SCBI researchers worked with the Zoo's Asian elephants - Shanthi, Ambika, and Kandula - to learn more about the elephant immune system. Their research is helping them begin to think of new ways to protect elephants' health - both in zoos and in the wild from diseases that are devastating the world's elephant population. Read more

Scientists at SCBI have developed certification criteria for Bird Friendly Coffee - coffee that's both shade-grown and certified organic. Eight countries cultivate more than 17,000 acres of this coffee, and it's now being served in all Zoo stores and restaurants and at five Smithsonian museums on the Mall. Read more

Reptile Discovery Center keeper Matt Evans took a trip to Panama to help establish "lifeboat colonies" of local amphibians before they're driven extinct by a devastating fungus. See photos of his trip and read more

After more than 30 years of studying clouded leopards, Zoo scientists have solved many puzzles about this perplexing species, starting with the biggest: figuring out just what a clouded leopard wants out of its habitat, and they're applying that knowledge at the Zoo's Front Royal facility. Read more

SCBI's new forest ecologist Jonathan Thompson sees both the forest and the trees: he studies how forest ecosystems function, and how those functions change in a human-dominated ever-changing landscape. Read more

July 19-30

Experimental Design and Ecological Statistics

Co-taught by SCBI researchers and Mason faculty, this course provides an overview of methods design, state-of-the-art analysis techniques, and interpretation of results for ecological research and conservation.

July 20, 24, 27

Canid Conservation

Learn about wolves, dogs, and their relatives at this three-session course.

Mary Hagedorn

A fish biologist at SCBI has had an electric fish named in her honor, in recognition of her work in the field of bony, electric fishes. Read more