News

One, possibly two, red-billed hornbill chicks hatched in early May at the National Zoo’s Bird House. This is the first red-billed hornbill hatching at the Zoo since 1994. However, due to this species’ peculiar nesting behavior, it was only recently that keepers have been able to confirm one chick....

The newest sloth bear ( Melursus ursinus)at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is not so new at all—born at the Zoo, his debut on Asia Trail marks his homecoming after seven years. Francois, a 260-pound, 19-year-old bear, was born at the Zoo in 1991 and was later moved to the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas...

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute has scientists all over the world, working to conserve all sorts of threatened ecosystems: grasslands in South America, jungles in Africa, cloud forests in Asia, coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. But not all endangered ecosystems are in far-flung...

When you ponder the enormity of the situation we’re in: the biggest mass extinction of life on Earth, bigger even than the extinction that saw the dinosaurs out, up against that, any one human’s actions can seem like trying to bail the Titanic with a soup spoon. Many people are trying though. For...

For the first time in more than 20 years, tiny lion paws are making a mark at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Early this morning 6-year-old lion Nababiep gave birth to one cub, adding another member to the lion pride the Zoo has carefully worked to build over the past year. “This is a historic...

History was made March 30 in the Bird House at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo when its first female brown kiwi chick ( Apteryx mantelli) emerged from her shell. To mark this historic hatching, keepers bestowed the honor of naming the chick on one of her countrymen: New Zealand Ambassador to the...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is mourning the loss of its elderly male Sumatran tiger ( Panthera tigris sumatrae), Rokan, today, while celebrating his contributions to conservation during his long life. At almost 20 years of age, Rokan lived longer than the 15-year life expectancy for Sumatran...

Two rare white-naped crane chicks hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., May 12 and 14. The hatchings of the two chicks validate the National Zoo’s continued success in breeding some of the most genetically valuable cranes in the North American White-Naped...

One week and nearly 5,000 votes after the Smithsonian’s National Zoo opened the online polls to the public to name its male and female Andean bear cubs the Zoo has two winners: Chaska, pronounced Chas'-kuh, for the female and Bernardo for the male! Animal keepers and the embassies of Peru and...

With test tubes filled with sparkling juice in hand, Smithsonian scientists and officials toast the new genetics lab, which the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute officially opened today at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Genetics research at the Zoo will help conservationists worldwide...

The two Andean bear cubs, Tremarctos ornatus (also known as the spectacled bear), that were born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in mid-January are getting ready for two big events: receiving their names May 19 and making their public debut May 22. After months of seclusion in their indoor den...

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s geneticists are ironing their lab coats and revving up their DNA sequencers for the celebration of the group’s new state-of-the-art genetics lab at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where researchers will look at life’s smallest building blocks in...

Last evening, the National Zoo’s lion cub died. Lion keepers had been closely observing the cub, a male, via camera since his birth Tuesday morning. When keepers noticed the cub was not responding to its mother, they shifted the mother outdoors in order to examine the cub. A veterinary team...

New England forests are at a turning point. For the first time in 200 years, forest cover—which peaked at 80 percent of the landscape in 2000—has begun to decline in every New England state. If sprawl and development continue at current rates, 63 percent of the landscape may be developed by 2030...

Bati, an endangered Speke’s gazelle at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, turns 15 years old tomorrow, May 12. He was born at the St. Louis Zoo in 1995 and is the oldest documented Speke's gazelle living in a zoo. Bati will receive an ‘herbivore’s delight’ consisting of grass, herbs, shrubs and other...

Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) is seeking volunteers with an interest in animals and their conservation to assist with upcoming events, games, projects and keeper needs. Volunteers offer invaluable support to the Zoo—they work with staff, visitors, animals, plants, independently and in groups...

Don’t miss what has become a spring tradition and one of the premier culinary events in Washington, D.C.: ZooFari! Taking place at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo on May 20 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., and hosted by the Friends of the National Zoo, ZooFari 2010 – “A Panda Bear Affair” – will bring...

A scimitar-horned oryx has joined the ranks of endangered animals born this year at the National Zoo’s conservation center in Front Royal, Va., where scientists also recently confirmed the gender of the Zoo’s nearly 3-month-old clouded leopards.

One of the loudest birds that we hear in our yards is also one of the smallest. The tiny house wren weighs only 11 grams, about the same as 2 quarters, and is a mere 4 inches long. With its small size and unassuming coloration it is an easy bird to overlook, but the male's frequent bouts of...

By Kenton Kerns, Small Mammal House Keeper at the National Zoo It’s February 24, 2010, and I am riding up and down Brazil 101, a major thoroughfare highway between Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian cities to the north. It’s my 12th day in Brazil and I’ve come here to learn about golden lion tamarin...

As a disease known as amphibian chytrid fungus continues to wipe out amphibian species worldwide, frogs in Panama are finding a safe haven in a seemingly unlikely spot—between the metal walls of shipping containers once used to transport ice cream, strawberries, coffee beans, flowers and...

Two weeks and 7,050 votes after the Smithsonian’s National Zoo opened the online polls to the public to name its new giant Pacific octopus ( Enteroctopus dofleini), one choice has emerged as the clear victor: Octavius. “Octavius the Octopus” is more than just a pretty, alliterative name. The prefix...

Following a final ultrasound and hormone analysis, staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo confirmed late yesterday (Tuesday, April 27) that female giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) is not pregnant but was experiencing a pseudo, or false, pregnancy during the past several months. National Zoo...

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo detected a secondary rise in urinary progestagen levels in the Zoo’s female giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) March 30. This hormone rise indicates that it should be 40 to 50 days before Mei Xiang either gives birth to a cub or comes to the end of a...

A 24-hour pregnancy watch of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s female giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) is slated to begin today at 4 p.m. A corps of more than 40 Friends of the National Zoo volunteers and animal care staff will closely monitor the panda for maternal behaviors through keeper...