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PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Oregon Zoo's lorikeet exhibit is set to reopen tomorrow after the zoo's veterinarian determined the colorful parrots are healthy. The popular exhibit has been closed since Sept. 9, when several birds became ill and later died.

"We identified seven different serotypes of Escherichia coli, none of which seemed particularly virulent," said Mitch Finnegan, lead veterinarian. "We surmise that there must have been some additional, unknown factor that may have compromised the birds' immune systems."

From Sept. 9 to Sept. 18, 15 of the colorful birds died. The remaining birds quickly recovered, but the exhibit remained closed until zoo veterinarians received additional lab results.

"Even though the birds have been doing well since mid-September, we had to make sure we knew what type of bacteria we were dealing with before we could move forward," said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. "To ensure the safety of our visitors, we also compared the seven strains of bacteria to those known to cause illness in people, and, as expected, all of those tests came back negative. When something like this happens, we will always move slowly, deliberately and err on the side of caution."

The zoo has installed hand-washing stations at the entrance of the exhibit in the hopes of preventing further illness to the birds. Beginning immediately, visitors will be asked to wash their hands prior to entering the exhibit. The stations will help kill any bacteria that may be transmitted from visitors' hands to the birds. The zoo has always had hand-washing stations at the exhibit's exit.

Since its opening in 1999, Lorikeet Landing has been extremely popular. The birds are inquisitive and playful and will fly down and land on a person's arm or hand, taking sips out of nectar cups.

There are nine different species of lorikeet in Lorikeet Landing. Native to the island chains of the South Pacific, the zoo's birds come mainly from the larger islands of Australia, New Guinea, Polynesia and Indonesia.

Among the most beautiful of all birds, lorikeets are feathered in vivid colors and varying hues, combining bright yellows, deep violets, radiant reds, brilliant blues and lime-greens. The colors are further enhanced by the natural glossiness of the lorikeets' plumage.

Lorikeets normally eat fruits, flowers, pollen and nectar. Papillae on their tongues are U-shaped for a brush-like appearance and ease of feeding on nectar and pollen. The rising of the papillae when the tongue is extended gives the lorikeets their well known name -- brush-tongued parrots. Their upper beak is also much more narrow and pointed than other birds of the parrot family.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Six weeks ago, the Oregon Zoo welcomed a rare baby, an endangered ocelot kitten. The male kitten was born Sept. 9 and has been receiving around-the-clock care from his doting mother, Alice. The baby is tentatively scheduled to make his zoo debut in January.

Alice and her mate, Ralph, came to the zoo on April 22. Staff was not expecting a baby so soon.

“She surprised us when we discovered she was pregnant,” said Gilbert Gomez, assistant curator. “When ocelots move to a new home, sometimes they’ll get a little frisky. But we didn’t witness any amorous behavior and Alice and Ralph are getting up there in age, so we were taken back a bit by it.”

Ocelot Kitten. © Oregon Zoo

Alice and Ralph were born in 1993 at zoos located in São Paulo, Brazil. Ralph made his debut in August and Alice stayed in an off-exhibit holding space specially designed for expectant mothers. When the baby was born, Alice kept him out of sight in her birthing den. For five weeks, the zoo staff has barely caught a glimpse of the kitten.

“Mom is doing her job and is being protective of her baby,” said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. “The kitten is now becoming inquisitive and is venturing out a little more. I know our visitors will be anxious to see him in January.”

Zoo's veterinarian examines ocelot kitten. © Oregon Zoo

Ralph, Alice and the kitten belong to the southern Brazilian species, Leopardus pardalis mitis, which inhabits the tropical and subtropical forests of southern Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.

Since 2002, the Oregon Zoo has been working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Brazilian Ocelot Consortium and the government of Brazil to play a role in the ocelot’s survival. It was determined several years ago that North American zoos’ ocelot population should be replaced by a genetically defined subspecies -- the Brazilian ocelot. The Oregon Zoo is one of 10 U.S. zoos involved with the consortium.

Ocelot Kitten. © Oregon Zoo

For centuries, ocelots have been hunted for their fur. During the 1960s and ’70s, more than 200,000 of the cats were taken each year. Ocelots were placed on the endangered species list in 1982. It is now illegal to hunt them in the United States. Ocelots are normally associated with South America, but can also be found in Texas and Arizona.

Ocelots weigh approximately 20 pounds and are known to climb trees and even swim well. However, they spend most of their time hunting on the ground.

“Our new baby will be a charismatic ambassador for his species,” said Vecchio. “He’ll help educate people about the importance of saving these rare cats -- and their ever-shrinking habitats.”

