Having Fun On KARE-11 with Perk & Zoo Keeper Liz!

We had a great time on KARE-11 on St. Patrick's Day. See our animals with an Irish twist!

Bundle Up For Polar Bears...As seen on KARE-11!

Como Zoo celebrated International Polar Bear Day on February 27th. With Bundle Up for Polar Bears, Como Zoo is asking families, schools, and businesses to turn down their thermostats by two degrees on February 27th to lower carbon emissions and help save polar bears. Participants are invited to bundle up in their favorite warm clothing—or, in a twist, in their ugliest or tackiest sweaters—to help raise awareness of this worldwide conservation issue.

Good Question: Can Animals Predict The Weather?

When WCCO-TV had a good question, they came to the experts for the answer. US!

Coca-Cola “plays” it forward with recycled syrup barrels for Buzz & Neil

Above is a picture of Buzz playing with a Coke barrel.

Just before Christmas, Buzz & Neil got some holiday gifts of their own! Coca-Cola donated fifty clean plastic 55-gallon syrup barrels for the bears to play with in their own environment. Ordinarily, these plastic barrels are used to store concentrate syrup which is used during production at the Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Company located in Eagan, Minnesota. The barrels were carefully cleaned and inspected before they were given to the bears. Buzz loved the barrels so much that he played with them for six hours straight and even took a barrel to bed with him! Since the barrels have been such a hit with the bears, zookeepers plan to introduce them to other animals within the coming months.

This isn’t the first time that Coca-Cola has done something good for polar bears. They were first featured in Coca-Cola’s holiday advertising campaigns in 1922 and have reappeared many times over the years. Last November, Coca-Cola launched its “Arctic Home” campaign – an initiative between Coca-Cola and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to raise awareness and funds to help protect the polar bear’s Arctic habitat. To call attention to the cause, Coca-Cola has introduced limited-edition “Arctic Home” Coca-Cola cans over the holiday season.

Coca-Cola is making an initial donation of $2 million to WWF and inviting others to join the effort. Anyone who wants to help the polar bears can text the package code to 357357 to donate $1 to WWF. They also can donate online at ArcticHome.com. Coca-Cola will match all donations made with a package code by March 15, 2012, up to a total of $1 million. Funds raised will go toward WWF’s conservation efforts to protect polar bear habitats – for their survival today and in the future. WWF’s vision is to help protect the polar bears’ Arctic home. This includes working with local residents to manage an area high in the Arctic where the summer sea ice will likely persist the longest. This area – potentially covering 500,000 square miles – could provide a home for the polar bear while protecting the cultural and economic needs of local people.

For more information on “Arctic Home,” visit http://www.arctichome.com/.

Neil playing with a plastic Coke bottle full of fish

Donate to the Como Zoo to support enrichment of animals - As seen on KARE!

Here is a link to more information: http://www.comozooconservatory.org/support/sponsor-an-animal/#/species-of-the-day


Check out fabulous zoo keeper Liz on KARE!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Polar Bears

Polar Bears Buzz and Neil enjoyed a post-Thanksgiving nap after the zoo keepers fed them their diet and a few Thanksgiving treats this Turkey day.

We are thankful to all the zoo visitors who came out to see us today. Happy Thanksgiving from the Zoo keepers and animals at Como Zoo.

Movember for the male keepers

For the second year in a row, many of the male zoo keepers of Como Zoo are growing mustaches to help celebrate Movember. By sporting these upper lip warmers, the Zoo keepers join a worldwide group of men dedicated to raising awareness of prostate cancer and other male cancers. Joining them in their mustached endeavours are the Emperor Tamarins. Emperor tamarins were named after German Emperor Wilhelm II, due to their long, droopy white mustaches. Zoo staff will have to work hard to rival the mustaches of the tamarins.