Denver Zoo

Denver Zoo welcomes Kimbo the elephant, a new companion for grande dame Dolly

Denver Zoo elephant Dolly has a new lady friend -- 42-year-old Kimbo the elephant, who has come from the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas to live in Denver. Kimbo brings the Denver Zoo's Asian elephant population back up to four. It had declined by one when the eldest of the herd, 53-year-old Mimi, passed aw ... More >>

Denver Zoo welcomes an effing adorable red panda named Chewbacca, ready for love

A red panda named Chewbacca has come to live at the Denver Zoo. His purpose? To mate with the zoo's female red panda, Daisy. His other, more important purpose? To be effing adorable. Continue reading for more facts and photos of the six-year-old Chewbacca -- who came to Denver from the Detroit Zo ... More >>

10 things to do for $10 in Denver this weekend (6 free!), January 11-13

Though this weekend is tinted all orange and blue, there's plenty of action in Denver that's not sports-related. (And, of course, plenty that is.) From a mustache party to free zoo days to art openings, here are ten things you can do for under $10. Find our complete listings of events on the online ... More >>

Lights Out

Much To Do at the Zoo

Wild asses at the Denver Zoo -- the four-legged Somali kind!

Where's the best place to find wild asses in Denver? If you guessed Shotgun Willie's, you're probably right. But we would have also accepted the Denver Zoo. Why's that? Because the zoo is now home to two 600-pound Somali wild asses named Kalifa and Kamowa. The two half-brothers recently arrived fro ... More >>

Effing cute Amur leopard baby now visible to guests at the Denver Zoo

Just when you thought baby zoo animals couldn't get any cuter (we're talking about you, baby tigers), along comes an itty-bitty leopard that changes everything. His name is Makar (pronounced Mah-car), he was born on April 25 and he is effing adorable. The Denver Zoo has kept Makar and his cuteness ... More >>

Beau Green, exec chef of the Denver Zoo, on his new all-Colorado food cart

Beau Green Denver Zoo 2300 Steele Street www.denverzoo.org This is part one of my interview with Beau Green, exec chef of the Denver Zoo. You can read part of our interview in this space tomorrow. It was a juvenile-court judge who forced Beau Green into a kitchen. The 37-year-old chef of the Denve ... More >>

Denver Zoo's poop-and-trash-powered rickshaw on display at 1700 Broadway

We first told you about the Denver Zoo's plan to turn a shitload of shit into electricity and heat back in 2009. The key is a scientific process called gasification. Basically, it works like this: Poop and trash and other waste goes in, science happens, and then voila! The end product is a useful c ... More >>

Soosha, 25-year-old Denver Zoo polar bear, dies after "severe decline in health"

Cranbeary the polar bear is no stranger to loss or heartbreak. Two years ago, she lost her mate, Frosty, who died of liver cancer at the age of 25, just one month after Cranbeary arrived at the zoo to er, become acquainted with him. And last week, Cranbeary's aunt, 25-year-old Soosha, was euthanized ... More >>

Denver Zoo welcomes 11,000-pound male elephant Groucho

Fort Worth Zoo​ Bodhi the elephant has a new buddy. The Denver Zoo has welcomed its second male elephant, a 41-year-old named Groucho who came from the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas to live in the Denver Zoo's new mega-exhibit, Toyota Elephant Passage. He's a big boy: At 11,000 pounds, Groucho is no ... More >>

Out of Africa

Cranbeary the widowed Denver Zoo polar bear gets another chance at Thanksgiving romance

Cranbeary has been unlucky in love. Frosty, a 25-year-old male who was the last bear destined to mate with the Denver Zoo's frisky female, died of liver cancer a month after Cranbeary arrived in Denver, making her the Anna Nicole Smith of polar bears. But the zoo is trying again with Lee, a twelve-y ... More >>

Meet Bodhi, the Denver Zoo's first male elephant: Bring on the green weenie!

Bodhi.​The green weenie is here. The Denver Zoo has welcomed its first male elephant, a seven-year-old named Bodhi who hails from Ohio. Thanks to a new exhibit called Asian Tropics, the zoo will soon have space for up to eight male elephants -- a serious undertaking for a very moist reason.

