Summer is the busiest season of the year at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, as we welcome locals on summer break and out-of-towners spending their vacations in the Rocky Mountains. Though the number of animals we care for typically stays the same during those warmer months, the number of guests can be thousands more than those who might visit during our winter months. To prepare for our summer guests to have the time of their lives at CMZoo, we spend the spring months looking for amazing people to help provide those experiences!

We get a lot of questions about how people can join our Zoo team, and how they can get the chance to work at the 4th Best Zoo in the U.S., ranked by USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. Here is the inside scoop: late winter and early spring are the best times of year to look for opportunities for employment with Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. In fact, we are gearing up right now to welcome new faces to our summer team.

Right now, CMZoo is looking for passionate people to join our Guest Experiences, Food Service and Retail, and Summer Camp Mentor teams.

CMZoo’s Guest Experiences team members are truly the face of the Zoo, and provide amazing human interactions for our guests. Whether it’s educating guests about the Quarters for Conservation program at the front gate, or helping to make sure our giraffe get lots of lettuce snacks at our giraffe feeding experience, these employees are one of the most powerful reasons guests keep coming back to CMZoo. The Guest Experiences team plays a pivotal role in connecting our guests from all over the world to our incredible zoo.

Ciera Ramirez works in a variety of roles on the Guest Experiences team at CMZoo, including admissions, the giraffe feeding lettuce hut, and the front desk in the administration office. She has been a Guest Experiences team member for two years.

“We’re all animal lovers who have a heart for guest service,” said Ramirez. “We don’t work directly with the animals, but we get to learn about them over time. It’s rewarding to help our guests enjoy their visit to the Zoo by sharing information and providing tips for making the most of their time with us. My favorite part of my job is seeing little kids’ faces light up with excitement when they feed the giraffe herd.”

Summer Camp Mentor is an ideal role for those who love to work with kids and to connect them to the natural world. Camp mentors are crucial for turning our youngest guests into future stewards for wildlife and wild places. Zoo camps are not your typical summer camp experience, and camp mentors are not your typical camp counselors. This role is hands-on, nature-based, kid-guided and conservation-minded. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s camp program has been named one of the best in Colorado Springs, and it is all due to the wonderful people who mentor the campers through the experience.

Zachary Ehlers has been a Summer Camp Mentor for two years, and is returning for his third year in 2022.

“I really value being able to help build the bond between youth and nature,” said Ehlers. “Providing such a unique and fun experience at Summer Zoo Camp while sharing my personal passion for the outdoors is priceless.”


Our Food Service and Retail team can be found anywhere guests can find dining and retail shopping opportunities at the Zoo. Although these team members technically work for a separate company – The SSA Group – they are an integral part of the CMZoo family. Like the Guest Experiences team, The SSA Group team members provide a world-class Zoo experience with delicious food, tasty beverages and unique items for purchase. Did you know that the gift shop has items that directly contribute to the conservation of animals in the wild, and that a portion of every purchase helps support the good work being done at CMZoo? Members of this team are not only well versed in their products, but also the environmental impacts of these items as well. If you love food, people, fast-paced environments and animals, then this is the perfect summer (or year-round!) opportunity.

Mary England is a gift shop retail associate with The SSA Group at CMZoo.

“Working in the gift shop is really fun because we get to see guests on the way out and hear all about their visits,” said England. “It’s really endearing, and it’s rewarding to know you’re helping guests choose meaningful gifts that represent the memories and animal connections they made here. Plus, I get to walk around the mountain and visit the animals on my break. It’s great!”

If you or someone in your life is looking for an opportunity to join the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo family, be sure to visit cmzoo.org/jobs to see all the current job postings and how to apply.

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In July, we told you about the new shipping container farm growing produce for animals at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Since then, CMZoo’s horticulture team has been working through challenges and growing their knowledge, along with lots of lettuce.

Last month, they harvested their first test yield of romaine lettuce for CMZoo’s giraffe herd!

“They ate it up!,” said Denny Patton, senior horticulturist at CMZoo. “After so many months of trial and error, testing, failing, and trying again, it was really cool to see the animals enjoying this produce that we’ve worked so hard to provide.”

Like every Colorado gardener knows, farming in The Centennial State is no easy feat. Using a complex, year-round growing system like this one requires commitment, patience and ongoing education.

“We’re learning so much,” said Patton. “I don’t think any of us thought we’d be programming computers and testing water’s oxygen levels in this role. We love this project. It’s a challenging and rewarding adventure.”

It’s hard to find a project much greener than this. The system is energy-, water- and space-efficient. Because the growing system’s shell was a freezer shipping container in its previous life, it’s heavily insulated. That will protect the plants from Colorado’s extreme temperature ranges, and allow the team to grow produce year-round.

