Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Author at CMZoo

The Zoo profession is a quickly evolving blend of science, veterinary medicine, compassion, relationships, intuition and innovation. With the well-being of its animals at the forefront, CMZoo is investing in another full-time dedicated position to increase enrichment opportunities for its scaly, furry, giant and tiny animal colleagues. As CMZoo’s Curator of Environmental Enhancements, Jason Bredahl incorporates an environments-first approach to enrich animals’ lives. Jason’s new position works in collaboration with Rick Hester, another full-time CMZoo staff member dedicated to animal well-being as the Curator of Behavioral Husbandry.

“We know that positive reinforcement training with keepers, novel enrichment activities and interactions with guests are engaging for our animals,” Jason says. “We want to fill the rest of their days with enrichment that doesn’t depend on people providing it. We want their environments to support them with opportunities that they find positively reinforcing for as long as possible.”

Before accepting this position, Jason worked as an animal keeper and animal care manager of giraffe, African lions, elephants, rhino, okapi and more at CMZoo for 24 years. Stepping into this dedicated role, he can share his vast behavioral knowledge and experience with all of the Zoo’s animal care teams. Plus, he’ll have the time, equipment and resources to lead enrichment programs for animals all over the Zoo. The goal is to provide activities the animals find reinforcing – meaning they achieve mental and physical stimulation, satisfaction and comfort – through their own innate natural behaviors.

For a grizzly bear, digging is tops. The grizzlies’ new habitat (currently under construction) will have a variety of digging locations and varied substrates where the bears can get dirty, take a comfy nap or uncover treats to their hearts’ delights. Rocky Mountain goats want to climb and survey from on high. CMZoo recently added 30 boulders to the top of their rocky cliffs, which already towered over the Zoo. Penguins want to hunt. A new trout enrichment program allows them to zoom underwater and get the behavioral and nutritional satisfaction of snagging the catch of the day. Beavers want to build dams, but their care team discovered that providing branches wasn’t inspiring them. So, now the team provides specific branches that are good for building and installed a speaker system that plays running water on a loop in the beavers’ habitat. Dams now abound in the CMZoo beaver pond.

“Herbivores’ favorite job is eating,” Jason says. “We see them seeking food over almost anything else, regardless of how much we provide. It’s a challenge to provide the quantities and right kinds of food so they can eat for the majority of the day without gaining an unhealthy amount of weight. That means we need more tree branches, just like they would eat in the wild. That’s where our browse program is really stepping up and where our community can make an impact.”

CMZoo’s browse program isn’t new, but it’s evolving. ‘Browse’ is another word for tree branches, leaves, twigs and trunks. With Jason overseeing the program, Sarah Touchton, browse coordinator, is filling her days by filling the Zoo’s pick-up truck with tree branches and solidifying relationships with local landscaping companies.

“I want to encourage our community members to ask their tree trimmers where they’re going to recycle branches, and to suggest they reach out to us,” Sarah says. “We’re trying to add a step to the tree recycling process. It will still become mulch eventually at a local tree recycling organization, but before it goes there, it could come here first and our animals could really benefit from the bark and leaves.”

The Zoo can’t accept branches that have been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides or are diseased or dead. The branches must have been cut within a day or two of the donation. Zoo animals can have elm, willow, ash and cottonwood branches and trunks. Maple and pine species are toxic to ruminants – herbivorous animals with multi-chambered stomachs.

“Donations should be at least a truckload of tree branches and trunks to make the most of our pick-ups,” Sarah says. “Once it gets to the Zoo, we distribute branches to giraffe, elephants, wallabies, our rhino, moose, and more, and they gobble it up. Other animals that don’t eat the branches might like to play with them. It’s really fun to be able to show our browse donors where their branches ended up, especially when it’s something as cute as a video of Emmett, our grizzly bear, swimming and swinging branches over his head.”

The next time a tree needs a trim, the property owner can encourage their tree trimming service provider to see if the Zoo can use the browse. Landscaping companies can also reach out to the team to set up regular drop-offs at [email protected]. Drop-off and pick-up opportunities may be limited and the team will prioritize large-volume donations.

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Saddle up, carousel fans! Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s historic 1926 Allan Herschel carousel will soon open in its new home between Grizzly Grill and Lodge at Moose Lake.

The Zoo’s carousel is a portable county-fair-style unit designed to be taken apart and moved. Despite weighing seven tons, the carousel can be broken down in eight hours using basic hand tools.

