News Archive

This Valentine’s Day (or any day!) celebrate with your beloved and 2,700 of your closest animal friends at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

You’re invited to a housewarming celebration! The new visitor interpretive exhibit in the panda house is finished and we would love for everyone to come visit and see it.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China will host a housewarming, sponsored by Airbnb, to celebrate the new exhibit for visitors inside the panda house.

Conservation ecologist Andy Boyce lives on the American Prairie Reserve in Phillips County, Montana. It's rugged, it's wild and it's one of the only places left on Earth where scientists have the chance to preserve a complete prairie ecosystem.

Ecologist Bill McShea shares how the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s collaboration with American Prairie Reserve will help scientists better understand how changes to the grasslands affect the wildlife that call it home.

The holiday season and new year were an exciting time for the Zoo's 9-month-old western lowland gorilla, Moke! Read the latest keeper update.

The Smithsonian Bird Friendly® certification seal has evolved twice since the program began 20 years ago. The latest logo is a bold rectangle that features shady habitat, soaring songbirds and the Smithsonian Sunburst.

Don’t let his prickly appearance deter you – Quillbur is a very friendly porcupine! Get to know our new prehensile-tailed porcupine in this Q&A with Small Mammal House keepers.

Is she or isn’t she? Excitement is in the air at Asia Trail, where the Zoo’s 5-year-old female sloth bear, Remi, may be expecting a cub! To monitor her for potential cub development, keepers are training Remi to voluntarily participate in ultrasounds. In this Q&A, animal keeper Stacey Tabellario...

In Myanmar, reptiles are rapidly disappearing but rescue facilities across the country, supported by the Turtle Survival Alliance, are working to save them. Reptile Discovery Center assistant curator Matt Evans traveled to these facilities to help his colleagues care for and reintroduce rare...

We’re happy to welcome you back from our unscheduled break in naked mole-rat viewing! Life in our naked mole-rat colony has bustled on during the past three-and-a-half weeks.

The Zoo's rambunctious 9-month-old gorilla has a fractured femur. Moke is resting and recovering with his parents, Calaya and Baraka, under the close watch of the animal care team.

Celebrate International Zebra Day by learning all about the largest of these striped equids: the Grevy’s zebra!

The shutdown didn’t shutdown giant panda playtime! During the past three-and-a-half weeks Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and Bei Bei have carried on with their daily routines.

During the federal government shutdown from, Jan. 2 to Jan. 28, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s animal care team, almost all federal workers, reported to work and provided the same level of care for the Zoo’s animals as any other day. Read an overview of top...

During the government shutdown, from Jan. 2 to Jan. 28, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s animal care team, almost all federal workers, reported to work and provided the same level of care for the Zoo’s animals as any other day.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is dedicated to saving species. Every year, its team of conservationists here and around the globe works hard to make that mission a reality — and 2018 was no exception.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is dedicated to saving species. Every year, its team of conservationists here and around the globe works hard to make that mission a reality — and 2018 was no exception.

Smithsonian’s National Zoo staff humanely euthanized Asha, a 1-year-old Dama gazelle, Dec. 22 after she suffered a neck injury by running into a fence in an off-exhibit area.

If you plant it, they will come. A collaborative research team including scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Guanyinshan Nature Reserve and Tsinghua University has established four bamboo restoration plots with the ambitious goal of accelerating the return of pandas to...

What connection do birds have to global health? That’s the question I asked myself after being assigned to an internship with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

A new paper describes a dragonfly’s full life cycle for the first time. Insects are a critical driver of food webs, so figuring out why their populations are falling dramatically is important for the future success of a wide range of species.

Twelve whooping cranes, one of the most endangered species of crane in the world, moved to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, Dec. 16. The six mated-pairs will be the founding members of SCBI’s whooping crane research and breeding program, and the chicks that...

After months of anticipation, the naked mole-rat colony at the Small Mammal House at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo finally has a queen—the only breeding female in a colony.