My Vision for the Future
by Lucy H. Spelman
At the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, our mission is to study, celebrate, and help protect the diversity of animals and their habitats.
The Smithsonian National Zoo is one of the finest zoos in the world. It is also a historic park in need of renovation. What’s more, in the face of continuing fiscal austerity, it has become increasingly hard to maintain the standards of excellence that have made ours a great zoo. Thus, I have these goals for the future:
First, I plan to revitalize and modernize the Zoo’s aging facilities so we are recognized for creating innovative, state-of-the-art environments for our animals and our visitors.
Second, I plan to maintain and increase our preeminence among zoos in providing the highest quality of care for animals and in conducting outstanding scientific research in the fields of reproductive biology and conservation biology of endangered species.
Third, I hope through these efforts to nourish and strengthen the bond between people and animals, a relationship that is fundamental to the future of the Earth’s wildlife and wildlands.
Finally, I am determined to raise the resources necessary to achieve these goals.
Our Strengths
The current strengths of the Zoo make these ambitious goals
attainable. The Zoo now attracts three to four million visitors
each year, welcoming them free of charge. Entering the gates,
visitors are transported from the urban bustle of the nation’s
capital to the world of wildlife—nearly 250 different
animal species. Visitors can explore a beautiful 163-acre
park studded with trees and century-old plantings and dotted
with historic buildings. Our visitors get close to the animals
through innovative exhibits and creative education programs.
The Zoo is a place where one can escape the winter chill in
the warmth and humidity of Amazonia, or cool off in the summer
heat walking through refreshing misters on Olmsted Walk.
We are as committed to caring as well for our visitors as we do for our animals. As we modernize our oldest areas and develop new exhibits, we expect many more people will come to discover what’s new and leave inspired to care about the animals they’ve met.
The Zoo is already home to wonderfully diverse animals, ascending in size from ants to elephants. We plan to expand the variety of species still more while we group their exhibits based on their geographic origins, for example, with Asian species arrayed in one area, African ones in another.
For many of our species, we offer wonderful habitats that stimulate the animals’ natural behavior, promote their well-being, and also provide a setting for detailed scientific observation. In this way, we are working to advance understanding and conservation of animals and their habitats. Our exhibits are programs as well as places, combining education, research, and conservation.
We provide for our animals a regimen of health care that reflects the most sophisticated advances in veterinary medicine. We are at the forefront of this field, and have a long-standing commitment to training veterinary professionals.
We are fortunate to have an extraordinarily dedicated and talented staff, known worldwide for their expertise in animal management and the scientific study of endangered species, including reproductive biology, conservation biology and ecology, behavior, and wildlife management. By connecting our research efforts more explicitly to the exhibits and the animals on display, we hope to share more of this work with the public.
Our Needs
The Zoo is more than 110 years old and its age and popularity
have taken a visible toll. The Zoo’s physical environment
is deteriorating. Many of our largest creatures—lions,
tigers, bears, elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos—are
housed in our oldest areas. Yet families come to the Zoo primarily
to see these species, often called “charismatic mega-vertebrates.”
The sloth bear exhibit was built in the late 1890s, for example,
and the Elephant House in the 1930s. Other facilities in the
Zoo—for the seals and sea lions, birds, small mammals,
and reptiles—have structural problems.
We need adequate financial resources to re-create, restore, and revitalize these crumbling spaces, to provide a physical environment for all of our animals and our visitors that is state-of-the-art.
The size of both our staff and our operating budget (the money that remains after we pay salaries) is at an all-time low. The staff and resources are stretched thin by the increased range and urgency of our responsibilities to the animals, our visitors, and the future of wildlife.
We need adequate financial resources to ensure that we have a large enough staff with the highest quality skill to adequately meet these responsibilities.
We are off and running, already in the first phase of the Zoo’s physical renewal. We have renovated our wolf exhibit for endangered Mexican wolves and remodeled Monkey Island for a dynamic group of ring-tailed lemurs and a pair of red-fronted lemurs. We built a new picnic pavilion and are renovating our restaurant with funds from the federal government and FONZ. A new “Kids’ Farm,” made possible by funds from Congress, will open within the next two years. And soon, a magnificent pair of bronze lions will grace the entrance to the Zoo on Connecticut Avenue.