“It’s not like carousels you see at traveling fairs these days, which just fold up and go,” says Dave Ruhl, executive vice president at CMZoo. “It is designed to be taken apart, piece by piece, by hand. We are dedicated to maintaining this carousel, because it has been with our community for so long, so we’re very careful when we do it.”

This portable design allowed the carousel to travel between county fairs in the 1920s and different locations at CMZoo, since it arrived on the mountain in 1937. Many longtime members and guests will remember hiking up to the top of the Zoo to ride the carousel in its original location before it moved to its second spot, near Rocky Mountain goats.

Now settled in its third CMZoo location, it should be ready to spin riders around in the next few weeks. At the end of May, the carousel passed code and safety inspections, and it should be ready to ride in early June. (CMZoo will provide updates on the carousel’s official reopening by email and on its social media channels!)

Fans have been eagerly awaiting the carousel’s return since it was safely stored away in July 2023. The carousel moved to make way for a new road just west of the current main road into the Zoo. Once the historic road is gone, the Zoo can expand its giraffe habitat and make way for the International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe building, and a new South America exhibit.

The team reassembled the carousel itself in three days, but designing and constructing a new building is no quick job. Building construction started in January 2024. Since then, the team has been pouring concrete, connecting electricity, securing permits, laying new sidewalks and more.

Dave and the design team wanted to maintain the aesthetic, so guests will see familiar metal roof shingles and the same historic railings on the building. The new location provides natural shade and a dedicated space for guests to line up, away from the road. New sidewalks surrounded by a new native plant display will give families more ‘staging’ areas, where they can take a moment to gather themselves between activities at the Zoo. While the new location came together, the carousel got some TLC.

“We work with a carousel horse expert in Larkspur who repaired cracks and touched up paint on the horses and carriages,” Dave says. “Most of the horses have been restored, and they look great. We also got the carousel organ refurbished, so it works again for the first time in around five years. We can’t wait for everyone to see it!”

Enter to Win!

To celebrate the carousel’s return, CMZoo is giving away frequent rider cards to 200 lucky active CMZoo members!
– Members just need to enter to win a card below, by 11:59 p.m. on Thurs., June 6, 2024.
– CMZoo’s membership team will notify winners by email on Thurs., June 13, 2024.
– Please be sure to enter with the information listed on your membership account, so that we can verify your membership status!
– Members must have an active Zoo membership to win.
– One entry per membership.

Kids, kits, joeys and pups! This season, we’ve welcomed seven baby skunks, two Rocky Mountain goats, two wallaby joeys, and five meerkat pups. These adorable littles are already awesome ambassadors for their species and quickly becoming guest favorites, each bringing their own unique energy and playfulness to CMZoo.

The seven skunks will head to other AZA zoos when they’re mature and independent in the coming months. At their new homes, they’ll represent their wild counterparts and help even more people learn to love and appreciate skunks. There are no current plans for meerkats, joeys or Rocky Mountain goat kids to leave CMZoo.

Be sure to visit the cuteness overload firsthand during your next visit!

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On the longest day of the year, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will celebrate the longest-necked animal: the giraffe! On Fri., June 21, giraffe keepers and staff from the International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe (The Giraffe Center) are throwing a daylong event to commemorate World Giraffe Day.

“This is our way of thanking our community for their dedication to our herd, our Zoo and our conservation partners all year long,” says Diana Miller, giraffe specialist at The Giraffe Center. “We have a ton of inspiring activities planned!”

There will be many giraffe-themed activities along the giraffe plaza and the giraffe boardwalk, where guests can learn about CMZoo’s giraffe herd and take direct steps to save wild giraffe. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., several giraffe-themed activities are free for anyone with a ticket to the Zoo. Guests who want to participate in the giraffe fan parade should be sure to get a ticket for 10 a.m. or earlier. A full schedule of events is available at https://www.cmzoo.org/world-giraffe-day/.

Watch for signs on how to navigate through African Rift Valley as we embark on our exciting giraffe habitat improvements, scheduled to start in mid-June. Learn more about the giraffe herd’s future home and consider supporting it here: cmzoo.org/giraffeproject

By visiting the Zoo, guests and members can help save giraffe on World Giraffe Day and every day. Through CMZoo’s Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) program, every admission to the Zoo raises 75¢ for conservation. Since 2008, guests and members have raised more than $5 million for frontline conservation partners and projects around the world.

