With its rivers and waterfalls, lakes and wetlands, springs,
geysers, and caves, all rimmed with rocky seacoasts,
sandy beaches, corals, and deltas, North America's 5.8 billion acres
boast an amazing abundance
and diversity of wildlife and wild lands. Unfortunately, many of
them—like the black-footed ferret,
its prairie dog prey, and their grassland habitat—are highly endangered.
The National Zoo—the nation's zoo—exhibits many North American species.
Live the life of a wild wolf in Yellowstone—play WolfQuest.
North America Photo Gallery |
Help with cam
Watching black-footed ferrets:
You are viewing the nest box of a black-footed ferret at the Zoo's Conservation and Research Center, where ferrets are bred to be saved from extinction. In 2007, 24 kits were born here and survived past infancy. Ferrets, which once ranged across the Great Plains and are now one of the world's rarest mammals, are more active at night—don't be surprised if the ferret on camera is asleep.
Recovery of the endangered black-footed ferret | 
Black-footed ferret facts
Flamingo Cam
Octopus Cam
Sea Lion Pups at the Zoo
Our youngest marine mammals are two female California sea lion pups that went on exhibit in Beaver Valley in 2006. They were rescued as newborns in June 2005 on separate beaches in California, and were raised at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California. 
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Two Prairie Dog Exhibits
Black-tailed prairie dogs, one of about 2,000 rodent species, can be seen in two Zoo exhibits. At the outdoor exhibit, near Lemur Island and the Mane Restaurant, several prairie dogs can be seen digging holes for their underground tunnel system, eating, and interacting.
The Small Mammal House is home to the second exhibit. A black-footed ferret normally lives in a nearby tunnel, but the Zoo currently does not have any ferrets.
Sam
and Tioga are the Stars of the Bald Eagle Refuge
A cooperative effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and the National Zoo led to the creation of the Bald Eagle Refuge in the Zoo's Beaver Valley. Bald eagles in the lower 48 states nearly went extinct in the mid-20th century. In the 1960s and '70s, they were given protection under endangered species laws. Thanks to the ban on certain pesticides, protected habitats, and hand-rearing and releasing eagles into the wild, they now number more than 10,000 and are no longer considered endangered.
Come visit these majestic birds
in their open-air Zoo habitat and find out more about their incredible comeback after being
on the endangered species list. Saving
Our Symbol
