Staten Island Zoo

Caption this photo with a tough/buff/ guy quote/tagline for our strong boy, Bruno. We are thinking:

“Hasta la vista, baby”
“We are here to PUMP, you up!”
“You talkin’ to me?”
“Go ahead punk, make my day”

Can you think of one for our southern tamandua?

Happy International Bat Appreciation Day! Not only does the zoo house one bat species, but we do indeed have two different groups of flying critters. We have Rodrigues fruit bats, aka flying foxes, in our Africa wing. In the 1970s, the world population of this species dropped to less than 100. Thanks to the conscious conservation efforts put forward by organizations, private donors and zoos (the in particular, where our bats came from) the species is in rebound. In the tropical forest wing, we have our bat cave that is filled with Seba’s short-tailed bats. This species is known to be one of the most successful groups whom tend to roost (live) with hundreds of their kind in caves, tunnels, and hollowed trees 🦇🦇

Our meerkats aren’t the only babies in town. Please join us in welcoming our Gray tree frog babies to the zoo family as well! For the first time in our Zoo history, this native species of frog has produced tadpoles in their habitat in the Reptile Wing. Check out the last photo to see how they morphed from tiny tadpoles to tiny frogs 🐸

Want to hear more zoo news and exciting information like this before everyone else? Sign up for our “Zoo Now” newsletter by clicking/following the link below. We will also add it to our Instagram bio for easy access. Hop to it!

https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/NJmJtch/SIZ

Today’s weather forecast is calling for a high of 70 degrees and mostly sunny, which means Peanut is hoping she’ll be seeing you soon☀️🐐🥜

Cuteness Alert!!!‼️

The Staten Island Zoo invites you to meet our four new baby meerkats, who will be on exhibit in our Animal Nursery beginning on Saturday, April 13th.

The baby meerkats are all females with names from the “Golden Girls” sitcom: Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia. The pups were born to mom Jasmine and dad Macadamia (nicknamed Mac), on February 21, 2024. Once the young meerkats are old enough, the family will be moved to their permanent exhibit in The Africa Wing.

Meerkats are one of the few members of the mongoose family that are social and live in colonies, called “mobs.” They are also renowned for having one member of the colony always acting as a sentry, looking out for predators and warning others of danger. Zoo-goers will often observe one of our meerkats standing on its hind legs as a look-out, even though they’re safely indoors.

Welcome to the zoo family, little ones!

Recently, the zoo hosted Long Island University vet school students. The group that visited were third years who are taking their exotics course and working on their reptile handling lab. Our veterinarian team, education crew and our very own Reptile Matt showed them the ropes. They learned how to hook a non-venomous snake, how to properly hold a lizard, and how to examine a turtle. Keeper Matt and Dr. Rivera then showed the vet students how to safely handle a venomous rattlesnake during an exam and how to draw blood from it. The class also got to tour the zoo and see the rest of our amazing animals. 🐍🦎🐢🩺🥼

The same, but different. Happy Sibilings Day from our serval brothers, Jack and Earl 🐱🐱

Our zoo grounds are absolutely stunning this time of year. And to think, our horticulturist, Jim, and Mother Nature are only just getting started 🌷😍🌸

We all had different reactions to today’s earthquake. Did you wonder how some of your favorite zoo animals dealt with it? Check out what our director, Ken Mitchell, told the Staten Island Advance

‘Animal instincts’ kick in at S.I. Zoo during 4.8 magnitude earthquake 'The lemurs expressed warning vocalizations. ...They were loudly expressing their alarm calls this morning,”

Happy World Rat Day from our two ambassadors, Cheese & Oreo! Many people squirm at the mention of rats (especially here in NYC), but they are amazing creatures! Rats are highly intelligent and quick to learn, with the ability to figure out puzzles like mazes or foraging feeders. They are athletic, and can climb and balance using their long tail.

To honor some of our favorite rodents, our friends at are hosting a fundraiser for an amazing organization called Apopo. Apopo’s mission is to save lives by training animals, like the African giant-pouched rats, to rid the world of landmines and tuberculosis. Because of rats’ intelligence and keen sense of smell, they are the perfect animals to accomplish this! Join us at Clay & Kiln Studio on Wednesday, April 24 for Paw-Prints and Pottery: Painting for APOPO HeroRATS! You’ll get to choose from one of three items to paint and bring home! See the link in their bio to purchase your ticket!

The Staten Island Zoological Society will host its annual golf fundraiser, “Golfari,” on Friday, June 7th, at the Silver Lake Golf Course. Golf begins with a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. Save the date! More information will be coming soon🏌️‍♂️⛳️🏌️‍♀️

Wishing our old man, Alice Cooper, a Happy Sweet 16 (with a Peanut photobomb)! Cooper is our last Nigerian Dwarf goat from the “rockstar herd,” but he keeps up with the younger kids just fine. You will often see him sunning in the Kids Korral, head-butting and playing with his exhibit mates or enjoying a fresh brush from our zoo visitors and staff. He always has the silliest, crooked smirk and knows exactly how to woo his keepers into giving him a tasty snack or good scratch! Happy Birthday, Coop!! 🎁🐐🎉

Raffle winner, Nancy, and her plus one, Gary, recently visited SIZ for their Date our Doctor experience! Dr. Rivera hosted the winners for a fun-filled day, including an animal ambassador meet-and-greet with Waffles the sloth and Lindsay the zookeeper. “The staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome and meet some adorable critters. A BIG thank you to SIZ for making us feel like VIPs” - Nancy.