Occupy Denver's Amelia Nicol, Jonathan Shepard among 4 busted in raid on squat

Amelia Nicol.​Update, 1 p.m. October 24: We now know the names of the four Occupy Denver participants arrested in a Denver Police Department raid on a squat over the weekend, and two of them were recently featured in this space: Amelia Nicol, who saw murder charges against her dropped earlier ... More >>

Denver Zoo named greenest zoo in the country (plus pictures of effing adorable baby animals)

"I love to poop."​ The Denver Zoo is the greenest zoo in the country, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which awarded the zoo its first-ever (and aptly titled) Green Award. So what makes the Denver Zoo so environmentally friendly? One of the reasons has to do with elephant po ... More >>

Students and gorillas enjoy local food on Colorado Proud School Meal Day

Man and beast keep it local.​At the Denver Zoo today, five gorillas chomped on lettuce and squash. Slightly more delicately, students from Steele Elementary ate pears, apples and wraps. And none of the ingredients in today's meals came from outside of Colorado. As part of Colorado Proud Schoo ... More >>

Denver Zoo staff to travel to Vietnam to help Asian elephants, Michael Jackson monkeys

MJ? Is that you?​ This month, four Denver Zoo staff members will travel to Vietnam to help two endangered species: Asian elephants -- up to twelve of which will one day live in the zoo's new Asian Tropics exhibit -- and Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys, an extraordinarily endangered species of monkey ... More >>

Prairie dogs: Top 5 relocation destinations for critters living on future path of RTD's DIA train

Flickr​ The prairie dogs of Peña Boulevard are getting evicted. As the Denver Post reports today, RTD is attempting to relocate hundreds of critters living along the route of the future train to Denver International Airport. If they can't find new homes, another option is to kill them and ma ... More >>

It's a Zoo in Here!

Denver Zoo buries time capsule in Asian Tropics, new elephant and tapir exhibit

​ When it's finished in the spring of 2012, Asian Tropics, the Denver Zoo's ambitious new exhibit, will be home to elephants, rhinos, leopards, flying foxes, fishing cats, otters, gibbons, tapirs and... a time capsule made by middle-schoolers.

Denver Zoo orangutan with breathing problems better at grooming (& sex?) with new treatment

Mias takes a hit. Smooth.​ For years, Denver Zoo orangutan Mias looked sad. "He was definitely lethargic and slower," says Tiffany Barnhart, zoo spokeswoman. "We'd see him holding his head off in the corner and not participating in things with his mate." But lately, things are looking up for M ... More >>

Denver Zoo welcomes four red ruffed (and endangered) (and effing cute!) lemurs

"We loves being born!"​ We here at Effing Adorable Animal Baby Headquarters just got a super-important dispatch from the Denver Zoo: four new red ruffed lemur babies! Though not as effing adorable as the zoo's four Amur tiger cubs -- who won the prestigious Best Denver Zoo Animal Babies award ... More >>

Denver Zoo entices children to raise $7 million for its new elephant exhibit, Asian Tropics

"Anything helps."​ The Denver Zoo is $7 million short of the $50 million it needs to complete its biggest project ever: Asian Tropics, a new exhibit that will house up to twelve endangered Asian elephants. And to reach its goal, the zoo has zeroed in on a category of philanthropists who are eq ... More >>

Denver Zoo's new elephant exhibit, Asian Tropics, is halfway finished (PHOTOS)

​Asian Tropics, the Denver Zoo's biggest-ever project, is halfway finished. When it's fully completed in the spring of 2012, it will be home to several species, including up to eight male Asian elephants -- a necessity for captive breeding, but an intimidating feat that brings certain challeng ... More >>

Groundhog in PA predicts spring, while prairie dog in Denver says more winter: Who's right?

Denver Zoo​ Today, on Gobbler's Knob in Pennsylvania, groundhog weatherman Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, thus predicting that an early spring is on the way. But last week, on no sort of knob whatsoever, a Denver Zoo prairie dog named Daisy crawled out of her enclosure and did see h ... More >>

Denver Zoo's Zoo Lights is one of the best holiday lights displays in the world, says Bing

Dave Parsons/Denver ZooThis dragon is en fuego.​ What does the Denver Zoo have in common with Jerusalem? How about with a thirty-foot tree made entirely of Legos? Or a bridge in Branson, Missouri, a city best described as Las Vegas for Christians? Stumped? We'll tell you. Bing (if you don't kn ... More >>

Denver Zoo welcomes Rinny the tapir, the first new inhabitant of the Asian Tropics exhibit

Dave Parsons/Denver Zoo​ Rinny, the Denver Zoo's new tapir, looks like what happens when an elephant knocks boots with a pig, and then they have a baby and it's Halloween and they dress the baby like an Oreo. But despite the fact that Rinny looks like a sandwich cookie, the zoo thinks she's ... More >>