Wild giraffe - Photo credit: Musiime Muramura, Uganda Wildlife Authority — Photo credit: Musiime Muramura, Uganda Wildlife Authority

Giraffe are one of CMZoo’s legacy Q4C projects, so an easy way to support giraffe conservation is to simply visit the Zoo. Specifically, CMZoo visitors are supporting Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) and their important work studying and protecting wild giraffe, growing populations, advocating government protections and policies for giraffe, and educating and empowering communities who live near wild giraffe.

“In the past year, members’ and guests’ Q4C funds supported additional anti-poaching efforts by funding a new GCF veterinary vehicle to respond to snaring and poaching,” says Diana. “We still have a long way to go, but it’s working, too. With this support, the latest surveys show that the population of wild giraffe is increasing steadily.”

With Q4C support, GCF continues to monitor giraffe populations in Uganda, in partnership with the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Recent surveys indicate that all four populations of giraffe in Uganda are increasing in number, with seven new calves reported in Lake Mburo National Park, seven calves in Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, thirteen calves in Kidepo Valley National Park, and four hundred calves in Murchison Falls National Park.

“I keep having to tell people that’s not a typo,” Diana says. “There really are four hundred calves documented in the population in Murchison Falls National Park. That population is an excellent example of what can happen when all of the delicate conservation puzzle pieces fit together well.”

In addition to fieldwork and local communities’ buy-in to coexisting with giraffe, an important piece of the conservation puzzle is public support and funding. Zoos play a vital role by inspiring people all over the world to care for wildlife and wild places – and with programs like Q4C, zoos can connect funding from inspired people to frontline organizations who can make the impact.

“Nobody helps guests fall in love with giraffe as well as our herd can,” Diana says. “From confident Tumbili to curious Wednesday, sassy Azmera and wise Mahali, the giraffe at CMZoo have inspired countless people to care for their wild counterparts. They have the most important jobs here at the Zoo, and our job is to take good care of them.”

CMZoo’s herd receives top-of-the-line care with hoof care and husbandry training programs that continue to lead the profession. After more than a decade sharing methods with other giraffe care teams, CMZoo established The Giraffe Center to serve as a resource for all giraffe care professionals. The Giraffe Center offers in-person and online husbandry and hoof care trainings, as well as customized consultations for giraffe care teams all over the world.

“We love traveling to other facilities to see how they do things, brainstorm problem solving with them, share what works for us and discuss what we’ve learned from other organizations,” says Amy Schilz, senior animal behaviorist at The Giraffe Center. “But, there’s nothing like being with your home herd. Our giraffe are such rockstars at training, so our annual workshops here at CMZoo are a lot of fun.”

At the end of May, The Giraffe Center hosted another giraffe behavior workshop at CMZoo with Behavior Works. The behavior workshop is a continuation from the introductory giraffe care workshop. At the behavior workshop, Amy and The Giraffe Center team help giraffe care professionals build upon the fundamental teachings they learn from the intro giraffe care workshop by getting hands-on with members of the CMZoo herd.

“CMZoo’s investment in The Giraffe Center has been fulfilling because we know we’re making giraffes’ lives better,” Amy says. “Seeing our workshop attendees work with our giraffe to learn how it should look to trim a hoof, and then hearing about their giraffe’s improved mobility at home after they’ve applied what they learn is so rewarding.”

The network and collaboration between giraffe organizations goes both ways. Amy and Diana have been instrumental in the design of the new barn that will soon stand tall in African Rift Valley at CMZoo. The team has traveled internationally to share best practices of giraffe care and to observe how others’ facilities and environments can best support a herd.

“We’re focused on environmental enrichment for all of our animals at the Zoo,” says Amy. “With a brand-new giraffe barn coming to CMZoo soon, we’re going to be able to fine-tune building and yard features that we’ve seen work elsewhere as we build this environment from the ground up. It’s happening soon, and we’re really excited to help it come together.”

The 10,000-square-foot giraffe barn’s design is in final considerations. Guests and members should expect to see changes to African Rift Valley start soon, and continue for the next few years as The Giraffe Center takes shape.

