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The Zoo Atlanta family is saddened to announce the passing of Shamba, a 58-year-old female western lowland gorilla. Shamba, the oldest gorilla at Zoo Atlanta and one of the oldest gorillas in the world, was found unresponsive by her care team on October 27, 2017. Following a preliminary examination that revealed advanced age-related complications, the … Continue reading "Remembering Shamba"

The Zoo Atlanta family is saddened to announce the passing of Shamba, a 58-year-old female western lowland gorilla. Shamba, the oldest gorilla at Zoo Atlanta and one of the oldest gorillas in the world, was found unresponsive by her care team on October 27, 2017. Following a preliminary examination that revealed advanced age-related complications, the … Continue reading "Remembering Shamba"

A lot of our panda fans have been asking why we are trying so hard to introduce sweet potato to the girls as a part of their diet. Why not other produce items? Both Lun Lun and Yang Yang receive a variety of produce including bananas, apples, sweet potato and pear. Well, one of the … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, October 25"

They’re baaack! Those little balls of fluff everyone has been missing the last six weeks are back in their habitat! That’s right, I’m talking about the flamingo chicks. If you were able to see them in late August before they migrated behind the scenes with their parents for monitoring, you’ll notice that they already look … Continue reading "New kids in the flock"

The cubs are beginning to consume some bamboo. While they still don’t quite have the jaw strength to break the large culms like their parents, they are eating some leaves and small sprigs. They are working on their jaw strength as we have seen them trying to break the small branches. Although milk is still … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, October 23"

The giant pandas spending more time in their outdoor habitats presents many more opportunities than just the pandas getting to spend time outside. Their outdoor habitats have fun places to hide enrichment, scatter their leafeater biscuits, and they can enjoy the crisp fall air. For keepers, it means we can do more cleaning projects inside … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, October 20"

Zoo Atlanta is not just about animals. Indeed, people are not just about people. Recent advances in analyzing genetic samples have broken down the former wall that prevented scientists from really describing the bacterial fauna (“microbiome”) that lives on, in, and in association with all forms of life. We now can calculate the number and … Continue reading "The bacterial world of animals"

Cooler weather means more outside time for the giant pandas! Going outside almost daily this past week has resulted in the cubs being much more comfortable in the outdoor space. Yesterday we saw them wrestling and playing outside! Mom still isn’t crazy about spending more than a couple of hours outside, so if you want … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, October 18"

Hey reader, I recently had the opportunity to attend the 2017 Orangutan Species Survival Plan® (SSP) Husbandry Workshop. And let me start off by saying I had a wonderful time. The workshop was hosted by the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans. Zookeepers, veterinarians, researchers and other orangutan fans from all over the world gathered … Continue reading "Report from Orangutan SSP Husbandry Workshop"

We are all excited about the autumn weather finally arriving to Atlanta. Well, almost arriving. It’s not 80 degrees anymore! We have been taking advantage of these cooler mornings by getting the pandas into the outdoor habitats as early as possible. Due to their incredibly thick fur, the bears are not very tolerant of hot … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, October 16"