Science and Conservation on the Asia Trail
Ancient Greeks looked to the East and named the shadowy space over the horizon Asia. Little did they realize that they were giving a single name to 30 percent of the planet’s land area. This accident of history, perpetuated in our geography, makes it difficult to talk about a place called Asia, because it is so many places.
The world’s tallest peak—Mount Everest—and lowest point—the Dead Sea—are in Asia. Its climate ranges from arctic to tropical, from very wet to very dry.
The continent features frigid tundra and torrid plains, arid deserts and wet rainforests, alpine meadows and coral reefs. Asia is composed of an immense landmass and thousands of islands. Asia’s cultural and biological diversity mirrors its geographical diversity. There is no one Asian culture or Asian flora and fauna; there are many.
Unfortunately, many people in the Western world know little about anything Asian, apart from giant pandas and carryout food. So well known an Asian animal as the tiger is believed by many Americans to live in Africa. But at least we all recognize a tiger. What of other Asian creatures, like sloth bears and fishing cats and thamin? These names may evoke no particular images at all. Yet these and many other Asian species and their habitats are threatened by the pace of environmental change across that huge continent. If we don’t learn about them now, we may lose the chance forever.
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At the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, we are hoping to prevent that frightening possibility. As part of a ten-year effort to revitalize the Zoo, we are planning a new Asia Trail. The Asia Trail will feature a series of exhibits for several Asian species in our collection that need new habitats, and whose conservation will be promoted by our research and education efforts both at the Zoo and in their native Asian homes.
Along with the new Fujifilm Giant Panda Conservation Habitat, first in the Asia Trail series will be a new habitat for our sloth bears, wonderful creatures that hail from the forests of India and Nepal. Ant- and termite-eaters, these bears are nearly as specialized as the bamboo-eating pandas and, once people see them in action, are likely to be as popular as pandas. Habitats for fishing cats, clouded leopards, red pandas, and giant salamanders are also in the plan.
Next, we will focus on Asian elephants. Not only do we plan to create a much larger space than the Zoo’s three female elephants have now, we intend to build a facility where we can exhibit Kandula, who is well on his way to becoming a rambunctious adult male. While giant pandas, sloth bears, and Asian elephants will likely attract the most attention, we hope visitors will get to know many other Asian animals, whether they live on the Asia Trail or elsewhere in the Zoo. Komodo dragons, gharials, white-cheeked gibbons, orang utans, and Sumatran tigers are among the spectacular Asia species you can see at the Zoo.
But Zoo exhibits are like the western coast of Turkey that ancient Greeks first called Asia. There is far more going on at the Zoo than you can see. The National Zoo’s science and conservation programs in Asia and for Asian species are nearly as diverse as the continent. They range from using satellite images to follow the migration of Mongolian gazelles in one of the largest temperate grasslands in the world to teasing apart the best way to freeze and thaw clouded leopard semen in a laboratory in Washington, D.C.
The Zoo’s programs cover the entire spectrum of conservation action, from high-tech strategies to create a frozen zoo to high-tech applications to map Asia’s remaining wildlife habitats. And they include perhaps the most important element in achieving success in conservation: the education and training of future conservation leaders in each of the countries in which Zoo scientists work.
In the following pages, we briefly introduce the conservation and science that are part of the Zoo’s Asia program.
ZooGoer 32(2) 2003. Copyright 2003 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.
