Latest Zoo Stories

Like many aging baby boomers, the Golden Girls of the Dallas Zoo are moving around slower, popping pills to ease their aches and pains, and watching their waistlines. Jenny, the oldest gorilla in captivity at 55, can't see well, so zookeepers place fruit and frozen treats in easy-to-find spots. Kamili, 25 and the oldest okapi in captivity, walks around on hay to give her aging legs a break and prevent falls. Bonbon, a 49-year-old chimpanzee, is hand-fed to make sure she eats enough. Thanks...

By Dusty Ricketts, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach Jul. 3--GULF BREEZE -- The Zoo Northwest Florida is considering legal action after a celebrity fund-raiser in the works for more than a year ended up being a hoax. A promoter posing to be a representative and relative of Zac Efron, star of the Disney Channel's popular "High School Musical" franchise, contacted the facility last year about scheduling a fundraiser for The Zoo, said Danyelle Lantz, The Zoo's...

EDMOND -- It's summer, and it's all happening at the Oklahoma City Zoo. In addition to regular zoo activities including sea lions entertaining, alligators feeding and visitors wall climbing, children can bring their moms and dads at 7:30 a.m. to beat the heat of the hot summer days. Shannon Griffin, a local Edmond dentist, brought her sons, J.J. and George, with their friend Austin Taylor for a day at the zoo. Austin is visiting from Maine with her parents, Noel and Jonathon Taylor. One of...

HUMANS are to form the latest attraction at Edinburgh Zoo - as part of an unusual Fringe event. Five performers will reportedly live in a sanctuary at the zoo for 11 days in an enclosure originally designed for penguins. The show - entitled Enclosure 44 - will involve people behaving like captive animals, and even being fed at certain times by other performers dressed as zoo keepers. Actors will also interact with the public, and generally behave how they please for the course of the...

An attorney for a California teen killed by an escaped tiger at the San Francisco Zoo says he'll file a negligence lawsuit against the city. Michael Cardozo of Walnut Creek, Calif., said the family of Carlos Souza Jr., who died when a 250-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana leaped from its enclosure on Christmas Day and mauled the 17-year-old to death, is accusing the city and the nonprofit operator of the zoo of allowing a wrongful death. The city ought to build a river through the zoo and...

Aging animals at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium are giving Allegheny County's senior citizens a run for their money. The zoo has about a dozen geriatric animals who have lived years beyond their typical lifespans in the wild. Caring for them requires special attention, extra veterinary care and, occasionally, some coddling. "I think with geriatric animals, it's amazing the way they continue to compensate and thrive even as they age," said Michelle Farmerie, one of the zoo's...

By Anonymous Zoo horticulturists have celebrated the first national Plant Conservation Day with a series of public events last month. Zoos across the UK set up exhibits on 18 May to raise awareness of plant conservation and their related projects. Bristol Zoo Gardens head of horticulture Eddie Mole said: "It was really important to make the exhibits fun and interactive. They included a quiz about useful plants and a 'parsnips in peril' display about the endangered greater water parsnip...

LUCKNOW: Angel is no longer an orphan for he has now been adopted. Angel, a month-old bonnet monkey abandoned by his mother, has been adopted by one Mayur Singh Tomar for a year. Tomar has given Rs 5,000 to zoo authorities for the care of Angel. "The monkey, however, will still be hand-reared; it is only that Tomar will help us financially," said zoo director Renu Singh. Meanwhile, the zoo authorities have decided to organise a cleanliness campaign on June 30. The entire zoo staff will...

By MUTCH, Lindsay KELLY, the dolphin, must be feeling the weight of responsibility right now. All the other animals at Marineland in Napier will be shuffling up to her pool each morning to check on her health. Because the moment she swims off this mortal coil their future is up in the air. Or out in the ocean. Or six feet under, as the case may be. You see, last week a report by Parliament's local body and environment select committee backed DOC's policy of not allowing dolphins to be...

The head of the Kansas City Zoo says her food budget is being strained as the price of everything from hay to bananas and live mice keeps going up. Curator Liz Harmon told The Kansas City (Mo.). Star that the annual cost of feeding the animals has increased 43 percent over the past two years to more than $375,000 annually. You can't put your gorillas on a diet, added Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff. You have a lifelong commitment to these animals. The zoo is able to produce of some its own food,...