Weathering The Cold At The Zoo Submitted by the Wildwood Zookeeper Staff

Halloween Fun Moves Indoors

Bellatrix "Bella"the Binturong enjoying some supervised enrichment time in her winter home. To learn more about binturong's click here.

Celebrate Our 8th Annual Zoo Boo Event!

Double Trouble Excitement: Twin Striped Hyenas

Twins! We are excited to announce the arrival of twin Striped Hyena cubs. The brother and sister were born to first time Mom, Kya, on August 29, 2014. 

Did you know that hyena’s are not member of the dog or the cat family but rather, they are so unique that they have a family all their own: Hyaenidae. There are four members of this distinct family: the striped hyena, the “giggly” spotted hyena, the brown hyena and the aardwolf (which really isn't a wolf at all!)

These wonderful creatures are found in North and Northeast Africa, the Middle East and Asia and play a very important role: cleanup crew!

Striped hyenas are smaller than the spotted and brown hyenas and can live 10 to 12 years in the wild and up to 25 years in zoos. Hyenas have dark eyes; their muzzle, ears, and throat are entirely black but their coat may be golden yellow, brown or gray with black stripes on their body and legs. A mane of long hair grows along their back camouflaging them in the tall, dry grass that is found in the rocky brush and scrubland of their native habitat.

Despite their distinctive walk, which makes it appear as if they are limping uphill, hyenas are very agile and can run, trot and walk for long distances with very little effort.

Wildwood Zookeepers report that both cubs and mother are healthy and happy. Eventually the cubs will be placed at another ZAA accredited facility.

How Do You Catch Dozens of Budgies?

Because you asked ... How DO we move dozens of budgies from the Budgie Encounter to their winter home?

Labor Day is historically the day we close our Budgie Encounter exhibit for the season due to the fact that nighttime temperatures in Wisconsin's Northwoods are too cold for our friendly and brightly colored budgies.

Their latin name is budgeriar however they are more commonly known as pet or shell parakeet: but everyone knowns them simply as the budgie.

These small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrots are the only species in this genus that can be found throughout the arid parts of Australia.

So how do we move them to their off-season home? Quite simply, it takes a couple of people only a few hours to use nets specifically designed to humanely capture birds so they can be relocated to the winter housing.

Budgies are closely related to the fig parrot; a parakeet is a term that refers to any of a number of small parrots with a long, flat and tapered tail.

Badgerigars or budgies are naturally green in color and yellow with black and have scalloped markings on the neck, back and wings. Cage bred budgies are larger in size than ones found in the wild, and selective breeding by breeders over the years have caused changes in colors. Blues, whites, yellows, greys and even some with crests.

Budgies are popular pets worldwide due to their small size and ability to mimic human speech. The species were first recorded in 1805 and today is the third most popular pet in the world.

A Rainbow Colored Surprise

It isn’t often that we are truly surprised - but last week while making our rounds we were surprised to discover Rainbow Boa babies! Rainbow Boa’s are one of the few species of snakes who give live birth rather than laying eggs. Snakes give birth from 2 to 20 babies; within two weeks of age the babies begin eating a diet of small mammals.

Rainbow Boa’s are a species of non-venomous constrictor that are found in South America. They are known for their attractive iridescent sheen on their scales. Like most Boa's they have heat-sensing pits on their faces that allow them to detect the body heat of their warm-blooded prey. 

Rainbow Boa’s are nocturnal and spend time during the daytime basking. They are active at dawn and dusk and feed on small mammals, birds and lizards.

Answering The Question: Do Bears Play in the Park?

Why yes they do! Here are two short videos of our bears playing one of their favorite games. They really are gentle giants!

Wildwood Otters Playing in the April Snow

It seems that spring is going to have to wait a few more days before those much anticipated signs of spring are visible. Just when we think spring is on its way - it snows.

Rather than grumble and complain - we decided to take our cue from the otters and enjoy whatever Mother Nature hands you!

Phase One of the Wildwood Wildlife Park Expansion: Wildwood Educational & Events Center

In the late fall of 2013 Wildwood Wildlife Park purchased an additional 65 acres, as part of the zoo’s vision to constantly evolve and attract visitors, with new animals, new exhibits, new educational center, and more ways to interact with some animals.

This new acreage has more than doubled the size of the park for a total of 100 acres.

The projects will be done in several phases over the next five years. The first phase is the Educational and Events Center.

The educational area will house live bees, where viewers will witness the honeybees performing their specialized 

duties to produce honey, educational exhibits, and interactive displays.

