Mammals vary in size from the 100-foot-long blue whale to the two-gram bumblebee bat, one of the world's most endangered species. Most mammals measure less than one foot (including the head and body). That makes small mammals far more common, if less well known, than large mammals like elephants, tigers, and people.
Small mammals cut across categories. Most species are rodents (such as the naked mole-rat), insectivores, and bats, but there are also carnivores, such as Asian small-clawed otters, and primates, such as golden lion tamarins and lemurs.
Births at the Small Mammal House
Golden lion tamarin twins were born at the Zoo's Small Mammal House on July 17. More than 178 golden lion tamarins have been born at the Zoo over the past few decades. The last pair was born in May of 2007.
Golden lion tamarins are usually born in sets of twins, and all members of the family group contribute to caring for and carrying the babies. Golden lion tamarins inhabit the Atlantic coastal forest of Brazil.
There are only 1,500 of these small endangered monkeys left in the wild. In order to ensure their survival, the Zoo has worked with other zoos and conservation organizations to re-introduce zoo-born golden lion tamarins into the wild and restore their habitat. 
Learn more.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, a greater Madagascar tenrec was born at the Small Mammal House in April. Nearly full grown by early July, it can be seen in an exhibit with its parents, near the building's largest enclosures.
On June 13, a prehensile-tailed porcupine was born at the Small Mammal House. In a little more than two weeks, it doubled its weight to about 1.8 pounds. It is on exhibit with its mother and older sister. Its father is in another exhibit. 
Get a good look at a baby prehensile-tailed porcupine.
Endangered Black-footed Ferrets Give Birth
The National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center (CRC), in Front Royal, Virginia, has been breeding endangered black-footed ferrets for 20 years to bring them back from the brink of extinction. This year, 21 females were bred at CRC, four by artificial insemination and 17 by natural pairings.
So far, five ferrets have given birth to litters, including Georgia, the ferret featured on our 
web cam. She gave birth to a kit, resulting from artificial insemination, on June 20.
Kit update: The male kit on view on the web cam is doing well. Some people have wondered about the ferrets' nest boxes and diet, where the ferrets are when they're off camera, and what will happen to the kit. Find out below the cam.
Visitors to the Zoo can see a black-footed ferret in the Zoo's Small Mammal House.
Learn more about black-footed ferret conservation.
Small Mammals Photo Gallery |
Help with cam
Can’t see any animals?
The animal in this exhibit may have moved out of view. FONZ volunteers operate some cams, but most of our cams show a fixed view.
Watching golden lion tamarins:
You are viewing the nest box of a family of golden lion tamarins. Parents and two sets of twins who were free-ranging this summer are now in the Zoo's Small Mammal House. There are only about 1,500 of these small monkeys in the wild. For decades, Zoo scientists have collaborated with conservation organizations to help save from extinction these small endangered monkeys.
Free-ranging Golden Lion Tamarins | 
Adopt a Golden Lion Tamarin
Black-footed Ferret Cam
Naked Mole-rat
Kit update continued: The ferrets at CRC are fed a special diet for small carnivores that consists of raw ground meat. The white bedding you may see on the cam is called alpha-dry. The ferrets do occasionally ingest it, so we tend to provide food outside of the nest boxes to reduce this. However, many adults carry food into the nest box and put it down on the alpha-dry before eating it. The bedding sticks to the meat, but it does not hurt them. They pass it out with their stool. Wood shavings may cause minor injuries so we don't use them. Now that the kit is old enough to venture outside of the nest box, the ferrets' keeper will start providing food outside the box. For all of you wondering about the kit's name, it has been named Peanut.
The ferrets have a large enclosure outside of the nest box. It is filled with soil that they can dig in. They spend a lot of time excavating their enclosures. Their toys range from plastic tubes, golf balls, larger plastic balls, mirrors, boxes, and large plastic bags.
The ferrets on the cam will most likely be separated the first week of October, which is when a young male would go his separate way in the wild. Peanut is extremely genetically valuable and most likely will go to the largest ferret facility in Colorado, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where he will have a better selection of females for pairings in the spring.
Wallaby Joey Is Zoo's Newest Marsupial
A tammar wallaby joey can now been seen with the National Zoo's five adult wallabies, in a yard with an emu, near the maned wolves and across Olmsted Walk from the Zoo in Your Backyard Exhibit. Wallabies are marsupials—like kangaroos—and after birth, offspring climb into their mothers’ pouch, where they nurse and continue developing over several months.
Keepers first noticed the joey’s head emerging from the pouch in March and saw the joey more and more in May. They estimate it was born in October. Not wanting to disturb the delicate bond between the mother and baby, keepers have yet to separate them for an exam to determine its sex and weight.
Mammal Mystery
This small mammal has the face of an agouti, the legs of a tiny deer, and weighs less than a fat house cat. What is it?
Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation Program
For
more than 30 years, this program has been saving these small monkeys
through conservation breeding and reintroduction to
their natural habitat in Brazil. Thanks to the success
of the program, the status of GLTs was downgraded from
"critically endangered" to "endangered" by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 2003. more
