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Floyd the western lowland gorilla turned 1 on July 24, 2020. The Gorilla Care Team at Zoo Atlanta celebrated early on the morning of July 22, filling Floyd’s family’s habitat with festive surprises before the group came outside for the day. Floyd and his family enjoyed several ice “cakes” shaped as the numeral 1 and … Continue reading "GORILLA AT THE ZOO ENJOYS FIRST BIRTHDAY"

Giant pandas have a powerful jaw structure that helps them break the tough exterior of bamboo. Their jaw muscles are attached at the sagittal crest at the tops of their heads, which is what allows them to have such a strong jaw force. Giant pandas also have some unique features regarding their dentition compared with … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, July 8"

Hello everyone, it’s Gorilla Care Team member Allie again, and I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Today, we are going to be looking at gorilla teeth and what exactly they use those big chompers for. Get ready to sink your teeth into some gorilla facts! Gorillas have 32 teeth, just like humans! … Continue reading "What big teeth you have!"

On the heels of the completion of the most transformative project in Zoo Atlanta history, both the Zambezi Elephant Center and the renovation of Savanna Hall have officially earned LEED Gold certification. Administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program recognizes buildings across the world for … Continue reading "Savanna Hall awarded LEED gold"

On the heels of the completion of the most transformative project in Zoo Atlanta history, both the Zambezi Elephant Center and the renovation of Savanna Hall have officially earned LEED Gold certification. Administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program recognizes buildings across the world for … Continue reading "Savanna Hall awarded LEED Gold"

It’s a special day for the Panda Care Team because Po’s twins are 1 today! If you’re new to the Atlanta pandas, Po was Lun Lun Lun’s third and first female cub. She was born Nov. 3, 2010, and lived with Lun Lun until she was weaned in spring 2013. She moved to the Chengdu … Continue reading "Panda updates – Monday, July 6"

Giant pandas and red pandas are not closely related, with their most common ancestor living over 40 million years ago. So, why is it that two very different animals have similar adaptations to eat an almost exclusively bamboo diet? For many years, scientists were perplexed by the similarity. “Exactly how such evolutionary distant animals evolved … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, June 29"

Now that bamboo shoot season is done, it is time for the next type of bamboo. We just started offering a favorite of the giant pandas at this time of year, arrow bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica). As one might imagine, it has been a hit so far. Arrow bamboo is a really long and skinny bamboo … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, June 10"

Giant pandas have very few natural predators. As adults, they are very strong, and with a jaw pressure high enough to crush bamboo, they can pack a tough bite. For this reason, predators are more of a concern for giant panda cubs than they are for adults. Their most common predators are jackals and snow … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, May 22"

There are 25 species of tenrec which are mostly found on Madagascar, but some are native to mainland Africa. The name lesser hedgehog tenrec is misleading, as tenrecs are not related to hedgehogs. Their closest relatives are moles and shrews. However, like hedgehogs, tenrecs have spines covering much of their bodies. Although the underlying muscular structure is less specialized than a hedgehog’s, tenrecs have well-developed muscles under the skin that allow them to raise and lower their spines.