The Poweshiek skipperling is one of the most endangered species on the planet. Minnesota Zoo researchers are working tirelessly to save the prairie butterfly from extinction. Last year, the national media outlet FiveThirtyEight published a powerful and poetic article on the collaborative efforts to keep the Poweshiek skipperling — and hope for its future — alive. Now the article written by Maggie Koerth has been printed in the anthology Best American Nature and Science Writing 2023. We’re honored that this profile of our wildlife conservation work is included with other outstanding writing on ..read more

Introducing the newest addition to the Minnesota Trail: a pine marten! Members of the Mustelidae family (with weasels, otters, and wolverines), pine martens are native to Minnesota and areas north and west. This 6-month-old male, named “Marty McFly,” was found as a kit in summer 2023 in northern Minnesota. As he was not able to be rehabilitated and released into the wild, he will live here as an ambassador of his species. Pine martens are naturally solitary, territorial animals and rarely spotted in the wild. Marty will alternate on a habitat with the fisher (also a mustelid). Plan your visit ..read more

In Discovery Bay, there are ocean animals as rare as four-leaf clovers – which means the Minnesota Zoo is very lucky to have them! Meet the leafy seadragons and weedy seadragons. The Minnesota Zoo is one of only a handful of zoos and aquariums in the whole world with the expertise and facilities to support seadragons. For 20 years, we’ve provided them with meticulous care and shared with Zoo guests how we can all protect the ocean environment. “Seadragons are some of the most unique aquatic animals out there,” says Christoph Noetzli, the Minnesota Zoo’s Curator of Aquariums. “Giving people the ..read more

The black rhino conservation program in Namibia is one of the most successful and groundbreaking of its kind- and the past year garnered even more recognition for these critical efforts. Namibia supports over one-third of the world’s remaining black rhinos and is home to one of the last free-roaming populations in the world. The dedicated Rhino Rangers, community members, support staff and scientists have been working tirelessly to save this population from extinction for decades, and with truly remarkable success. By focusing more on community-led conservation and support, rather than a stric ..read more

Minnesota is home to many species of native freshwater mussel. Freshwater mussels, what many people often refer to as ‘clams’ here in Minnesota, are some of the most imperiled animals on the planet. And the health of our lakes and rivers depend on native mussels which act as natural cleaners, filtering the water and creating habitat for many other wild animals. Minnesota was historically home to 50 species of native mussels in our lakes and rivers but today many of those can no longer be found, and those that remain face an uncertain future. Historic over-harvesting for the button industry ..read more

Tromping through thick brush. Sloshing through ankle-deep water and over slippery river rocks. Mastering a tricky procedure on a small subject. All in a special day’s work for the Minnesota Zoo’s animal health staff as they – and their special skill set – joined the Zoo’s turtle conservation team in the field for the first time. This summer, veterinary technicians Bob Korman and Jenny Prom and veterinary intern Dr. Maya Iyer DVM trekked with the Zoo’s wildlife conservation specialist Dr. Tricia Markle through the habitat of the wood turtle in southern Minnesota. They were in pursuit ..read more

Twenty-five minutes was all it took. To spin a round-trip journey from the American prairie to the Asian steppes to the boreal forest to the taiga. To watch animals roam in huge habitats. To marvel at the animal adaptations developed to thrive in the challenging climate of the northlands. Twenty-five minutes a trip, for 34 years, hundreds of thousands of Minnesota Zoo visitors rode the Monorail. It was a distinctive Zoo experience and it always had a friend up front: the expert driver—and narrator—at the controls and on the microphone. The Minnesota Zoo’s Skytrail staff, circa 1990s. Gina Gor ..read more

Ritchie isn’t so sure about the big green block in his barn. Flaring his nostrils wide, he chuffs and huffs at it. It’s not a hay bale or a bucket or anything familiar to him at the Farm. Dr. Kyla Awes lets Ritchie take his time. Dr. Kyla Awes, DC, gives a chiropractic exam to the Minnesota Zoo’s Clydesdale horse Ritchie as Farmkeeper Gail Roubinek holds the lead rope. “Good fellow,” she says in a low, reassuring voice. He relaxes under her touch and seems to accept the heavy vinyl-covered blocks Dr. Awes had brought into the barn that Ritchie shares with Frank, his half-brother. Ritchie and ..read more

The two yearling sea lions couldn’t even lift their heads. They were in a pen with two individuals farther on the road to recovery but were soon separated out for extra monitoring, Minnesota Zoo aquarist Nicole Williamson recalls. They were her first stop each morning as she arrived for her shift at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) in Laguna Beach, California. Nicole was there to lend her aid and experience with one of the biggest crises to affect wild sea lions in decades. These yearlings were but two of the hundreds of sea lions found sick on beaches in Orange County in June and July ..read more

Brendan Lewis has been sitting in the dark and damp of a forest for six hours. He’s wrapped in bug netting, swarmed by mosquitoes, and waiting—and waiting—for wood turtles to make nests and lay eggs. Once they did, he would scoop them up and bring them back to the Zoo. Here they would incubate, hatch, and grow bigger. After a year’s head start on a healthy life, they’d be returned to this ideal turtle habitat the following June. Brendan Lewis using telemetry to track wood turtles in the field. Wood turtles are a threatened species in our state due to habitat loss, road kills, and predators ..read more