The hydroponic lettuce growing system inside the container is one of the most efficient ways to grow lettuce – and as anyone who has visited our 17-member giraffe herd knows, they go through a lot of lettuce. On average, the Zoo uses more than 3,500 heads of romaine lettuce per month. Romaine lettuce is a small part of the giraffes’ diet, but it’s a huge part of our guests’ experience. The long-term goal is to grow about 55% of the Zoo’s lettuce using systems like this one, by expanding the number of shipping container farms at the Zoo.

The team is learning through trial and error. They’re testing how often they need to replace the water in the hydration tanks, which kinds of seeds grow well, how the automatic climate controls work (and don’t!), and how they could potentially improve growing conditions by altering the climate and nutrients in the system depending on the plants’ stage of development. That’s down the line, though, and only if this testing phase is deemed successful.

“Right now, we can grow about 2,500 plants at a time,” said Patton. “We’re testing how to make this as energy-efficient and water-conservative as possible. We’re even looking into different grow racks, because we might be able to double the number of plants we can grow at once by shuffling around some of the shelving.”

The single shipping container farm should produce about an acre’s worth of lettuce using only 40 gallons of water per day. The system also uses a dehumidifier to capture excess water from the air and filter it back into the watering reservoirs. The ebb-and-flow hydroponic system uses less than a typical shower to fuel hundreds of heads of lettuce.

“We’re planting on a weekly schedule,” said Patton. “On any given week, you’ll see brand-new seedlings, growing heads of lettuce and mature lettuce, ready to be fed to our animals. It’s a constant cycle, which we hope will eventually reduce the Zoo’s dependence on outside food sources.”

The team’s commitment to mastering this art-and-science project is paying off. They’re producing about 230 heads of lettuce a week – that’s between 30 and 50 pounds – for CMZoo’s animals, at a 90 percent success rate. Having nailed down a successful growing plan for romaine lettuce, the team is expanding the menu. They are also growing kale, which was a treat for our orangutans recently.

“The orangutans’ keepers said they didn’t usually eat the store-bought kale, but they gobbled our Zoo-grown kale right up,” said Patton. “I don’t think there’s a better compliment than that.”

Lettuce and kale aren’t the only things growing – much to our animals’ delight.

“Browse is a huge part of our animals’ diets, but its availability is limited in our state – especially in the winter months,” said Patton. “When you come and peek through the shipping container’s window, you’ll see some tiny sticks in there. We’re attempting to grow our own tree branches and leaves through propagation. We did a batch of native coyote willow for our wallabies, and they loved it!”

The horticulture team will continue testing the efficiency of the growing system, and sharing the fruits of their labor with CMZoo’s animals. Guests are welcome to check out the project, next to the carousel, on their next visit.

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Have you experienced the magic of CMZoo in the winter yet? Some people think there’s less to see and do at the Zoo in the cooler months, but the CMZoo giraffe tower stays busy all year long, regardless of the weather.

Thanks to Colorado’s famous 300 days of sunshine, the 17-member herd explores its outdoor spaces more often than you might think. One member, Ohe, seems to like the additional natural snow ‘enrichment,’ while others get lots of yummy browse and lettuce snacks from guests.

When they’re indoors, keepers get creative with enrichment activities and spend time training the giraffe for husbandry behaviors, like hoof care. Guests can feed the herd from inside their warm barn, too, so there’s no excuse for leaving the Zoo without making a memorable connection with a new tall friend.

We’re open all year, so come and see for yourself! Advance tickets are required: cmzoo.org/visit.

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It has been six months of Omo goodness, so we’re taking a little trip down memory lane AND showing you some new up-close Omo footage. Spoiler alert: incoming Omo window boops.

From watching Zambezi embrace motherhood for the first time with such a gentle nature to seeing Omo wild out in the pools, and every nap, plop and ear wiggle in between, it’s been a joy sharing these two with you all. Happy six-month birthday, Omo!

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Join Bhutan, our 13-year-old snow leopard, and his keepers for snow day enrichment and training! Learn about Bhutan’s personality, his favorite scent-masking seasoning, which husbandry behaviors he’s working on, and how Bhutan is contributing to the future of his species. Make sure your volume is up to hear Bhutan’s impressive growls during his training session.

Snow leopards’ wild populations are listed as ‘vulnerable,’ according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. Bhutan’s genetics are extremely valuable to the Snow Leopard Species Survival Plan, but he prefers a life with plenty of his own space, so traditional breeding isn’t in his future. Bhutan’s sperm is valuable because he doesn’t have offspring and has an extremely high sperm count. His sperm has been collected and is kept in a ‘frozen zoo.’ If the need arises, conservationists can pair Bhutan with a genetically valuable female snow leopard without having to involve Bhutan.