Back to The Waterhole

Adding animal demonstrations to your next Zoo day itinerary is one of the best ways to kick off the summer. Included with your regular daytime ticket, you’ll have access to multiple animal demonstrations throughout the day. From brachiating orangutans to a guinea pig parade, these demonstrations offer fun and educational experiences for our guests while also enriching and engaging our animals. Highlighting their natural behaviors and unique features, these demonstrations provide insight into some of the residents of CMZoo.
(Animal demonstrations are weather and animal permitting.)

Summer Schedule

9:30 a.m. — Penguin Keeper Talk in Water’s Edge: Africa
10 a.m. — Guinea Pig Parade in Water’s Edge: Africa (Tues., Wed., and Sun. only)
10 a.m. — Lion Enrichment in African Rift Valley (Tues. and Sat. only)
10 a.m. — Wolf Feeding in Rocky Mountain Wild (Thurs. and Sun. only)
10:45 a.m. — Caring for Elephants in Encounter Africa
11:15 a.m. — Orangutans are Awesome in Primate World
11:30 a.m. — Barn Owl Training in Scutes Family Gallery
11:30 a.m. — Alligator Feeding in Australia Walkabout (Mon. and Tues. only)
2:15 p.m. — Caring for Elephants in Encounter Africa
2:30 p.m. — Skunk Training in The Loft
3 p.m. — Treetop Acrobats in African Rift Valley at the colobus monkey exhibit (Fri., Sat., and Sun. only)
3:15 p.m. — Caring for Awesome Apes in Primate World
3:30 p.m. — Grizzly Demo in the temporary bear habitat above the tapir yard
4:15 p.m. — Meet the Hippos in Water’s Edge: Africa

Advance tickets are required and can be purchased at cmzoo.org.

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CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOO WELCOMES TWO ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT KIDS – Two bouncy, squeaky and fluffy kids joined the CMZoo family on Sun., May 19, when second-time Rocky Mountain goat mom, Lena, gave birth to her first set of twins.

New Rocky Mountain goat kids, twins born May 2024 with mother Lena — New twin Rocky Mountain goat kids, born May 19, 2024 to mother, Lena.

The double bundle of joy were on their hooves, taking their wobbly first steps within minutes. Both kids have nursed and continue to bond well with their attentive mom, who is moonlighting as a jungle gym.

“Less than 24 hours after its birth, Baby #2 climbed on top of Lena, who patiently laid still as the little one climbed from her back end all the way to her head, where it slid gently around the back of her neck with its front legs on either side of her head,” says Joanna Husby, animal care manager. “We’ve got an adventurous one on our hands! We’re seeing both babies hit all the milestones for healthy kids, and we’re excited for everyone to meet them.”

Baby #1, in the foreground of the photo above, is slightly smaller than Baby #2, and has a distinctively adorable floppy left ear. Baby #1 seems calmer than Baby #2, so far. Both are very vocal, making loud calls to mom, which are catching the attention of their 2-year-old sister, Blanca, and 14-year-old ‘grannie goat,’ Yazhi, from separate yards. 10-year-old dad, Albert, who is sharing space with Blanca, hasn’t seemed to notice, which is very on-brand for laid-back Albert.

Staff were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the kids, whose gestation lasted the full 180 days expected for a Rocky Mountain goat pregnancy. On Sunday, staff noticed Lena was in active labor around 11:15 a.m. Baby #1 was born at 12:09 p.m. and took its first steps 9 minutes later. At 12:34 p.m., while Baby #1 was nursing, Baby #2 was born. Baby #2 took its first steps at 1:02 p.m.

Because both kids are nursing and bonding well with Lena, staff have not intervened, so their weights and sexes have not been confirmed. Following Zoo tradition, they’ll get names after 30 days.

New twin Rocky Mountain goat kids, born May 19, 2024 to mother Lena. — New Rocky Mountain goat kids, one twin peering from under their mother's belly.

“Lena was a great mom to Blanca, her first baby, and she’s proving to know just what to do with these two,” Joanna says. “She did look a bit surprised to see the second baby arrive, which is understandable considering no one told her she was pregnant with twins!”

Twins aren’t uncommon for Rocky Mountain goats after a first pregnancy. Big sister, Blanca, seems very interested in the new sounds and smells in the barn. For the goats’ safety and comfort — and taking Blanca’s bold and energetic nature into account — their introduction to Big Sis may take a while. The twins are likely to meet calm-natured Albert next. But first, they’re exploring outside with Mom.