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PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Oregon Zoo invites runners and walkers of all ages to the annual Turkey Trot at the Zoo on Thursday, Nov. 23. The Thanksgiving Day event, organized by the Oregon Road Runners Club and co-sponsored by West Coast Bank, includes a four-mile run and fitness walk beginning at 8 a.m. and a one-kilometer Tot Trot beginning at 9:30 a.m. A portion of the Turkey Trot proceeds will go to fund animal care and conservation programs at the Oregon Zoo.

"For more than 35 years, the Oregon Road Runners Club has encouraged thousands of people to take steps to improve their health by walking and running," said Dave Cook, ORRC president. "The Turkey Trot has become an annual tradition for Oregon families and their relatives visiting from out of town. It's a great thing to do prior to sitting down to a big Thanksgiving Day meal," he added.

Events are noncompetitive and do not include awards. There will be a clock at the start and finish line for self-timing. Each event will start across from the zoo at the World Forestry Center and finish inside the zoo by the concert amphitheater. More information and registration forms are available at www.orrc.net/races/turkey_trot/turkey_tba.htm.

Parking is limited, so participants are encouraged to ride MAX. TriMet's Washington Park light rail station is just steps from the registration area and the start and finish lines. TriMet timetables are available at www.trimet.org.

No pets or rollerblades are allowed in any of the events. Strollers and child-carrier backpacks are allowed only in the four-mile fitness walk and must start at the back of the group.

Participants are encouraged to bring nonperishable food and personal care items for needy families and individuals. The ARC of Multnomah-Clackamas will have collection barrels at the zoo's entrance during the event. The ARC provides essential services to adults and children with developmental disabilities.

Volunteers wishing to help with this benefit run may call the ORRC at 503-667-0480 and leave a name and phone number, or e-mail orcc@orcc.net.

The ORRC, a nonprofit organization, was founded in Seaside, Ore., in 1970 as an outgrowth of the Trail's End Marathon, the first marathon in the Pacific Northwest. The club is a member of the national Road Runners Club of America, and is one of the largest RRCA running clubs in the United States with roughly a thousand members. The club conducts races and developmental programs for children, adults, runners and walkers, and plans and organizes more than 15 running and walking events in the Portland vicinity. Visit www.orrc.net. for more information

PORTLAND, Ore. -- In the film classic "Planet of the Apes," chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans speak English. Scientists are now exploring the abilities of orangs using symbols and syntax to express their thoughts. The public can learn more about this research and conservation issues facing orangutans during the Orangutan Symposium, Saturday, Nov. 4, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the Oregon Zoo.

The symposium, an annual event celebrating the intriguing and endangered orangutan, is being held in Portland for the first time this year, drawing renowned conservation speakers from around the country. The symposium promises to be informative and fun for primatologists, specialists and enthusiasts alike.

Three prominent scientists will share their insights about orangutans.

Rob Shumaker, director of the orangutan research program at Great Ape Trust of Iowa, discusses the trust's research philosophy. Shumaker has authored numerous scientific papers and books, and is currently exploring the abilities of orangutans to use syntax and symbols to express thoughts.

Anne E. Russon, a professor at York University in Toronto, discusses the issues and controversies associated with reintroducing ex-captive orangutans to the wild. Russon has devoted many years of study to the Red Ape and published numerous books and articles on orangutans. She is dedicated to facilitating the reintroduction of orangutans to their natural habitats.

Harvard anthropologist Cheryl D. Knott discusses efforts to save the orangutans of Borneo and Sumatra. Knott's research is focused on orangutan behavior and biology, both as a way to further understanding of endangered great apes and to provide clues to human evolutionary history.

In conjunction with the symposium, the Oregon Zoo is hosting a fundraiser for the Orangutan Conservancy (formally known as the Balikpapan Orangutan Society, USA) on Saturday, Nov. 4, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person. The fundraiser includes a silent auction and a lecture titled "From Orangutans to Flying Frogs: A Photographic Journey to Borneo's Rain Forest" by acclaimed National Geographic photographer Tim Laman. Hor d'oeuvres and wine will be served.

In conjunction with the symposium, the Oregon Zoo is hosting a fundraiser for the Orangutan Conservancy (formally known as the Balikpapan Orangutan Society, USA) on Saturday, Nov. 4, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person. The fundraiser includes a silent auction and a lecture titled "From Orangutans to Flying Frogs: A Photographic Journey to Borneo's Rain Forest" by acclaimed National Geographic photographer Tim Laman. Hor d'oeuvres and wine will be served.