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CMZoo’s four hippos have access to multiple indoor and outdoor climate-controlled pools, grassy yards, a waterfall and indoor land areas, which they take turns sharing. Omo and Zambezi chose to spend time in their privacy pool the other day, and the adorable duo had quite the pool party!

Surveillance camera footage caught 5-month-old Omo jumping, splashing, playing with floating enrichment and climbing on Zambezi. 29-year-old Zambezi, Omo’s mom, gets in on the fun, too, encouraging him to ‘chase’ her in the water and having her own fun with the floaties.

Learn more about Omo here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUd9bK-IbrIMxpwuRlrLaZfU4fFwB9cPG

Winter break is coming to an end, and that means spring break will be here before you know it. Spring Break Zoo Camp registration is open now at cmzoo.org/camp. Young explorers from first to sixth grade can sign up now for fun (and educational) opportunities with Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

Spring Break Zoo Camp is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, March 21-25, 2022. Campers can sign up for one day, or all five! Each day features new activities, so campers who attend for multiple days will have unique animal experiences every day.

This year’s Spring Break Zoo Camp theme is Incredible Innate Behaviors! Innate behaviors are unlearned, instinctual acts, like geese migrating or opossums ‘playing dead.’ The animal world is full of incredible actions that animals are born to do. Come discover how these almost involuntary acts help animals throughout the wild world!

Campers should sign up for the camp that reflects the grade they are currently enrolled in. All camps include hands-on experiences, up-close animal encounters, games, and more every single day! Register for the whole week, or just a few days. Camps will fill up fast, so don’t delay.

Space is limited, so visit www.cmzoo.org/camp to register your campers today!

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December was a big month for CMZoo’s smallest hippo. He just broke the 300-pound mark! Five-month-old Omo is consistently eating solid foods now, but he’ll continue nursing for several months to come. He’s also getting more confident, showing he’s comfortable around new enrichment items, like big boxes and boomer balls.

Omo is also meeting his neighbors. Watch as he says hello to common warthogs, Alexander and Penelope, through a fence, and gets nose-to-nose with his aunt, Kasai.

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It’s officially winter, when many people wonder if Emmett and Digger, CMZoo’s grizzly bears, go into hibernation. The short answer is no, but it’s a more complicated topic than some might expect. Scientists continue to study seasonal animal dormancy and are finding that animals experience a wide spectrum of behavioral and physiological changes in the winter months.

Various states of dormancy, including torpor or hibernation, are caused by seasonal changes including less sunlight, lower ambient temperatures and reduced food availability in the wild. But, animals in human care can also experience seasonal changes, even though they have plenty of food and shelter available. When animals go into these dormant states, their body temperatures, heart rates, metabolisms and respiratory rates are reduced. Generally, they slow down.

“Although bears have become the poster children of hibernation in popular culture, bear experts maintain that not all bears hibernate,” said Kelsey Walker, Rocky Mountain Wild keeper. “Wild bears naturally slow down to conserve energy, since they don’t have regular access to food. Even with consistent access to food, our boys experience changes each winter, so dormancy could be an adaptation developed over generations of bears surviving in the wild, and it has to do with more than food availability. Like I said, it’s complicated.”

Emmett and Digger sleep more and eat less during the winter months, even though they have access to warm dens and plentiful food year-round. Still, they stay pretty active during the winter, and continue training with their keepers and exploring their multi-yard exhibit and pond.

“In the winter, they will still interact with us, but they expect higher rewards for participation,” said Courtney Rogers, lead keeper in Rocky Mountain Wild. “What seems like a tasty snack during the summer isn’t worth the effort in the winter. I’ve seen Emmett and Digger square up over a single blueberry in the summer. In the winter, we can toss them a whole fresh trout and if it doesn’t land in their mouths, they don’t want it right away.”

Keepers say Emmett and Digger still play-wrestle, splash in their pond, and train in the winter months, but in a less energetic way. To maintain a good relationship while their normal food rewards aren’t as interesting to the grizzles, the keepers give them extra-rewarding items, like salmon.

“We want to make sure they’re still mentally stimulated while their bodies are in a more restful state, so we give the bears opportunities for mental stimulation, through training and enrichment options, while their bodies rest,” said Walker. “If you’ve seen them in the summer, you’ve got to come out and watch them in the winter. Although they slow down a bit, they’re as captivating as ever and guests can see them snuggling together, training with us or investigating enrichment items all winter long.”

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The Loft is now home to three domestic ferrets! Nine-month-old female domestic ferret, Cyclone, has joined Alfred Pennyworth and Harley Quinn at CMZoo. Watch as Cyclone enjoys one of her favorite enrichment activities: a ball pit!

Cyclone has lighter fur than Harley. Her markings are similar to Alfred’s, except her nose is black, as his is pink. Next time you’re at CMZoo, swing by The Loft to say hello to this energetic trio!

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