to share a resource with you that shows just where your support goes. Read the 2020 report to learn more.

Pepita and Pecan Agouti

Agoutis Nutella and John Agouti had pups in mid-March and guess what? The pups were named by our social media followers. In a poll, the overwhelming winners were Pepita & Pecan! Very fitting for our two sister pups. These names were a clear winner although Fay & Toffee, Pansy & Rosy and Sugar & Cinnamon were close behind.

SUMMER READS

Bookworms Unite! A reading list for animal lovers, tree huggers, green geeks and budding wildlife warriors of all ages. Here are some of our recommended reads—old and new!

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and

Why They Matter, by Ben Goldfarb, 2018 (non-fiction). A fantastic read that blows your mind about what the wild spaces of North America should actually look like. You'll never see a pristine mountain stream the same way again.

Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the

Natural World, by Julia Rothman, 2015 (non-fiction, nature). Art and science mingle together in this book that is part text and part art. Appealing for all ages, its pages are filled with diagrams, drawings, and spirited musings about earth, water, flora and fauna—all of nature’s wonders!

YOUNG ADULTS

Cast Away: Poems for Our Time, by Naomi Shihab Nye, 2020 (poetry, environmental education). This witty collection of poems about climate change, sustainability and the wasteful result of careless consumerism is written with conversational humor, depth and even sarcasm—very relatable for teens and tweens.

Rewild Yourself: 23 Spellbinding Ways to Make

Nature More Visible, by Simon Barnes, 2018 (non-fiction). Get closer to the magical parts of nature that are hidden all around us.

A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold, 1949 (non-fiction). Seen through the eyes of one of our country’s first ecologists, this classic forged the way for the movement of environmental ethics and wilderness conservation. It was first published 70 years ago, but its beautiful message about preserving wild places is as relevant today as ever.

KIDLIT

Growing Up Gorilla, by Clare Meeker, 2019 (non-fiction). Words and pictures show how animal keepers at Woodland Park Zoo worked tirelessly to bring mom and baby together and how little Yola helped her whole family group come together and form strong bonds.

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, 1971 (fiction). This children’s classic chronicles the plight of the environment through Dr. Seuss’s wise character, the Lorax, who "speaks for the trees."

beauty 1/3 awaits... page horizontal ad space (bottom only) 8” x 3.25” Molbak’s has the plants you need to create your very own pollinator-attracting rain garden.