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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 slender-tailed meerkats), and primates (such as golden lion tamarins and lemurs).
Two Tree Shrews Born
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| Photo by FONZ Photo Club member Clyde Nishimura |
Two juvenile northern tree shrews emerged from their nest in the Zoo's Small Mammal House on September 29. Keepers estimate they were born on August 20 and determined they are both female.
Tree shrew mothers provide minimal care for their offspring. They nurse them once every couple of days until the young emerge from the nest.
Tree shrews are not shrews, which are insectivores, or rodents. They are in their own order, Scandentia. 
Read more about them.
Zoo Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Naked Mole-Rats
Twenty years ago, the Zoo welcomed naked mole-rats into its collection. These rodents, which are more closely related to porcupines and guinea pigs than to moles or rats, are one of only a handful of mammals that exhibit eusocial behavior. Like insects such as termites and bees, naked mole-rats follow a hierarchical social structure that consists of one breeding female called the queen, up to three breeding males and many non-breeding workers and soldiers. Read more and see more photos.
Read All About Golden Lion Tamarins in Monkey Messages
The Zoo has been working for more than 30 years to save golden lion tamarins from going extinct. It exhibits about a dozen of these endangered monkeys.
Keepers introduced a pair of saki monkeys into the big exhibit with GLTs Pepe and Izabel earlier this summer. Although the animals were cautious at first, they are all getting along just fine now. The tamarins and sakis mostly keep to themselves, but as time goes on they are spending more time near each other—except when food is involved, and then it’s every monkey for itself!
Voters Name Ferret on the Web Cam
After voting polls closed at noon on November 4, black-footed ferret keepers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, revealed the 
ferret web cam star’s new name. More than 1,000 voters picked the winning name, Rosebud, on Smithsonian magazine’s website. The name represents one of 19 sites, the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where captive-bred black-footed ferrets are released. Rosebud the ferret will remain in captivity for possible breeding and on view on the Zoo’s ferret cam for devoted ferret fans.
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Ask a question about naked mole-rats |
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Naked mole-what?
Despite the fact that they burrow underground like moles, and have big front teeth like rats have, naked mole-rats are more closely related to porcupines and guinea pigs than to moles or rats. This naked mole-rat colony occupies a labyrinth of transparent tubes that mimics the underground tunnels and burrows in Africa, where mole-rats live. The web cam is focused on a busy intersection of two tunnels. Mole-rats are the only known mammals to live in large colonies presided over by a queen (like ants and termites).
The Naked Truth About Mole-Rats | Naked Mole-Rat Facts | Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Black-footed Ferret Cam
Golden Lion Tamarin Cam
Black-Footed Ferret Milestone Year: 30th Conservation Anniversary Coupled with Record Number of Kit Births at Zoo's Virginia Campus
The black-footed ferret, once thought to be extinct in the wild, was rediscovered in 1981 with a small population of 24 animals in Wyoming―30 years later the species’ future is brighter than ever. The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) is marking this anniversary with a record-breaking year―50 surviving black-footed ferret kits were born at the Zoo’s Front Royal, Virginia, facility this year, helping to bolster the population of North America’s sole ferret species.
Today more than 1,000 ferrets exist in the wild as the result of a successful reintroduction program at six breeding institutions, including SCBI. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the first release of black-footed ferrets back into their native prairie habitat. SCBI has produced 670 black-footed ferrets, 220 of which have been released into the wild. The remaining ferrets were kept for captive breeding in subsequent years.
Fifty-one black-footed ferret kits were born at SCBI this year from April through June and 50 survived. All but one of the kits were born through natural breeding. A single kit was the result of artificial insemination using frozen sperm collected in 1997. The average litter size is three to four kits, and this year’s largest litter had ten kits. The ferret cam features Rupee, a one-year-old female who gave birth to seven kits on June 17. The kits are scheduled to leave SCBI on September 28, and will eventually be released into the wild.
Read all about ferret conservation.
The Zoo exhibits a black-footed ferret at the Small Mammal House. Learn more.
Vet Stories: A Porcupine's Tail
Soon after Winnie, a prehensile-tailed porcupine, arrived at the Zoo in 2004, her keepers discovered that the end of her tail was injured. 
Find out how the vets and other staff treated her.
Mammal Mystery
Family members of this species greet with what looks like a kiss. They're not really kissing, but gently touching their front teeth together. What animals recognize each other this way?
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