Thanks primarily to the generosity of Fujifilm, we have completed our campaign to raise private funds for a new Giant Panda Conservation Habitat. We will build the Habitat after having studied the giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian in their current habitats. We are learning their preferences and documenting their ways, so the new habitat will be tailored to their needs. What we learn will also help our efforts to conserve wild pandas in China, where panda habitat is rapidly being degraded as a result of China’s growing human population and changing land use.
We need new major additional funding to continue to progress toward achieving our goals.
The Next Steps: The Asia Trail
Giant pandas figure prominently in our plans for an exciting
new Asia Trail. The Asia Trail will begin just inside the
main entrance of the Zoo, where visitors will encounter the
new Sloth Bear Habitat. This state-of-the-art exhibit will
highlight this little-known bear species. Like giant pandas,
sloth bears come from the forests of Asia, specifically Sri
Lanka and India. Happily, sloth bears do not live up—or
down!—to their name. Sloth bears are experts at digging
up ant and termite colonies and sucking up the insects through
a gap in their teeth. These active and engaging creatures
root out ants and termites with their long claws and powerful
snouts, and climb trees to pluck fruit or knock down bee hives.
Visitors will be able to watch these engaging animals from
just inches away, through thick plexiglass walls that afford
unrestricted views of their activities. Whether digging, climbing
trees, or turning over rocks and logs, sloth bears are on
the move for food and are captivating to watch. When people
can see all this activity, sloth bears might rival our giant
pandas for the public’s attention and affection. They
are celebrities waiting to happen.
Down the Asia Trail from the Sloth Bear Habitat will be the Fujifilm Giant Panda Conservation Habitat, an expansive naturalistic exhibit. The multi-faceted giant panda education program, also funded by Fujifilm, will inform visitors about the extensive ten-year research plan for giant pandas, and inspire the public to care about the future of endangered animals by caring about their habitats.
At the end of the Asia Trail will be a remarkable transformation of the existing exhibits of another Asian favorite—the Zoo's Asian elephants. The exhibit space for this endangered species, currently in the historic Elephant House, will be greatly expanded in size and include natural water sources, varied terrain, and extensive plantings reminiscent of their natural habitats. By quadrupling the current living space of our Asian elephants, we will be able to expand the Zoo's existing population and launch an extensive breeding program. We will continue to study the reproductive biology, behavioral preferences, and conservation biology of Asian elephants and to collaborate with conservation organizations around the world to secure their future in the wild.
Pandas, sloth bears, and elephants are the mega-residents of the Asia Trail. Other fascinating species we may exhibit on the Asia Trail include fishing cats, takin, tufted deer, and red pandas.
We are also committed to sharing with our visitors more of the “hidden zoo”—activities the public does not normally see that are essential to the daily workings of the visible Zoo. As far as possible, we want to lift the curtain and let people observe firsthand what a complex, challenging, surprising, and exciting institution the Zoo is behind the scenes. The media will help us do this. Animal Planet, for example, is producing a 13-part series about daily life at the Zoo, and it plans multiple television specials on the giant pandas. With the help of FONZ, we plan to broaden the reach of our education programs for school children, expand our presence on the Web, and increase the number of educational special events for the public. Finally, through our interpretive programs, we will educate visitors about our efforts to ensure the well-being of the creatures in our care, to stabilize their populations in zoos worldwide, and to promote their conservation in the wild.
All of the elements are in place to make the National Zoological Park one of the most genuinely exciting and creative zoos of the world. But we will need the help and support of many partners to make our vision a reality. I invite all of you to be part of this extraordinary adventure.Z
—Formerly the Zoo’s chief veterinarian, Lucy Spelman was named Director of the Smithsonian National Zoo in June 2000.
ZooGoer 31(2) 2002. Copyright 2002 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.