“The babies are following Lena well and she’s comfortable moving to a different spaces, so we welcomed them outside for the first time today,” Joanna says. “We have a side yard that has more suitable terrain for little hooves than our big yard with rocky cliffs, so they’ll find their footing there. My guess is that it won’t be long until they’re leaping and chasing all over the rocks. Having a twin means having a built-in play partner, and it’s going to be hard to do anything but watch them. Rocky Mountain goat babies are pure joy.”

The kids are the fifth and sixth babies born at CMZoo this season, along with two wallaby joeys in Australia Walkabout and two meerkat pups in Encounter Africa.

CMZoo will share updates on the kids on the Zoo’s social media channels and in the Zoo’s newsletter, The Waterhole.

About Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society was founded in 1926. Today, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, America’s mountain Zoo, offers comprehensive education programs, exciting conservation efforts and truly fantastic animal experiences. In 2024, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was voted #5 Best Zoo in North America and CMZoo’s Rocky Mountain Wild was named #2 Best Zoo Exhibit in North America by USA TODAY’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. It is Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s goal to help guests fall in love with animals and nature, and take action to protect them. Since 2008, CMZoo’s Quarters for Conservation program has raised more than $5 million dedicated to frontline conservation efforts around the world. Of the 237 zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is one of just a few operating without tax support. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo depends on admissions, membership dues, special event attendance and donations for funding.

FOUR-MILE WALK/RUN FUNDRAISER OFFERS ONCE-A-YEAR EXPERIENCE ON FOOT TO WILL ROGERS SHRINE OF THE SUN – Cheyenne Mountain Zoo hosts its 16th annual Run to the Shrine, featuring a North American river otter as this year’s event mascot, on Sat., May 18 and Sun., May 19, 2024.

Where else can you hand-feed a giraffe and then walk up the side of a mountain? (Nowhere!) The 4-mile round trip up-and-back course offers breathtaking views of Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, and parts of the Front Range as participants run by African lions, giraffe and African elephants through the Zoo, up to Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun and back into the Zoo. The evergreen-forested course, with a nearly 1,000-foot elevation gain, is good practice for competitive runners gearing up for summer races and a fun challenge for weekend warriors and families. Runners and walkers are welcome, and jogging strollers equipped with automatic hand brakes and tethers are allowed on the course.

Run to the Shrine is the only time of the year foot traffic is allowed on the picturesque route through and above the Zoo to the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun, and back down. Saturday is sold out and there are only a few hundred spots left for Sunday’s event. Participant and spectator tickets are available. Spectators can explore the Zoo from 5 to 8 p.m. when the event ends, but do not get access to Shrine Road.

Registration includes Zoo admission for the evening, a commemorative performance running T-shirt featuring a North American river otter , and access to a post-event celebration at the Zoo’s Lodge at Moose Lake. All proceeds help feed and care for Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s animals. Since the Zoo doesn’t receive any tax support, community events like Run to the Shrine help keep the zoo “running.”

Fast Facts
Run to the Shrine at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
5 to 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 18 – SOLD OUT
Sunday, May 19

4-mile run/walk through the Zoo, up to Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun, and back to the Zoo
Post-race expo
Access to the Zoo from 5 to 8 p.m.
Advance registration is required and capacity is limited.
Register now at cmzoo.org/run

Run to the Shrine helps CMZoo – one of the only AZA-accredited, nonprofit zoos that doesn’t receive any tax support – fund Zoo operations, improvements, animal care and conservation. We’re wild about our Run to the Shrine 2024 partners, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Your Colorado Springs Toyota Dealers and Colorado Springs SCHEELS.

About Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

BOB CHASTAIN SET TO RETIRE IN THE ZOO’S CENTENNIAL YEAR: 2026 – After nearly 30 years at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and 20 years in the position of president & CEO, Bob Chastain has announced his plan to retire in 2026. Over the next two years, the CMZoo board of directors, who have been intimately involved in succession planning, will search for a new president & CEO while Chastain focuses on finalizing major Zoo renovations.

“Although I still have two years at our Zoo, I want to be transparent with our community that there are some changes coming,” said Chastain. “This organization has prioritized building bench strength in leadership and being stronger than just one person. With that in mind, we started working on succession planning pretty much immediately after I started. This next two years is the last phase of that longtime planning. Some people might have questions about my retirement, but I bet more will be curious about what’s next for the Zoo. In two years, the Zoo will be transformed in terms of animal welfare and the arrival experience for our guests.”