RSVP for the symposium or fundraiser by e-mail to normrosen@aol.com.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Families can trick-or-treat and learn more about wildlife during "Howloween" at the Oregon Zoo. Howloween, presented by Sterling Savings Bank, is scheduled for Oct. 28 and 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In keeping with the zoo's mission, this event is educational as well as fun. An intriguing scavenger hunt directs trick-or-treaters to easily accessible activity stations throughout the zoo in order to collect candy or prizes. The activities are themed to dispel myths about animals, such as "blind as a bat."

"Kids of all ages can hunt for candy and prizes while in the company of some of the world's most exciting and exotic animals," said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. "When children and adults visit the zoo, we hope they make a connection with the animals that promotes caring about their future."

The zoo's enrichment team gets into the spirit of things, providing jack-o-lanterns, ice treats, papier-mâché bats and feed-sack or cornstalk scarecrows for the animals. And throughout the weekend, various animals will receive pumpkins as enrichment, courtesy of Al's Garden Center.

The zoo will also be celebrating the eighth birthday of its Amur tigers, Mikhail and Nicole. The brother-and-sister pair, dressed in the traditional Halloween colors of orange and black, will receive a special birthday treat on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

The zoo's Cascade Outfitters gift shop will offer special pricing on seasonal items. Fun food treats will also be available all weekend throughout the zoo.

Howloween activities are free with general zoo admission.

In addition to Howloween, the Oregon Zoo is offering a new "Haunted Mine" thrill ride for the Halloween season. This frightening feature, produced by SimEx-Iwerks, runs through Tuesday, Oct. 31.

"The ride really puts you in the Halloween spirit," observed Vecchio. "We expect to hear lots of screaming as our visitors plunge headfirst into the old, dilapidated haunted mine and come face to face with the mine's ghostly prospector."

"Haunted Mine" plays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the SimEx-Iwerks simulation theater, located on the former entry plaza directly across from the Amur tiger exhibit, close to the zoo railway station. In addition to regular zoo admission, a $4.50 ticket is required ($4 for zoo members). Due to the limited number of seats, a maximum of 800 visitors per day are able to experience the ride.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Those looking for a South American adventure on the Amazon or a Kenyan safari can explore travel opportunities at the Oregon Zoo's Wild World Tours preview, Sunday, October 15. The event takes place in the zoo's Kalahari Room at 4 p.m.

From April 27 to May 6, 2007, Oregon Zoo Conservation Manager Anne Warner leads an adventure up the largest river in the world, the mighty Amazon. Travelers board a ship handcrafted to match the style of an early 19th-century vessel, but outfitted with 21st-century amenities. Discover the diverse wildlife teeming along the river while visiting a riverbank village or hiking through the jungle. Look for gray and pink Amazon River dolphins swimming alongside the ship, monkeys frolicking in the trees or sloths hanging from jungle branches. And, of course, the Amazon is a bird-watcher's paradise: one-fifth of the world's bird species are located in and around this historic passage.

Before embarking on your Amazon cruise, explore Lima, Peru filled with ancient architecture and rich cultural traditions. An optional post-extension illuminates the hidden mysteries of the Inca's as you travel to Cusco and Machu Picchu.

From Oct. 5 to Oct. 17, 2007, return with the zoo to Africa -- this time to Kenya. Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio leads travelers past the equator to the Samburu Reserve, home to wildlife rarely found anywhere else in Kenya. See the toothy yawn of a hippo on Lake Naivasha and the dazzling number of flamingos lining the shores of Lake Nakuru. Explore the rolling grasslands of the Maasai Mara in the Serengeti, home to lion, cheetah, elephant, leopard, black rhino, zebra and hippo. As with the Amazon, Kenya is bird-watcher's paradise, with more than 500 resident bird species.

To R.S.V.P. for the complimentary informative presentation, call 503-525-4234 or e-mail brodiek@metro.dst.or.us

Information about the preview and tours are available on the zoo's Web site at: http://www.oregonzoo.org/Involved/travel.htm

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Oregon Zoo's lorikeet exhibit will remain closed until further notice. The popular exhibit has been closed since Sept. 9 after several birds became ill and later died.

From Sept. 9 to Sept. 18, 15 of the colorful birds died from complications related to a bacterial infection. The other birds of the exhibit have seemingly recovered, but the exhibit will remain closed until the cause of the infection is identified.

"The lorikeets have been exposed to a strain of Escherichia coli that is particularly virulent to birds," according to Mitch Finnegan, lead veterinarian. "On a positive note, we have received lab results for the E. coli 0157:H7 strain -- which is a bacterium that causes severe illness in people -- and those results, as expected, are all negative."

