A Night with Orangutans

Join us for “Swinging in the Rainforest”, an Orangutan Fundraiser on Saturday, June 20! For all the details or to purchase tickets, visit our website.

Guest Comment

“My husband, daughter (2 and a half) and I decided to visit the Zoo yesterday. We've been to a lot of zoos recently and living in Denver we go a lot to the Denver Zoo. We had such a fun great experience and the staff was very friendly also the pony ride, tree house, goats petting were a lot of fun. It's a very easy place to get around and also finding a bathroom and something to eat is not a problem. It's been the best zoo we been to. Thank you so much for this great experience.”
-R. M.

Keeper News

Animal Keeper, Chuck, accomplishes more on his day off than many folks do in a day’s work! As a volunteer for Wild Connections, Chuck participates in trail reclamation to help the threatened Pawnee Montane Skipper butterflies, a Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Quarters for Conservation project.

As part of the recent Trout and Eagle Creek restoration, Chuck and other volunteers restored several more sections than anticipated including over ½ mile of linear trail and 1 ¼ acres of sensitive habitat. This equates to 54,700 square feet!

Wildlife, including Pawnee montane skipper butterflies and Preble’s meadow jumping mice, both listed under the Endangered Species Act, need stable habitat and minimum disturbance in order to thrive. Projects like this directly benefit these species.

You can help bring the Pawnee Montane Skipper butterflies back to Colorado through Wild Connections and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Quarter’s for Conservation Program. The threatened Pawnee Montane Skipper exists in only one small area in the world, near Colorado Springs. Due to fire and other losses of its limited forest habitat, it needs help. Quarters for Conservation enables Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to partner with several organizations like Wild Connections to restore habitat and survey populations of these Colorado butterflies. Together, we can help prevent the extinction of a native species in our own backyard.

Thank you to Chuck and all the volunteers who worked so hard on this project! If you would like to sign up for a restoration work day on May 30 or June 6, visit the Wild Connections website to register.

CM Zoo Black Footed Ferrets on the cover of Audubon Magazine!

See our black footed ferret on the cover of Audubon Magazine – Photo credit: Joel Sartore.

Have you "herd"?

Our African elephant herd has been spending more and more time in the elephant yard together – without any barriers to separate them. While tentative at first, all three are now becoming more and more comfortable with one another.



Showing her increased confidence, Maliaka entered the elephant pool for the first time yesterday! According to Jason Bredhl, Elephant Care Manger, she walked down to the water’s edge and splashed some water on herself to cool off.



Then Kimba waded into the pool up to her belly. Malaika followed Kimba and started splashing. Kimba stepped out only to be followed by Maliaka. Kimba stopped ,rumbled loudly and let Malaika greet her. Then Malaika went back to the pool for more splashing.


Kimba and Lucky watched from a distance, taking it all in. Malaika trumpeted and played in the water for about half an hour, checking on Kimba and Lucky periodically. She ended her water play session by submerging her entire body in the pool!

Visit Kimba, Lucky and Maliaka during regular Zoo hours, weather permitting.

Horticultural Partners Program

Interested in trying new plant releases and varieties not generally offered in our area? Join the Horticultural Partners Program!

Purchase an HPP plant at the Annual Plant Sale this Memorial Day to participate in this information sharing program. Three times over the course of the year, our Horticulture Curator will send participants a brief email survey to learn more about your growing conditions and how the new plants are doing. The Zoo’s horticulture staff will also be trialing these plants and the results of our collective input will be compiled and shared.

Our goal is to share experience and understanding of these new plants between our zoo horticulture staff and local gardeners, while adding diversity to our local plant pallets.

HPP plants can be purchased on line or at the plant sale. We have limited quantities of all of our plants, so get them while they last!

Today is Endangered Species Day

Celebrate Endangered Species Day on Friday, May 15! America boasts amazing wildlife: bald eagles and peregrine falcons flying in our skies, gray wolves and grizzly bears roaming the wilderness, Canada lynx and spotted owls in ancient forests, salmon and steelhead spawning in wild rivers, and whales and sea turtles in our coastal waters.

Celebrate Endangered Species Day and our nation's amazing wildlife and wild places.

To learn about Endangered Species Day, visit EndangeredSpeciesDay.org

Zoo Educator Headed to Kenya

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Loft educator Erica Garroutte will be leaving the zoo for a year-long research position in Kimana, Kenya. She’ll be working at the School for Field Studies station located next to Kilamanjaro to study wildlife of the Rift Valley and involve local communities in local conservation projects.

Erica will be keeping in touch with students in Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Loft through a blog and pictures. Be sure to check back to find a link to Erica’s blog in the coming months.

You Otter Be in Pictures…

A favorite photo of one of our new male North American River Otters playing in his new home!

Be sure to visit Rocky Mountain Wild to see how much fun these otters have as they explore. Learn more during the keeper talk and river otter feeding every day at 1:35 pm.

Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project

A national media rollout for the Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project took place this morning at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo President and CEO, Bob Chastain, attended this exciting event.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is a founding member of this exciting project along with nationally recognized partners: Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Zoo New England, Houston Zoo, Africam Safari in Mexico, the Summit Municipal Park in Panama, Defenders of Wildlife and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The goal of the project is to establish an amphibian conservation center in Panama that will house and facilitate research on 15-20 species that are in jeopardy of being wiped out by the chytrid fungus.