“Bob’s ambition and passion for conservation, community and animal care have been contagious during his tenure,” said Tia Ferguson, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo board chair. “While we’ll miss working with him closely, we know he will leave a lasting mark on the Zoo. Strong leaders and staff are in place, the Zoo is financially stable, we’re making incredible conservation progress, and major Zoo improvements are underway with the leadership of a dedicated board. We’re excited for what’s next.”

During his time at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Chastain has led the Zoo through exponential visitor growth, which led to growth in staff and growth in conservation funding available to the Zoo’s frontline conservation partners and projects all over the world. In 1995, when Chastain started at the Zoo, CMZoo welcomed 365,000 guests. Over the next 30 years, annual visitors grew to a height of 900,000. In response to the growing number of visitors, the Zoo limited capacity to preserve the experience. Today, the Zoo is the most visited paid attraction in the Pikes Peak region, averaging 800,000 annual visitors.

Colorado Springs’ ‘little mountain Zoo’ shed that reputation, and it grew to become a top-five ranked zoo in North America, over the years. New exhibit openings, including African Rift Valley in 2003 – with one of the first giraffe feeding experiences of its kind in the world – Rocky Mountain Wild in 2008, Encounter Africa in 2013, Australia Walkabout in 2015 and Water’s Edge: Africa in 2020, continually set higher guest expectations for a Zoo experience.

In 2021, CMZoo became only the fourth zoo in 50 years to earn a completely clean report of inspection from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ accreditation team. Over that four-day third-party inspection of animal care, staff well-being and culture, guest education and conservation efforts, not a single concern was reported.

“We have worked relentlessly to bring our community closer to animals, so they can make important connections that inspire them to care about wildlife and wild places,” said Chastain. “We know it’s working, because people keep coming back – and every time they visit, they’re making a direct contribution to conservation through our Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) program.”

Since launching Q4C in 2008, CMZoo visitors and members have raised more than $5 million for CMZoo’s frontline conservation partners and projects around the world – just by visiting the Zoo and having part of their admission automatically contributed to Q4C’s benefitting conservation organizations.

“I’m incredibly proud of the conservation work we’ve already done and I’m looking forward to watching that grow,” Chastain said. “Because of my personal experiences seeing the positive impact our partners are making in places like Tsavo National Park in Kenya, where the last remaining big tusker African elephants live, I have more hope than ever for the natural world.”

During his tenure, Chastain has represented CMZoo in the modern zoo and conservation professions. He has served as Chair of the Safety Committee for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), on the AZA and World Association of Zoos and Aquariums boards and locally on the Colorado Springs Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee.

The Zoo plans to honor Chastain’s contributions to the Zoo and Colorado Springs when his retirement date is closer. More immediately than that, the community will start seeing progress on some of these legacy projects at the Zoo.

Last year, CMZoo started constructing a new road through the Zoo to replace the current road — which has been in place for 100 years – adjacent to African Rift Valley. The new road is taking shape now, and once the historic road is gone, the Zoo will expand its giraffe habitat into that space. In addition to creating space for new giraffe outdoor areas, it makes way for a 10,000-square foot building to house the Zoo’s iconic giraffe herd and The International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe (The Giraffe Center), a new Zoo entryway, gift shop and café.

As part of The Giraffe Center opening, the Zoo will install six life-sized giraffe sculptures that guests can intermingle with. This enormous installation, known as ‘The 200 Project,’ acknowledges the more-than 200 giraffe calves born at the Zoo in support of the Giraffe Species Survival Plan. Chastain looks forward to seeing families making memories and taking photographs over the years with those sculptures, making the Zoo part of the thread of their family’s fabric.

“We recognize what vital contributions we make to conservation by creating and maintaining this special place where people come to make memories and feel inspired, but it’s so much more than the bricks in a building or the animals in our care,” said Chastain. “It’s the staff here. They make our guests’ experiences meaningful and memorable with every interaction. I will most fondly look back on creating a culture that is nothing short of magic, where we are capable of achieving the things we dream.”

Although guests can’t see it, the CMZoo staff culture is what Chastain highlights as the most important aspect of the Zoo. He has led CMZoo to build a strong staff and leadership, with training programs for emerging Zoo leaders, opportunities for staff to participate in field conservation and ways to advocate for their own conservation passion projects through the Member Conservation Vote. The strength of the staff supports the strength of the Zoo, which, as a nonprofit that doesn’t receive any tax support, is standing more financially stable than ever.