After her “date” and meeting our charismatic Waffles, Nancy kindly made a $75 adoption donation to the zoo for the sloth family. We thank you so much for your continued support, Nancy, and are so thrilled you enjoyed your time with us.

Be on the look out for our next “dating” event. Who would you want to “date” next? A zookeeper? A docent? The director of the zoo? Let us know in the comments below! ⬇️🦥🩺

We have big news!! Swipe to see our newest zoo resident!!

Freddy the flamingo has officially joined our flock. Though most of the birds haven’t tried to make friends with him just yet, he’s really warming up to his new keepers - even taking food from their hand! He’s quite the sight, measuring 3.5 feet tall and wading in his own personal puddle at all times. Be sure to swing by the Children’s Center on your next visit to meet our big pink bird…unless of course he decides to fly away when we aren’t looking 🦩😉

Look, it’s Spider-Man!

Actually, those are some of our Madagascar Giant Day Geckos. Day geckos don’t have claws or nails to grip onto things, but their toes have thin, broad, adhesive scales (called lemellae) with tiny little hairs (called setae) which allow them to climb smooth surfaces - even the glass walls of their habitats. Be on the lookout for them in our Africa and Reptile wings on your next visit! 🦎

Yesterday, the zoo hosted a fabulous Volunteer Appreciation Party to honor our dedicated team of interns, docents, jr. docents, special events, and zoofari volunteers and all those who lend their time to our little zoo. When we say thank you, we truly mean it. Not only do we have members that have been working with us for 5, 15, even 25+ years, we have new faces that join our team regularly and we couldn’t be more grateful for each and every one of them. The zoo is a giant puzzle that needs every single piece for it to be complete and we wouldn’t be whole without these wonderful folks. Next time you see a volunteer, we encourage you to tell them how much they are appreciated and how much of an impact they are making in this world 👏

Happy International Waffle(s) Day! 🧇

Waffles is one of our Hoffman’s two-toed sloths. Sloths spend basically their entire lives upside down in trees: eating, sleeping, mating, and even giving birth while hanging upside down. Because their body is adapted to hang in an upside down position, they are physically incapable of truly walking; they basically crawl when on the ground, typically on the move from one tree to another. They can, however, swim extremely well.

Model status!

The coscoroba swan, like Flynn, is the smallest of the swan family, though still a large waterfowl species. They are Native to Southern South America and tend to reside in lagoons and swamp areas.

Although they are currently on the IUCN Red List as an animal of Least Concern, the Coscoroba swan still faces threats to its population size. The most serious threat to its continued survival is loss of habitat. These swans, with their aquatic feeding needs, play an important role in maintaining and controlling the growth of aquatic vegetation 🦢

Today is officially the first day of Spring! To honor the new season, we invited our weather partners, the students from Susan Wagner High School AP Environmental Science Class, to announce the final verdict of Chuck’s prediction. Was our world famous groundhog’s forecast of an early Spring based on science or luck?

By utilizing the school’s weather station and analyzing streams of data including temperature readings, the students have determined that Chuck’s prediction was, in fact, scientifically accurate!! Temperatures tended to range more on the high end than the low, making our Staten Island groundhog correct once again. We thank the hard-working students of Wagner for keeping great data. Happy Spring to all! 🌷🌼🌿

Thank you to everyone who has shared their memories and their primate spirit on our first Grandpa Day. Though we would have preferred celebrating with our sweet, old man, we are thankful to our zoo family for supporting us and remembering how much Grandpa was and still is adored by everyone. We love you, Grandpa!

Everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day ☘️ We may not have found a pot of gold, but we do have a bucket of porcupine. A North American porcupine named Jibali, that is!

Reminder!!!

Grandpa’s 52nd birthday would have been celebrated tomorrow, March 18th. In honor of our beloved monkey, we’d like to turn the day into “Grandpa Day” and show our adoration for this sweet primate. If you purchased one of our bonfire campaign items with his face on it, wear it tomorrow and be sure to tag us in your photo. Didn’t grab a shirt, no problem! Post a photo of Grandpa that you may have taken while visiting or one that you simply love of him or feel free to honor him in your own special way. The SIZ family would like to fill the day with all things Grandpa to show just how special this silly monkey was and how much he is still loved.

Let’s make “Grandpa Day” a day to remember 🐒🤎

If you’d like to still purchase a shirt, please follow the link below:
https://www.bonfire.com/store/staten-island-zoo/

Staten Island Zoo director Ken Mitchell (Class of ‘83) and Facilities manager Mark Lamberti (Class of ‘90) attended Career Night at St. Peter’s High School this week. The 2nd annual event brought St. Peter’s alumni together to help mentor and speak with students. The Zoo is also active with the St. Peter’s Zoology Club, providing guidance on its science class collection of animals.

Shouting Happy 19th Birthday to our serval boys, Jack and Earl. The brothers celebrated in style with a space-themed party since they are simply out of this world! They got to interact with aliens, take cat naps with shooting stars, enjoy the taste of moon rocks (aka fishy ice pops), tried on their very own astronaut helmets, and took off in a rocketship named after them. Happy Birthday boys! 🐱👽🚀🌑🐱

When snacks are life 🍇🐒

All eyes on you 👀👀👀👀👀👀

Daylight savings time? We thought you said sleep all day time 💤🦘

When a kelp leaf makes for the perfect resting spot 😴

Have you met Plankton, the one-eyed gopher rockfish? Check out his story in the link below:
https://nypost.com/2022/05/13/meet-plankton-the-one-eyed-fish-from-staten-island-zoo/

The Rufous beaked snake spends most of its time underground in burrows that it digs with its hooked nose. Check them out in the reptile wing on your next visit to the zoo 🐍