The national announcement can be seen on the Smithonian's website.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo made this announcement locally today and also unveiled a new amphibian exhibit, Leaping to the Rescue, now open in the Aquatics building. This exhibit showcases some of the frogs who are in danger of becoming extinct.


"Leaping to the Rescue"


Tadpoles

Be sure to view the new exhibit in the Aquatics building during regular Zoo hours.

Name the Baby Orangutan Contest Results

The results are in!

You named the newest addition to the Sumatran Orangutan family Godek (GO-deck) which means “sideburns” in Indonesian.

Thanks to all who voted and congratulations to contest winners!

Leaping to the Rescue

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is responding to the worldwide amphibian crisis by partnering with some renowned national and international conservation leaders to make a difference for frogs that have not yet been killed by a creeping fungus called “chytrid” that is encircling the globe and endangering the existence of amphibians on the planet.

On Monday morning, May 11, at 10:00 am we will be announcing our involvement in a new Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project in the jungles of Panama.

You are invited to attend this critically important announcement on Monday morning at 10 a.m. in the Zoo’s Aquatic’s building to hear more about our involvement in this project.

A national media rollout for the Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project will be taking place simultaneously at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo President and CEO, Bob Chastain, will be in attendance at the national announcement event as the grand initiative is introduced to the nation’s top science writers and media science reporters.

The Zoo will also debut our new frog rescue exhibit called “Leaping to the Rescue” on Monday morning. You’ll find out about the purpose behind the creation of the exhibit and the species of amphibians that the exhibit will feature.

We hope you will join us for this special announcement Monday morning. Until then, click to enjoy “Gump’s” video debut and to learn more about the amphibian crisis on Fox 21’s Morning Show.

Visit with Baby Wallabies Tomorrow!

Two recent additions to our Wallaby family will be out on exhibit tomorrow! Both babies are Bennett’s Wallabies and one of the two displays albinism. Be sure to visit during regular Zoo hours to see these beautiful creatures!

Missing Orangutan Mothers

Mother’s Day is the perfect day to pay tribute to M.O.M.– Missing Orangutan Mothers.

Orangutan mothers and babies have an incredibly close relationship. Their mothers teach them everything about survival in the forest before they set out on their own including how to find fruit and build nests.

Because of the growing demand for palm oil, more and more orangutan mothers are being killed every year in Indonesia. Their rainforest homes are literally being wiped out to make way for palm oil plantations… leaving hundreds of helpless orphans.

Some of the lucky ones end up at Nyaru Menteng– which is operated by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. The Center is now home to nearly 650 orangutans– the vast majority of them young orphans in need of love and care.

Visit Primate World this weekend with your Mom to learn more about M.O.M. and to see our very own Sumagu cuddle her new baby orangutan!

Lions, Tigers and Ferrets! Tuesday, May 12th, 7 pm

Della Garelle, DVM, Director of Conservation & Animal Health at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will present a program on the Zoo’s role in the conservation of an endangered Colorado native, the Blackfooted Ferret. The program will be held at the community room of the Gay and Lesbian Center, 315 E. Costilla Street on 5/12 at 7 pm.

Come find out about the exciting progress being made to bring this species back from the brink of extinction with a founding population of just seven individuals.

Learn how you can get involved in ensuring their future on America’s short grass prairie. Dr.Garelle has served as the Coordinator for the BFF’s international Species Survival Plan since 1996. The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has bred and released BFFs back to the wild since 1990.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Gives Back

Students collected more than two "giraffe-fulls" of plastic bags to be recycled – over 30,000 to be exact!

The Winter Wildland community initiative program allowed Cheyenne Mountain Zoo the opportunity to give back to the community last week. For every 5,000 guests that attended our Winter WildLand event, the Zoo sponsored a visit for 50 families from Community Partnership for Child Development. With over 20,000 visits to Winter WildLand we were able to offer a night at the Zoo to 300 families – a total of 700 people in all.

We serve kids every day at the Zoo but Tuesday night was special because we got to invite not only the kids, but their families too. Zoo President, Bob Chastain said, “We got to live our statement that says, We believe in the value of families spending time together.”

One of the most treasured moments of the evening was the kids’ participation in lion enrichment - helping our Lion Keeper fill boxes with elephant dung which the lions enthusiastically tore open! Another special moment: seeing the amazement on Zoo staff faces as over 30,000 plastic bags were collected and delivered by students for recycling!

Thank you to the families and staff who made the evening so memorable!

Butterfly enthusiasts!

Mark your calendars for May 9, 16 or 30 and spend a day making a difference in your own backyard! Check out what is happening in conjunction with the Quarters for Conservation butterfly project.

In partnership with Wild Connections, the project goal is to restore Pawnee skipper and Preble's jumping mouse habitat. You can be a part of it! Visit Wild Connections for more details or to register.

New Quarters for Conservation Projects Unveiled Today!

Through the Quarters for Conservation Program, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo allocates a portion of the fees you pay for Zoo admission, memberships and classes to wildlife conservation. That means every time you come to the Zoo, you help to expand conservation efforts in our region and around the globe.


New projects to be supported by the Zoo’s Quarters for Conservation initiative were unveiled this morning and include:

Amphibians in Panama
Bats in Colorado and throughout North America
Native Skippers in Colorado
Andean Bears in Ecuador
Orangutans in their forest habitat
Wild African Vultures



Visit our website to learn more about these selected projects.


Thank you to our first voters!