“Our financial and cultural stability is allowing us to take on a lot of improvement projects, like our current work to make upgrades to our grizzly bear habitat, which will allow us, someday soon, to care for orphaned grizzly bear cubs that need homes,” said Chastain.

In 2026, as Chastain closes his chapter of leadership at CMZoo, he will be joining in the Zoo’s 100th anniversary with a year’s worth of community celebrations, historical remembrances and exciting additions that he is confident will continue his legacy of bringing people closer than ever to our natural world.

About Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

The youngest ape in Primate World, 6-year-old Kera, puts the “I” in “independence,” according to Animal Keeper Izzy Dones, who works with Kera in Primate World. Kera is one of six orangutans in Primate World, and one of three Sumatran orangutans, along with her mom, Sumagu, and her dad, Baka-Keri.

“I think her independence comes from Sumagu,” Izzy says. “Sumagu really beats to the rhythm of her own drum. She will let you know if she wants to come over to train or if today is not the day. It’s like she has seen it all and knows exactly what she wants, and I love that.”

Orangutans learn through behavior modeling, and Kera is an astute observer.

“When Kera was really young, Sumagu participated in voluntary training with us and Kera watched closely and mirrored her mom’s behaviors,” Izzy says. “Kera learned a lot of her body presentations and stationing that way, which we teach so she can voluntarily participate in her own health care.”

Clever Kera is a whiz at husbandry training. She does an open-mouth presentation so keepers can brush her teeth. A recent dental check revealed another sign the baby orangutan is growing up. She lost her first baby teeth!

“If she’s near the window, guests can open their mouths and show her their teeth, and she’ll usually show them hers,” Izzy says. “She just lost her first two teeth in February, so you might be able to see where she has lost her two middle bottom teeth and her new ones are growing in.”

Kera is also smart enough to know that her behaviors are valuable to her keepers – valuable enough to earn her yummy treats. One behavior, called “trading,” allows keepers to ask the great apes to bring them something from their dens, like small reusable PVC tubes that keepers stash food in. When those tubes are empty, keepers ask for them back.

“Some mornings, I’ll come in and she’s waiting at the fence with a pile of theses tubes she has collected and she’s ready to trade,” Izzy says. “She’s like, ‘Okay you can have these, but only for the right treat and only one at a time.’ She’ll even tear items, like blankets, into smaller pieces so she has more pieces to trade. Her dad does that, too, so we think she learned that little hack from watching him. The more pieces you have to trade, the more treats you get. It makes sense.”

Playful and curious, young Kera loves interacting with guests and keepers. One of her favorite activities is to play tug-of-war. She picks up a blanket and brings a corner of it to the fence so a keeper can pull it through the mesh, and Kera pulls with all of her little orangutan might.

“Kera plays with guests, too,” Izzy says. “She loves to climb up on a rope and swing towards the glass where guests are watching her. She gets really excited when guests start interacting with her. She’s also curious to see what people have in their bags. She’ll get up high and try to look into people’s purses, which always makes me laugh.”

As an ambassador for her species, Kera is a pro. She naturally seeks opportunities to interact and make connections with guests, which inspire them to take action to protect her wild counterparts.

Orangutans are critically endangered, in part because of deforestation to build palm oil plantations in their native habitats. Palm oil is an edible oil found in about half of the products consumers purchase. It is used in candy, soaps, cosmetics, pet food and cleaning products. Because of high demand, unsustainable palm oil production has resulted in deforestation across Southeast Asia, and other tropical areas around the world, which means critically endangered species like orangutans, tigers and elephants are losing their homes.

However, when produced sustainably, palm oil is the most productive edible oil available. Oil palms – the trees that palm oil comes from – produce four to ten times more oil than alternatives like soy, olive, canola and coconut. Switching to these alternatives would cause even more deforestation in tropical areas, which is why consumers must demand sustainable palm oil.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, under the direction of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), helped launch a free global mobile app, called PalmOil Scan, that gives everyone the power to advocate for orangutans’ dwindling wild habitats with their shopping choices, and to make large companies listen to their demands for sustainably produced palm oil.

The free smartphone app empowers consumers to make informed, environmentally-friendly shopping decisions, just by scanning the barcode on a product to see if that company has committed to sourcing sustainable palm oil. PalmOil Scan is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., New Zealand and Australia, with plans to expand to more countries around the world. Learn more at cmzoo.org/palmoil.