Finnegan stated that the strain of the E. coli isolates, of which there are thousands, is being tested at the only lab in the country equipped to do so, and that the zoo should receive results in two weeks.

"Obviously we want to err on the side of caution," said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. "Even though the birds are doing well, we want to make sure we know what caused their illness before we move forward."

The zoo has installed hand-washing stations at the entrance of the exhibit. Once the exhibit opens, visitors will be asked to wash their hands prior to entering the exhibit. The zoo has always had hand- washing stations at the exhibit's exit.

Since its opening in 1999, Lorikeet Landing has been extremely popular. The birds are inquisitive and playful and will fly down and land on a person's arm or hand, taking sips out of nectar cups.

There are nine different species of lorikeets in Lorikeet Landing. Native to the island chains of the South Pacific, the zoo's birds come mainly from the larger islands of Australia, New Guinea, Polynesia and Indonesia.

Among the most beautiful of all birds, lorikeets are feathered in vivid colors and varying hues, combining bright yellows, deep violets, radiant reds, brilliant blues and lime-greens. The colors are further enhanced by the natural glossiness of the lorikeets' plumage.

Lorikeets normally eat fruits, flowers, pollen and nectar. Papillae on their tongues are U-shaped for a brush-like appearance and ease of feeding on nectar and pollen. The rising of the papillae when the tongue is extended gives the lories their well known name -- brush-tongued parrots. Their upper beak is also much more narrow and pointed than other birds of the parrot family.

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Oregon Zoo has collected more than 8,000 eggs from 32 rare Oregon silverspot butterflies, by far the most it has ever collected during eight years of involvement in a captive-rearing program to help save the delicate creatures from extinction. Previously, the most eggs collected had been 5,200. After a year of care, the zoo will release the endangered butterfly pupae at the Nature Conservancy's 280-acre Cascade Head Preserve, north of Lincoln City, where they will emerge as butterflies.

This year, female silverspot butterflies were collected from Mt. Hebo and induced to lay eggs at the Oregon Zoo's butterfly-breeding facility. The butterfly eggs are collected daily and put into petri dishes where they hatch into tiny larvae.

"Each larva is only about one millimeter long when it hatches," said Mary Jo Andersen, butterfly conservationist. "They look like tiny specks, but when you observe them under a microscope, you can see that they are perfect miniature caterpillars."

These tiny caterpillars are then placed in special jars and cooled in refrigerators during the winter, simulating their winter period of inactivity, known as diapause."

In the spring, we bring them out of diapause and raise the young caterpillars throughout the summer," said Andersen. "They're fed the rare plant Viola adunca, and when they pupate we release them back into the wild, where they emerge as beautiful butterflies."

"This conservation effort is serving as a model for rebuilding an ecosystem," said Tony Vecchio, Oregon Zoo director. "Through the combined efforts of Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, the Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we hope to stabilize the butterfly population and bring it back from the brink of extinction."

A tiny butterfly larva, a "perfect miniature caterpillar," crawls across the surface of a penny. This fall marks the beginning of the Oregon Zoo's eighth year working with the Nature Conservancy to save the Oregon silverspot butterfly. © Oregon Zoo

The Oregon silverspot butterfly is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. It was once found in coastal grasslands from northern California to southern Washington, but has disappeared from all but a handful of sites along the Oregon coast due to habitat loss and the disappearance of its host plant, the western blue violet.

During the preceding decade, monitoring at Cascade Head revealed a dramatic decline in the number of butterflies seen flying. In years prior to 1992, average numbers exceeded 1,000 adults, but in 1998, only 57 of the butterflies were found.

In 1999, in response to the dramatic decline in the butterfly population, the Oregon Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, the Nature Conservancy, Washington State Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others took action to save the threatened species and its habitat.

Currently, the Nature Conservancy, working collaboratively with U.S. Forest Service, is restoring the native butterfly habitat through small, controlled burns. Scientists hope that by bringing back the western blue violet -- which silverspot caterpillars depend on for food -- the butterfly population can return to its historic numbers and ranges.

"Our cooperative conservation efforts are being seen more and more as part of the new zoo ethic," said Andersen. "It's becoming quite common for zoos to work outside their traditional captive programs to aid in the protection of species in their natural habitats."

The zoo is also involved with conservation projects involving Taylor's checkerspot butterflies and Mardon skipper butterflies.

According to Vecchio, butterfly populations throughout North America are in decline, with 23 species listed as either endangered or threatened. To address this problem, the Oregon Zoo has supported the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Butterfly Conservation Initiative, which involves nearly 50 national zoos and aquariums. The initiative is designed to bring together government and non-government agencies to aid in the recovery of imperiled North American butterflies.