New York – Feb. 2, 2015 – WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) Queens Zoo has become a winter wonderland having received several inches of snow in the past week. These five photos highlight a few animals enjoying the week’s weather.
 
All photo credits: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS
Included photos:
#8916: Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus): The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. Once on the brink of extinction, the species has made a tremendous recovery thanks to conservation efforts.
#8810: Snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus): This is one of the largest owl species. Its white plumage allows easy camouflage in the snow.
#9104: American bison (Bison bison): This is North America’s largest mammal. There were fewer than 1000 bison left in the American West when The New York Zoological Society, now the Wildlife Conservation Society, sent 15 bison from the Bronx Zoo to Oklahoma’s Wichita Mountains Wildlife Preserve to help restore the western Plains’ depleted bison population.
#9127: Coyote (Canis latrans): The Queens Zoo’s added five coyote pups last year after they were rescued by wildlife officials in Massachusetts.
#8874: Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis): These beautiful predators are found in forests throughout Canada and Alaska and are twice the size of a standard house cat.

Contact:
Max Pulsinelli – 718-220-5182; mpulsinelli@wcs.org
Barbara Russo – 718-265-3428; brusso@wcs.org

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo – Open every day of the year. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors 65 and older, $5 for kids 3-12, free for children under 3. Zoo hours are 10am to 5pm weekdays, and 10am – 5:30pm weekends, April through October, and 10am – 4:30pm daily, November through April. The Queens Zoo is located at 53-51 111th Street in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park in Queens. For further information, call 718-271-1500 or visit www.queenszoo.com.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. VISION: WCS envisions a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in more than 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City,  visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: www.wcs.org; http://www.facebook.com/TheWCS; http://www.youtube.com/user/WCSMedia  Follow: @thewcs.