Wildlife

Video: How to understand what prairie dogs are saying -- and if they think you're fat

This week's cover story, "The Dogs of War," examines increased efforts to eradicate prairie dogs around the metro Denver area -- particularly in Stapleton, where developers and park managers have found it easier to poison the pesky rodents than relocate them. That's stirred up outrage from advocacy ... More >>

How a plan for open space near Stapleton became open season on prairie dogs

Rocky Mountain Greenway announcement today had a rocky buildup

At 2 p.m. today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will join Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Governor John Hickenlooper to make a "major announcement" about the Rocky Mountain Greenway, and also celebrate the recent expansion that added 1,200 acres of wildlife habitate to Rocky Flats ... More >>

Winging It

Rocky Flats land swap goes through: Pardon our dust!

When the dust finally settled on December 31, a complicated $10 million land swap involving the Colorado State Land Board, Boulder and Boulder County, Jefferson County and the Department of the Interior -- which now owns Rocky Flats, the former nuclear weapons plant -- had gone through. And that pav ... More >>

Rocky Flats still off-limits during National Wildlife Refuge Week

Bucks at Arsenal.This is National Wildlife Refuge Week, and the feds are encouraging you to "see what wildlife refuges are doing to conserve America's wildlife heritage." But when I asked if I could see Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, the regional U.S. Fish & Wildlife office declined that requ ... More >>

Reptilian Pavilion

Photos: Denver Zoo's $50M Toyota Elephant Passage opens today

This is it, zoo fans. This is what you've been waiting for and dreaming of since you approved that $62.5 million zoo-improvement bond in 1999. Big, hulking male elephants -- up to eight of 'em -- living in City Park. Big, hulking male elephants and their big, hulking...trunks. Today is the day tha ... More >>

Top five Colorado-animals-behaving-badly stories

Yes, animals are adorable. But they can also be destructive, as witnessed by the havoc wreaked by a certain squirrel this week -- more on that below. The chaos-loving rodent inspired us to round up five recent stories about critters gone wild, in a manner of speaking. Count down our favorites below ... More >>

What's good for the (Canada) goose isn't really good for Denver

An adult goose releases approximately one pound of poop every single day. This fact stays relatively unnoticed until wintertime, when thousands of Canada geese -- seemingly overnight -- come out of the woodwork and waddle onto your property and into your parking spot. Why are there so many? The trut ... More >>

Feather Your Nest

Reader: Shooting of a mother bear in Crestone was unjustified & state must be accountable

​Our story about the killing of a mother bear in Crestone by a Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer, and the current status of the two cubs she left behind, drew a response from the woman who owns the ranch where the shooting took place. Here's what she has to say.

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.

LoDo goes ape as Gorilla Run raises money for Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund

Eric Gruneisen​Last weekend, zombies filled downtown. This weekend, it was gorillas -- 1,200 of them, all participating in the eighth annual 5K Gorilla Run, which benefits the Denver-based Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund. That's more runners than there are mountain gorillas left in the wild ... More >>

How to get my job: Reptile Caretaker

​It takes a certain type of person to step into an alligator pen or to play with a giant snake, but Jay Young of Colorado Gators Reptile Park in Mosca does just that, every single day. We caught up with him to see if our fantasies of living in reptile utopia -- riding giant tortoises and wrest ... More >>

Beaver Fever! Sherri Tippe gives a dam about Colorado's beaver population

Video: Sherri Tippie leads a beaver-trapping mission

Get Buzzed at Cross Pollination

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 >>

Creature Comfort

Wanted: homing-pigeon trainer for MCA Denver

Dress for Success

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.

So many alpacas! SO MANY ALPACAS!

The alpaca contemplates.​The middle east may have its camels, which are admittedly pretty awesome, but here in the Americas we have llamas. And also alpacas, which are kind of like mini-llamas. Unlike llamas, though, alpacas are not for carrying things; specifically, they are bred for their ha ... More >>

Beaver Lady Sherri Tippie explains how to give a dam, save a river

Sherri Tippie.​Twenty-five years ago, hairdresser Sherri Tippie persuaded Aurora officials to let her trap beaver that were gnawing trees on a golf course and relocate rather than kill them. Since that first trapping session, ecologists and water authorities have increasingly come to see bea ... More >>

Wolverines in Colorado: Should we welcome the beasts back?

​There's currently one known wolverine in the state of Colorado, but there soon could be a lot more. Eighteen months ago, one of the giant weasels wandered into our state, where wolverines have long been absent. He was implanted with a tracking device and given a name: M56 (awww...). Today, h ... 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 >>

Bugging Out

For the Birds

Ken Salazar's gotta be happy: The black-tailed prairie dog isn't endangered after all

Stop resting easy, pal. You're not endangered anymore.​Last December, when President Barack Obama first announced the nomination of Colorado Senator Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior, Tucson's Center for Biological Diversity criticized the choice, claiming that Salazar's environmental r ... More >>

Fixers, feeders, and the strange, hidden world of feral cats

Kenny Be's Yard Arteology: Living life on the edge in East Colfax

The study of neighbors through their lawn decoration... ​ Figure 39. East Colfax: Emperor penguin on the edge All of the exotic creatures that come to Denver eventually end up on East Colfax Avenue. So, it should be no surprise to find a penguin perched on a porch in the neighborhood named ... More >>

Five things to do on Feral Cat Day

​Today, October 16, is National Feral Cat Day. This is not really a day of celebration; it's more of a day of scolding and sobering statistics, since the growing phenomenon of feral cats has a lot to do with the human capacity to abandon domesticated animals. Thirty thousand cats are euthanize ... More >>

Exxon-Mobil: admitted bird killers

Talk about paying at the pump.​Exxon-Mobil had a bad day in court in Denver yesterday. The firm pleaded guilty to killing migratory birds in five states, including Colorado. The size of the fine and community-service payments Exxon-Mobil has agreed to pony up -- $600,000 -- is, to use an avian ... More >>

In Colorado, it's not about why the wildlife cross the road, but whether they'll survive the trip

Caution: A herd of bull elephants is coming to the Denver Zoo

Amid coyote fever, mountain lions ask: What about us?

Grrrrrr. A couple of recent coyote-related incidents (read about them here and here) have kept the yipping varmints in the local news -- when newspapers and TV stations haven't been reporting about the travels of a certain lovesick wolf, that is. When the hell did Colorado media turn into the Disco ... More >>

Wake-Up Call: Forget coyotes. What about cougars?

Denver is in a tizzy over coyotes. Greenwood Village wants to shoot them. Denver wants to talk them to death, and will host a meeting Thursday to do just that. And not a moment too soon, apparently, because on Saturday evening, a 51-year-old woman walking a 75-pound lab near her home in the 3900 ... More >>

For the Birds

This bird-watching session requires binoculars and a chili spoon.

Coyotes getting bolder in ‘burbs

Stop Bird Porn: The leading contenders for weirdest, most worthless DNC protesters

Alpacas In

Clothing, animals and more abound at the Estes Park Alpaca Market.

Seven Hidden Dangers of the Denver Zoo

Shmuck

Inky Giants

Learn all about the giant squid in Parker.

For the Birds

In the Bush with Bwana Banyan -- Continued

Bird Is the Word

Little Is Big

Small mammals get some love.

Howl!

Varmints are wild in the streets of Park Hill.

Happy Feet

That whole talking-animal genre? Let's be done with it.