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Last month, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo members cast their votes to help the Zoo decide how to spend $75,000 of member conservation funds among six conservation projects vying for members’ support. The three projects with the most votes received the full funding they requested. The number of votes received for the remaining three projects helped CMZoo decide how to distribute the remaining funds.

Every membership and every visit to the Zoo is conservation in action. From 2015 to 2024, including this year’s contributions, the program has provided $750,000 of membership revenue to support field conservation worldwide.

“I hope our members recognize what an impact they make for wildlife and wild places through these staff-championed conservation efforts,” Ashley Cioppa, CMZoo membership manager, says. “Our members’ annual investment in their Zoo memberships directly supports animals here in Colorado and all around the world. Plus, they give our staff the opportunity to reach more niche organizations and efforts that support their personal passions. Thank you, members!”

Each year, a total of $100,000 of membership revenue is contributed to conservation in two ways:

$25,000 to the Quarters for Conservation program, which in total contributes a million dollars on average every 18 months to CMZoo’s legacy conservation partners.
$75,000 to projects voted for by CMZoo members through this annual vote.

This year’s Member Conservation Vote top-ranked projects to fully fund are:

1. Track and protect FLAMMULATED OWLS in Colorado – $4,150
Purchase ten tracking tags that provide researchers with crucial migration data for these tiny owls. Migratory birds are currently facing many threats such as pollution, pesticides, habitat loss and collisions with human-made structures. The installation of two Motus towers at CMZoo and Fountain Creek Nature Center last year allows researchers the ability to track hundreds of local bird species in efforts to protect them. As a continuation of this project, a local researcher will utilize these towers to track ten flammulated owls, a species that lives right here in Colorado Springs, to learn about their migration patterns and use that information to help protect the species.

2. Support agroforestry to protect OKAPI habitat – $24,600
Provide farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with sustainable agricultural resources. Okapi populations are facing a major threat of habit loss due to slash-and-burn agriculture and human settlement. In a continued partnership, the Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) will use these funds to provide farmers with tools, seeds, land plots and the education necessary to build and maintain sustainable agriculture and reforestation practices. In doing so, the local communities are empowered to produce their food sustainably and reduce their dependence on mining and poaching – leading to the long-term protection of okapi.

3. Help build a new island home for ORANGUTANS in Borneo – $17,642
Help provide the materials to construct a new, forested island home for non-releasable orangutans in Southeast Asia. Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation is an established organization that rescues, rehabilitates and releases orangutans back into their natural habitat. Unfortunately, a small percent of orangutans come to BOS with injuries, illnesses or other conditions that prevent them from being released into the wild safely. BOS houses and cares for them for the rest of their lives. Member funds will help provide the construction materials for a new orangutan island that will create a spacious and enriching forever home for three non-releasable orangutans currently residing with BOS.

With the remaining funds, CMZoo has decided to partially fund:

Protect PANCAKE TORTOISES through community conservation in Kenya
Conduct community awareness training and research to protect critically endangered tortoises and their habitat. Wild turtle and tortoise species are in the midst of a worldwide extinction crisis. The African pancake tortoise faces severe threats, not only from grassland habitat destruction used for farming, but also an additional threat of poaching for the pet trade. In a continued partnership, the Turtle Survival Alliance will protect and develop research strategies for a newly found pancake tortoise population, as well as establish additional awareness for the local communities surrounding this tortoise population.

Expand AFRICAN PENGUIN chick rearing capacity
Provide construction materials and equipment to rear penguin chicks. African penguins, found mainly in South Africa and Namibia, are facing threats from overfishing and climate change, which often results in penguin parents abandoning their chicks. Due to an exponential increase in egg and chick abandonment, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) is looking to expand their chick-rearing facility through our ongoing partnership. This expansion will double their capacity of penguin chicks and eggs that they can rescue, rehabilitate, and release each year.

Support kids’ education camps to help protect AFRICAN LIONS
Help protect large carnivores by empowering a new generation in Kenya. Human-wildlife conflicts can occur between farmers and predators, such as lions, that may threaten local livestock. The education programs that Ewaso Lions will implement through this ongoing partnership will help to shift the attitude towards predators and allow Kenyan communities to more easily and efficiently coexist with wild carnivores by reducing the frequency of potential human-wildlife conflicts.

For more information about how to become a CMZoo member, and the many benefits that memberships provide, visit cmzoo.org/membership.

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