News

Most countries throughout the world participate in the $40-million-per-year culinary trade of frog legs in some way, with 75 percent of frog legs consumed in France, Belgium, and the United States. Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and colleagues have found that this trade is a potential...

Tickets are now on sale for ZooLights, the National Zoo’s 3rd annual winter celebration, featuring sculptures of the Zoo’s animals in LED lights. ZooLights, powered by Pepco, will take place December 4-13 (Friday through Sunday nights) and December 18-January 2 (every night except Dec. 24, 25, and...

A wild white-tailed deer jumped into a lion exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Zoo Sunday afternoon, Nov. 8. There were two adult female lions in the habitat, one of which caught, trapped and injured the young adult doe. Zoo staff successfully transitioned the lions to their interior spaces. The...

Just in time for mailing holiday greeting cards, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo launches a series of customized conservation stamps featuring seven Zoo animals: the giant panda, Asian elephant, Panamanian golden frog, clouded leopard, Kirtland’s warbler, Scimitar-horned oryx and western lowland...

Merlin, the National Zoo’s senior male sloth bear, died this morning after a 48-hour illness. On Monday morning, Nov. 2, he underwent a routine physical examination. Although the examination went well, his anesthetic recovery was prolonged, and he had not returned to normal by the afternoon. While...

Watch a hummingbird, and you will learn quickly what it likes to eat: nectar. The ruby-throated hummingbird, like all hummingbirds, is a nectar specialist. Its long bill and special tongue are designed to fit into flowers and lap up nectar. We know that hummingbirds are flower specialists, but what...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo has experienced the deaths of two scimitar-horned oryx , a female at the Rock Creek campus and a male at the Conservation and Research Center (CRC) in Front Royal, Va. On October 14, a 16-year-old male oryx died at CRC. This animal was in the process of being...

At an event held in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced six grant awards totaling $800,000 going toward research efforts to explore the cause and control of white-nose syndrome, a wildlife health crisis...

Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) invites pre-kindergarten through high school teachers/educators from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia) to participate in its first Teacher Appreciation Day at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The event takes...

The San Clemente sage sparrow ( Amphispiza belli clementeae) is a threatened, non-migratory subspecies endemic to San Clemente Island (SCI), which is the southernmost of the California Channel Islands. The U.S. Navy, which owns and manages SCI, has contracted the Institute for Wildlife Studies (IWS)...

“Happy,” the National Zoo’s 28-year-old Nile hippopotamus, was transported early yesterday morning to his new home at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin. The 5,000-pound hippo arrived safely shortly after 3 a.m. at his destination. National Zoo staff moved Happy, the Zoo’s solitary hippo, in...

“Happy,” the National Zoo’s 28-year-old Nile hippopotamus, was transported early yesterday morning to his new home at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin. The 5,000-pound hippo arrived safely shortly after 3 a.m. at his destination. National Zoo staff moved Happy, the Zoo’s solitary hippo, in...

Many people are aware that both resident and migratory Canada geese (also known as Canadian geese) live in the United States and Canada. In fact, the distinction was recently made in relation to the crash of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January 2009. Scientists were able to...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed two burrowing owl chicks Aug. 2—the first hatching of this species at the Zoo in 30 years. The chicks’ parents, a 5-year-old male and 4-year-old female, have been at the Zoo since June 2006. The last time burrowing owls successfully bred at the National Zoo...

The eastern willet is a large migratory shorebird that, like many shorebirds, spends the non-breeding season in Central and South America and the breeding season in North America. Unlike most migratory shorebirds, however, willets do not migrate to arctic and sub-arctic regions to breed. Instead...

It was an exciting and busy 24 hours at the National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center (CRC) in Front Royal, Va., last week as three births took place just hours apart. On the evening of July 9, a clouded leopard cub was born, followed by a Przewalski’s horse foal and a red panda cub. Jao Chu...

The sedge wren is one of the most widespread birds in the Western Hemisphere, and yet it is one of the most poorly understood. I've consulted references as far back as 1884 in which the author optimistically wrote that as the number of observers increase, “We shall, no doubt, learn more about these...

The Smithsonian Institution and the World Bank Group today announced a new program under the Global Tiger Initiative to help stabilize and restore wild tiger populations and save this endangered species from extinction in its natural habitats. Poaching, habitat loss and other issues have reduced the...

A rare white-naped crane has hatched at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Va. on May 23. The two-week-old female chick is the most genetically important hatchling in the North American White-Naped Crane Species Survival Program. The population has...

Veterinarians and animal care staff conducted a series of artificial insemination procedures this week on Shanthi, one of the Asian elephants at Smithsonian’s National Zoo. A successful pregnancy is an important milestone in the Zoo’s commitment to Asian elephant conservation. National Zoo staff...

Eleven stingrays and two arowanas (fish) were found dead in their pool at the National Zoo’s Amazonia exhibit Monday, May 25, shortly after 7 a.m. Preliminary tests of the water from the pool showed low levels of dissolved oxygen, indicating the deaths may be due to mechanical difficulties rather...

Staff at Smithsonian’s National Zoo confirmed late yesterday that female giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) is not pregnant but was experiencing a pseudo, or false, pregnancy during the past several months. National Zoo scientists, veterinarians and keepers were keeping a close eye on Mei Xiang...

Eight institutions announced today their joint venture to save amphibians from the brink of extinction in the eastern region of Panama—an area rich with diverse amphibian species. Experts from the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Africam Safari...

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo detected the start of the decline in urinary progestin levels in the Zoo’s female giant panda, Mei Xiang (may-SHONG). This hormone decline indicates that Mei Xiang’s reproductive cycle will be concluding fairly soon. Animal keepers report that she has...

An endangered clouded leopard at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center (CRC) in Front Royal, Va., gave birth to a genetically valuable litter of two cubs on Tuesday, March 24. Staff had been on pregnancy watch of the two-and-a-half year-old clouded leopard “Jao Chu” (JOW...