News Archive

In early December 2019, four staff members from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will travel to the Andes Mountains of Ecuador for an important conservation expedition to help save critically endangered mountain tapirs. Their prehensile noses with long snouts, odd-and-even-toed hooved feet and furry, bear-shaped bodies make this unique species look like something out of a children’s . . .

In the coming weeks and months, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will continue its efforts – and embark on new ones – to support Species Survival Plans (SSPs) for Amur leopards and Amur tigers. This important work, led by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), contributes to the survival of these iconic species by managing the . . .

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is home to a pack of seven Mexican wolves, and we support the restoration of a similar species – the gray wolf – to our state’s wild places on the Western Slope. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has a long history of working to restore and relocate species, including black-footed ferrets, Wyoming toads, Mexican . . .

Did you know each year up to 75,000 pounds of broken or unwanted crayons are thrown away and end up in U.S. landfills? Crayons are made of paraffin wax, a by-product of petroleum or crude oil, which negatively impacts wildlife where drilling occurs. Crayons can also leave a waxy sludge in landfills, which doesn’t decompose . . .

When you think of vultures, chances are you don’t picture heroic, beacons of hope contributing to a strong and healthy ecosystem. That’s because vultures sometimes get a bad rap in our society, often depicted negatively due to their scavenger status. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has been supporting vulture conservation in various ways since 2009, including currently . . .

CMZoo’s conservation team gives an update on its black-footed ferret and Wyoming toad breeding programs. The two important breeding and release efforts contribute to saving species that were once considered extinct in the wild.

When Penny, a reticulated giraffe calf, was born at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on June 4, 2018, Dr. Liza Dadone, head veterinarian and VP of mission and programs, couldn’t have known that the next few months of care for the sixteen-member giraffe herd would present such complicated cases. Since Penny’s passing late last summer, her legacy has continued both by helping people around the world fall in love with giraffe and by helping advance giraffe medicine in zoos.

Students at Rockrimmon Elementary School in Colorado Springs, are getting their hands dirty (with resounding encouragement from their teachers) to make an important environmental contribution, thanks to their passionate school leaders, supportive communities and a grant from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo members. In 2018, CMZoo members voted to provide three $3,000 grants to help local schools . . .

As amphibians face mass extinction, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's conservation team works to repopulate the Wyoming toad. Hear from Field Conservation Coordinator, Jeff Baughman, about what's contributing to the widespread eradication, what CMZoo is doing to try to stop it, and how you can help.

Since 2015, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Member Conservation Grants has provided $300,000 of membership revenue to support field conservation worldwide. Last year, members voted to fund projects from Central Asia to right here in Colorado. Once again, it is time for members to help CMZoo decide which staff-championed conservation projects will receive full funding. It . . .