A Snowy Day at the Zoo

Even on the chilliest and snowiest days of the year, you'll find animals outside and enjoying the winter weather here at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. The Northern Trek area of the Zoo is home to quite a few of our cold-climate species, including grizzly bears, reindeer and tigers.

Lonnie Timmons III, a videographer at The Plain Dealer, stopped by the Zoo last week to check out some of our winter-loving animals experiencing a particularly snowy day in Cleveland. His video captures scenes of Mexican gray wolves running through the snow, harbor seals swimming in their pool and a polar bear catching a nap in a bed of snow.

So don't let the snow scare you off! Bundle up and visit the Zoo this winter. Admission is discounted through March 31 to just $7 per person, $5 for kids ages 2 to 11 and free for children under 2 and Zoo members. See you soon!

Congratulations Nancy Hughes!

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is proud to announce that Nancy Hughes, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's Composting and Recycling Coordinator, was selected as a Champion of Sustainability Award winner by Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, also known as E4S. E4S is a network of over 7000 leaders who are putting the principles of sustainability to work for their businesses and the northeastern Ohio region. Eight winners were chosen from among 55 nominations to include the most inspiring, highest impact, easily translatable stories. Nancy was presented the award on November 17, 2009 at the Seventh Annual E4S Champions of Sustainability awards ceremony for developing an outstanding recycling and composting program at the Zoo. Cleveland Metroparks also benefits by getting a free annual membership to E4S, so now employees can attend E4S events at a discount. Thanks to Nancy's dedication to waste reduction and the conservation of resources, we are all more inspired to implement sustainability in our daily lives. Read more about Nancy's success story from the E4S website.

(Photo L-R: Holly Harlan of E4S, Liz Fowler of the Cleveland Zoological Society, Nancy Hughes of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo)

Noon Year's Eve Photo Gallery

Thanks to everyone who came out and braved the cold and rain for the fourth annual Noon Year's Eve celebration at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. We counted almost 5000 visitors - were you there? Did we catch you on camera? Check out our gallery of photos from the event.

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Happy Zoo Year! (almost)

  • Posted at 11:12 am on December 30, 2009 by Jo
  • In Events Comments: 0
The count down to Noon Year's Eve is on!  Bundle up the kids and come on down to Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's 4th annual Noon Year's Eve celebration on Thursday, December 31 from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

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Zoo Wins Four 2009 PSRA Cleveland Rocks Awards

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has won a total of four Cleveland Rocks Awards -- three gold, one silver -- from the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. The Gold Awards were for the following categories in Government, Associations, Nonprofit:
  • Community Relations, for African Elephant Crossing
  • Integrated Communications, for DINOSAURS!
  • Press Kits, for DINOSAURS! Media Kit
And the Silver Award went to the Zoo's 2008 Annual Report in the category of Government, Associations, Nonprofit: Annual Reports.

All Dressed Up for the Holidays...Wolf Lodge

The Wolf Lodge is a "must-see" this season, beautifully decorated by our friends at Petitti Garden Centers. Oh yeah, it's warm and cozy too!

Tiny Endangered Toadlets

We got a heads-up from our amphibian keeper yesterday to snap some shots of our recently-morphed Puerto Rican crested toads. The tiny toadlets are smaller than a dime but very photogenic. Find out more about the species and check out our photos.

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Orangutans Celebrate Thanksgiving with Dessert First

As a pre-Thanksgiving warm-up, the Zoo gave its orangutans a special treat today -- pumpkin pie and pumpkins! The pumpkin pies were a big hit with mother Kayla and son Daniel. If you come to the Zoo on Thanksgiving Day, you'll see lots more -- we have special feedings and enrichment demonstrations scheduled throughout the day. Until then, check out our photos of the early dessert course given to the orangutans.

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That's Enrichment! Black Howler Monkeys Go Fishing

I happened across a great photo op last week with the Zoo's black howler monkeys. Their keeper was trying a new enrichment activity that would exercise both their minds and their prehensile tails -- and it involved two of my favorite things: water and spinach! Check out my photos of how far black howler monkeys will go to retrieve these tasty greens.

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Cleveland Recycles!

I just read the statistics from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's participation in America Recycles Day on November 15. Zoo Attendance that day was 2,137 visitors and we collected the following from 115 families that participated:
  • Computers = approximately 8 pallets
  • Aluminum (Cans For Conservation) = 210 pounds
    • $73.50 will be donated to the Mbeli Bai Gorilla project
  • Document shredding = 1.25 tons, resulting in the following:
    • 21.25 trees saved
    • 3.75 cubic yards of landfill space saved
    • air pollution reduced by 75 pounds
    • 25 gallons of water saved
  • Cell phones: 24
Thank you to all who participated. Let us know what you thought of the event!