The center will also be able to be rented for birthdays, meetings, and small wedding events.

In the future, Wildwood Wildlife Park would like to host over night camps for kids.  

Bellatrix, Our Baby Binturong

Chances are the newest addition to the Wildwood Wildlife Park is an animal that is new to you. Meet Bellatrix, a baby binturong, also known as a bear cat. Its genus name Arctictis means ‘bear-weasel’ and it’s easy to see why. The name is misleading since binturongs are not related to bears or cats.

Binturong’s are native to South and Southeast Asia where they are can be found in the tropical rain forests. Binturongs are active during day and night. While binturongs spend most of their time in trees, they usually have to climb down

to get from tree to tree, since they are not nearly as acrobatic as monkeys. They move about gently, often coming to a stop, clinging to a branch often using their tail in order to keep its balance. They walk flat-footed, and, when waddling around on the ground their gait resembles that of a bear.

Binturong’s have a very distinctive smell - that of buttered popcorn! As pleasing as it might be to the human nose, that scent serves a purpose in the wild to let other binturongs know that they are trespassing on another binturongs territory; this same scent is also used to discourage a would-be predator.

Female binturongs usually give birth to 1 or 2 babies and weigh 5 ounces at birth. Adults can grow up to 2 to 3 feet in length and weigh between 30 and 50 pounds; their tails can grow from 19 to 33 inches in length. 

Binturong Area Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Another Addition To The Wildwood Wildlife Park Nursery: Bennett's Wallaby

It may be cold and snowy outside but inside Wildwood Wildlife Park, even the return of winter can’t dampen the excitement surrounding our newest addition to the nursery: Reeka, a Bennett’s Wallaby also known as the Red-necked Wallaby.

Wallaby’s and kangaroos are part of the marsupial family. Young wallabies are known as “joeys”, like many other marsupials. Adult male wallabies are referred to as “bucks” while adult female wallabies are knowns as “does.”

The Red-necked Wallaby can be distinguished from other wallabies by its white cheek markings, the red coloring on the neck and by their black nose and paws. . The rest of the Red-necked Wallaby’s body fur is colored grey to red with a white or pale grey abdomen. Their muzzle, paws and toes are black in color.

Wallabies are herbivores whose diet consists of grasses, roots, vegetables and tree leaves. Red-necked wallabies are mainly solitary but will gather together when there is an abundance of resources such as food, water or shelter. Red-necked Wallabies are mainly nocturnal; they spend most of the daytime resting.

Red-necked Wallabies are found in coastal forests throughout the coastal and highland are of eastern Australia. 

Wallabies, like all marsupials, are pouched mammals. A female bears one offspring at a time; the baby stays in the pouch for about 280 days. The pouch acts as a warm, safe place where the joey grows.

Map of Australia and Joey-Face-In-Pouch Photo Source: Wikipedia

Brand New to the Wildwood Wildlife Park Nursery: Baby Eland "Elle"

Here in Minocqua, we have over a foot of snow on the ground and the temperatures have not reached 35 degrees in weeks. But inside our buildings it's warm and toasty, which is especially important during this time of the year when our nursery is starting to get busy.

We are pleased to introduce one of our first arrivals - Elle, the common eland.

The common eland, also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. It is the second largest antelope in the world.

The common eland is an herbivore, which means its diet is primarily grasses and leaves. Common elands form herds of up to 500 animals, with individual members remaining in the herd anywhere from several hours to several months. They prefer a wide variety of flowering plants such as savannah, woodlands, and open grasslands and avoids dense forests. It uses loud barks to communicate and warn others of danger. They eat in the morning and evening, rest in the shade when it is hot and remain in sunlight when cold. 

The common eland is the slowest of the antelopes. They are capable of jumping up to 8 feet from a standing start when startled. 

The females are smaller than the males; females can weigh between 750 to 1,000 pounds, an adult male is around 5 feet tall at the shoulder and can weigh up to 1,300 pounds.

Common elands are spiral-horned antelopes; both males and females have these horns. These horns are visible as small buds in newborns and grow rapidly during the first seven months. Can you see the small buds on Elle in the photo on the left? The horns of the male are thicker and shorter than those of the female and a have a tighter spiral. Males use their horns during the rutting season to wrestle and butt heads with rivals, while females use their horns to protect their young from predators. Both males and females use their horns to break off branches that are hard to reach.

Wildwood Wildlife Park 2014 School Field Trip: Enjoy a Great Educational Learning Experience

Printable images of the post card that will be mailed out to area schools with information for the 2014 season. Book your school field trip today!