News

With a sleek, eel-like body and beady eyes, the aquatic caecilian is quite an unusual amphibian. In this Q&A, animal keeper Denny Charlton shares some of his favorite fun facts about these wiggly wonders.

Primate keeper Melba Brown shares the latest news about 15-week-old western lowland gorilla Moke.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s charismatic Bornean orangutan infant, Redd, will celebrate his second birthday Sept. 12! Since the last update in February, he has hit some major milestones. Get the latest scoop on this playful primate.

Check out the latest update on our 3.5-month-old gorilla infant from primate keeper Melba Brown.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute welcomed a litter of seven chirping cheetah cubs July 9. The cubs appear to be healthy and doing well.

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists work in more than 25 countries around the world. They recently took their expertise to the Amazon in Peru, where they hosted a course to help regional stakeholders put sustainable development conservation into practice.

Grassland birds incubate their nests at around 86 degrees Fahrenheit — hot enough for a drone outfitted with a thermal camera to detect. Virginia Working Landscapes and students at James Madison University are working together to take a 21st-century approach to monitoring a species that is rapidly...

Now that our 13-week-old western lowland gorilla infant Moke is practicing his walking skills, we are beginning to see some interesting changes in the social dynamics of our mixed-sex troop.

The safety and security of the visitors, staff and animals are the No. 1 priority at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The Zoo will host a public meeting on Aug. 1 at 6:30 p.m.

In honor of National Zookeeper Week, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is featuring some of the dedicated professionals who go above and beyond for the animals in our care.

Find the answers to some of the most-searched questions about black-footed ferrets, North America’s only native ferret species!

Western lowland gorilla Moke is learning to walk! This week, he spent some quality time with 9-year-old Kibibi.

Think ewe know all there is to know about goats, pigs, donkeys and moooo-re? These Kids’ Farm animal facts may have you stumped!

A scimitar-horned oryx calf was born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, June 30. The calf was conceived by artificial insemination with sperm that was cryopreserved (frozen) in 2011, and the calf’s mother did not need to be anesthetized for the procedure — a...

Rose Marie, a 31-year-old Przewalski’s horse at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, was humanely euthanized July 6, due to her declining health and quality of life. She was one of the oldest Przewalski’s horses in the world.

SCBI scientists are using innovative GPS tracking collars to better understand the flight patterns of Myanmar's flying foxes.

Meet Victoria and Adelaide — the new Bennett’s wallabies at the Zoo! Get the scoop on the Small Mammal House’s marsupials from curator Steve Sarro and animal keepers Ashton Ball and Esther Wray.

Training tigers to show their teeth and preening prickly porcupines is all in a day’s work for keeper Dell Guglielmo!

A female Guam kingfisher, a brightly colored bird and one of the most endangered bird species on the planet, hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia, May 17.

A team of reproductive scientists, veterinarians and animal keepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute have determined that giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) will not give birth this year.

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists have provided the first experimental evidence that male western white-bearded wildebeests’ rutting vocalizations are a key driver of the tightly synchronized breeding and calving in the species.

Smithsonian and University of California, Davis scientists and partners have discovered a new coronavirus in a species of bat in Myanmar as part of routine surveillance for the PREDICT project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. A second virus was also detected in Myanmar for...

One of the golden lion tamarin infants born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo last week died this morning, July 3. It appears that the infant fell off one of its parents this morning.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is celebrating the birth of two endangered golden lion tamarins. The monkeys were born June 29 to first-time parents Mo and Izzy and appear to be healthy.

The exhibits team built the hammocks from sturdy firehose and installed them. There has been a hammock in Bei Bei’s enclosure for several years, but it was starting to show some wear-and-tear as it’s been a favorite resting spot for him and Bao Bao when she lived there.