Love at the Zoo - NEW DATE

It wasn’t your average concert situation. Fingers chilling in the February breeze, I stood with my double bass poised on the grassy edge of a deep moat. My endpin and boots were planted in winter mud. Somewhere nearby, a bird sang. I drew my bow across the strings, beginning a low ripple and expanding out to a hopeful chord with deep bass underneath – and my audience of one raised his huge snowy-white head and gazed straight into my eyes.…

Blizzard the polar bear has millions of new fans after a video of him playing in the snow on February 13 went viral. In the video, Blizzard nose dives right into the fluffy cold powder and even seems to make some “bear angels.” At 25 years old, Blizzard is considered a senior bear (the median life expectancy is 23.4 years). He receives exceptional care from both the veterinary staff and his keepers. He is one of the most powerful, awe-inspiring…

At the elephant habitat at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Shannon Smith and Russell Pharr are doing something usually reserved for zoo visitors, not keepers. Side by side, phones held aloft, they’re taking photos of Suki, the zoo’s 56-year-old Asian elephant. Their angles are different: Smith, assistant curator, is at least a foot shorter than Pharr, staff biologist. But their goal is the same: Snap a total of 100 Suki photos each over the next few weeks. Why? So that…