Denver Zoo's new animal babies: Four itty-bitty Komodo dragons with teeth that could kill you

Dave Parsons/Denver Zoo​ Here's to you, Hagrid. The Denver Zoo is hatching dragons! In the past week, four Komodo dragons have hatched at the zoo. And the keepers are expecting even more: Four eggs remain in the incubator. Even though Komodo dragons are lizards, and lizards aren't that cute, ... More >>

Denver Zoo: Lizard babies deserve love, too

Dave Parsons/Denver Zoo​ Some babies are cuter than others. It's harsh, but true. But ugly babies deserve love too! With that in mind, we bring you the Denver Zoo's newest babies: four caiman lizard-lings born in September and October.

Brew at the Zoo Soothes the Beasts

Denver Zoo's baby orangutan wants to meet you!

Dave Parsons/Denver Zoo​ Hesty, the Denver Zoo's new effing adorable baby Sumatran orangutan, is ready to see and be seen. Born on June 19 to mother Nias and father Mias, she made her public debut on exhibit this past Saturday. (No word on whether the zoo's other baby animals were insanely jea ... More >>

Denver Zoo mourns Frosty the bear, welcomes sea lion pup

Dave Parsons/Denver ZooNaptime!​ Call it the circle of life. This week, the Denver Zoo mourned the loss of a polar bear named Frosty and celebrated the birth of an effing adorable baby sea lion named... well, nothing yet. The baby is a very talkative girl whose vocalizations, as heard in the ... More >>

Party Animals

Denver Zoo's sheep baby daddys are working overtime: Five new lambs!

Denver Zoo"What's up, Ma?"​You know what's the most effing adorable thing ever? Baby sheep. And maybe baby monkeys and baby giraffes and horny polar bears named Cranbeary. But definitely not naked mole rats. And the best place to oogle baby sheep this summer will be the Denver Zoo, seeing ... More >>

Cranbeary, the Denver Zoo's returning lady polar bear, is looking for love(making)

Dave Parsons/Denver ZooCranbeary is smiling. Maybe because she just did it.​ It's Adorable Animal Friday! (See previous installments here: baby giraffe is born; baby monkey is effing cute; naked mole rats are effing hideous.) Today, we bring you Cranbeary, an eight-year-old polar bear who has ... More >>

Are baby giraffes cuter than baby monkeys? You be the judge

Dave Parsons/Denver ZooBaby Cricket gets licked by her mama, Heshimu, minutes after being born.​Last month, we here at Westword told you about the Denver Zoo's new, effing adorable baby monkey, Kanani. Kanani's effing adorable photo now serves as the computer desktop photo of a certain staff w ... More >>

Traveling trunk: Big wooden elephant arrives at Denver Zoo

Courtesy of Dave Parsons/Denver ZooDa elephant statue. Word.​ What's six feet tall, made of wood and never forgets? Why, the Denver Zoo's new elephant statute, of course! Forgive our bad joke. It's Friday afternoon and our brains are mushy. It's true, however, that the zoo has a new wooden e ... More >>

Elephants You’ll Remember

Do the Denver Zoo's elephants need giant Snuggies now that Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter?

"I'll keep you warm, baby..."​Are the elephants at the Denver Zoo freezing their giant butts off? In Defense of Animals says they are. The zoo says no way. According to a Groundhog Day-themed report issued today by the animal watchdog group, the Denver Zoo is among the thirty-one U.S. zoos ho ... More >>

Big feet, big trunks: Ten of the country's most eligible elephant bachelors

Ken Bohn, San Diego ZooRanchipur, a 43-year-old bull at the San Diego Zoo, tries to pick up 42-year-old Cha Cha. "Hey baby. Are you wearing space pants? Because your ass is out of this world!" "Oh, like I haven't heard that one before. Dick." "Caution: A Herd of Bull Elephants is Coming to the Denv ... More >>

Zoo who? The Denver Zoo's new "mystery" billboard campaign

Denver Egotist Kudos to the folks at Denver Egotist for first noticing this billboard-size blunder: Two billboards have gone up, one at Cherokee Street and Alameda Avenue and one at West Custer Place between Lipan and Jason streets, emblazoned with Denver Zoo's manipulative ad slogan "Every time yo ... More >>

Rocky Mountain News sends out false news alert about elephant escape

Party Animals

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Predator Ridge transforms the Denver Zoo

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