Alaska Zoo Audio Guide

Stephanie Hart­man is the Edu­ca­tion Direc­tor for the Alas­ka Zoo, respon­si­ble for over­see­ing edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams, plan­ning events, and work­ing with zoo part­ners such as the Alas­ka Depart­ment of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser­vice and Polar Bears Inter­na­tion­al. Hav­ing worked at the Alas­ka Zoo for twelve years, Stephanie is pas­sion­ate about all the ani­mals at the zoo, as well as uti­liz­ing those ani­mals to prop­er­ly edu­cate peo­ple about the  ...more

Black-billed Mag­pies are mem­bers of the corvid fam­i­ly, along with ravens and crows. Mag­pies are oppor­tunis­tic omni­vores, eat­ing a var­ied diet of items like insects, car­rion, rodents, eggs, berries, seeds and nuts, and they often for­age for food by walk­ing on the ground.

Life is good in the har­bor seal habi­tat at the zoo, with train­ing and feed­ing ses­sions with zookeep­ers each day. As for our riv­er otter, she enjoys swim­ming and explor­ing in her habi­tat, as well as the occa­sion­al otter nap!

Polar bears are an icon of the north, a marine mam­mal adapt­ed to life on sea ice habi­tat. They trav­el on the ice and use it as a plat­form to cap­ture ringed seals, their pri­ma­ry prey species. They are a threat­ened species, as cli­mate change accel­er­ates the loss of their sea ice habi­tat each year. The Alas­ka Zoo is an Arc­tic Ambas­sador Cen­ter ded­i­cat­ed to con­serv­ing polar bears through edu­ca­tion and action.

Moose are the largest mem­ber of the deer fam­i­ly. They can range in size from 800 pounds to over 1600 pounds, and can be up to six feet tall.

Wolver­ines are well adapt­ed for scav­eng­ing, and are oppor­tunis­tic, eat­ing any­thing they can kill.

Cana­da Lynx are the only native cat species in the state of Alas­ka, and they are dis­trib­uted across much of Alaska’s forest­ed ter­rain. Snow­shoe hare are the pre­ferred food for Cana­da lynx, how­ev­er they will also con­sume prey such as grouse, squir­rels and rodents.

Musk oxen were hunt­ed to extinc­tion in Alas­ka by the ear­ly 1900’s. In 1930, 34 musk oxen where brought from Green­land to restore wild pop­u­la­tions in our state. This effort was under­tak­en to pre­serve this Ice Age rel­ic in the wild.

In the sum­mer of 2010, we com­plet­ed con­struc­tion of our Ani­mal Infir­mary. This facil­i­ty allows the zoo to pro­vide an even high­er qual­i­ty of care, with new vet­eri­nary access in our cus­tom exam room and hold­ing areas for pub­lic view of our birds that have ​“migrat­ed” indoors for the win­ter. This facil­i­ty is an exten­sion of our mis­sion to care for orphaned and injured wildlife.

Wolves are car­ni­vores that hunt cari­bou in the north, Sit­ka black-tailed deer in South­east Alas­ka, and moose through­out the state. They are pack hunters, who use endurance and strat­e­gy to cap­ture prey. Wolves are able to live and hunt in packs because of hier­ar­chies, social struc­tures which rein­force an individual’s place in the group through body lan­guage, posi­tion­ing and vocalizing.

Amur tigers are the largest cat species in the world, native to the bore­al forests of Rus­sia and Chi­na. They are well-adapt­ed to live in harsh envi­ron­ments, where cold and deep snow is com­mon. Today, it is esti­mat­ed that only 350 to 450 Amur tigers exist in the wild. We play an active role in their future by teach­ing thou­sands of vis­i­tors about their endan­gered sta­tus, hope­ful­ly inspir­ing the next gen­er­a­tion to care and con­serve them.

Do por­cu­pines shoot their quills? Quills are hairs mod­i­fied for pro­tec­tion, so they are held in the skin just like hair on our head. They can­not shoot their quills, but they are still a threat to preda­tors. If con­tact is made with a por­cu­pine and its prick­ly quills, the barbed tips will stick eas­i­ly in the skin.

Our Cof­fee Shop offers a selec­tion of meals, snacks, pas­tries and espres­so drinks. The adja­cent lawn area is bustling dur­ing sum­mer months with edu­ca­tion­al lec­tures on Tues­day nights, live music on Fri­day nights, spe­cial event activ­i­ties, and rental par­ties who reserve the lawn for pic­nics and weddings.

Bac­tri­an Camels have two humps and are from the cold, moun­tain­ous regions of Chi­na and Mon­go­lia. Their humps store fat, not water, for ener­gy use dur­ing weeks and months with­out water. 

Black bears are the most abun­dant and wide­ly dis­trib­uted of the three bear species in North Amer­i­ca. These bears are crea­tures of oppor­tu­ni­ty, with feed­ing habi­tats depen­dent on food avail­abil­i­ty. We work with the Alas­ka Depart­ment of Fish and Game each year to remind Anchor­age cit­i­zens that garbage must be secured in prop­er bear-resis­tant con­tain­ers to pre­vent bears from hav­ing access to it. These efforts will keep black bears wild and humans  ...more

The bald eagle is named for the white head of the adult bird. The name was giv­en by Amer­i­can colonists at a time when bald, or balled, meant white, and not hair­less. Imma­ture bald eagles do not have the white head and tail, as it takes about five years for the plumage to develop.

Dall sheep are an alpine species which inhab­it steep moun­tain slopes and cliffs. They use this rugged ter­rain as pro­tec­tion from preda­tors, often stay­ing in tight social groups to keep an eye out for wolves or gold­en eagles, which would prey on their lambs. The rams, or males, have large curled horns which they will crash togeth­er when com­pet­ing for sta­tus or females.

Liv­ing in the remote and harsh ter­rain of the Himalayan Moun­tains, the snow leop­ard is amongst the most spe­cial­ized of all land preda­tors. These endan­gered cats not only have a plush coat to keep them warm, they are also able to use their three-foot long tail for bal­ance when mov­ing through their moun­tain­ous habi­tat. We are proud to pro­vide a home for this crit­i­cal­ly endan­gered species while edu­cat­ing vis­i­tors about their plight in the wild.  ...more

Brown bears are much larg­er than their rel­a­tive the black bear. Kodi­ak bears are the largest brown bear sub­species, with adult males weigh­ing up to 1,500 pounds. Coastal brown bears can also reach the same large size, feed­ing on rich sup­plies of salmon and sedge grass­es. In areas of high food con­cen­tra­tion where brown bears feed in larg­er groups, they avoid con­flicts through body lan­guage and social structures.