News Archive

Breeding season for our Cuban crocodiles ended in March, but staff continue to train the crocodiles to shift off exhibit. The hope is that when a keeper calls aloud for the crocs to shift, all of them will walk to the holding area in the back of their exhibit. Once they are in the holding, the doors...

The Smithsonian's National Zoo lifted its temporary quarantine on the Kids' Farm exhibit that has been in effect since Feb. 26 after E. coli stx 1 gene bacteria was discovered in a few of the animals. After seven weeks of quarantine, no animals showed any sign of disease associated with the E. coli...

For the first time, scimitar-horned oryx are going to be reintroduced to the wild in Chad. Extinct in the wild since the mid-1980s, the species' return is the result of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the government of Chad's Scimitar-horned Oryx Reintroduction Program. Researchers from...

Researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) and partners are celebrating the start of migration this month with a single long-billed curlew they outfitted with a satellite tag in December 2015.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) lost a senior male black-footed ferret following a routine procedure Wednesday, April 6. Staff were assessing whether the male was reproductively ready for the 2016 breeding season. Initial necropsy information indicates that the black-footed...

On March 17 around 10:55 a.m., a contractor was performing routine maintenance on the life support system (LSS) located between the otter and beaver habitats on the American Trail exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. The LSS building houses the water-processing equipment for various filtration...

Officials from the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the Central Zoo Authority from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Republic of India signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) today, March 17, to launch an advanced professional...

Jose Escoto has been named associate director for Finance and Administration at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., effective today. As head of Finance and Administration, Escoto will assist Zoo director Dennis Kelly in the overall planning...

Primate keepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo are celebrating the birth of an Allen's swamp monkey, born overnight March 9 to 9-year-old mother Layla. The baby was sired by 15-year-old father Nub Armstrong. Animal care staff are leaving Layla to bond with and care for her baby without...

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) welcomed two maned wolf pups earlier this winter.

What:The National Zoo and Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute is hosting the free event Easter Monday: A Washington Family Tradition. When: Monday, March 28 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: Smithsonian's National Zoo3001 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Traffic notice: Spring vacation season often results in...

One of the National Zoo's adult male cheetahs, Granger, was humanely euthanized March 8. Granger was 10-and-a-half years old. The median life expectancy for male cheetahs in the wild is between six and eight years. Recently, animal care staff noticed that Granger was not eating his entire diet and...

Two-year-old Stanley crane Alice seems to enjoy participating in daily demonstrations with keepers and Zoo visitors. But how does she really feel about these interactions? To get inside Alice's head, Bird House curator Sara Hallager and keeper Debi Talbott teamed up with Smithsonian Conservation...

The Smithsonian's National Zoo has temporarily closed the Kids' Farm exhibit because E. coli stx 1 gene bacteria was discovered in a few of the animals. The animals are now being managed under quarantine protocols. At this time, no staff have been affected and no animals are showing any signs of...

What does it take to care for a baby that weighs a mere 40 grams at birth? Biologist Kenton Kerns gives the scoop on raising the tiny tots in our latest keeper Q&A.

As some of our panda cam viewers may have noticed, we've made some changes at the panda house recently. Each giant panda requires an individualized care plan. It's been a great learning experience for the Zoo's panda team to care for Bei Bei. Mei Xiang gains more experience with each cub, and it was...

WHAT:Free public lecture on the Save Vanishing Species postage stamp WHEN: Thursday, March 3Stamp signing: 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.Lecture: 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. WHERE: Visitor Center AuditoriumSmithsonian's National Zoo3001 Connecticut Ave. N.W. WHO: Nancy Stahl, Save Vanishing Species stamp illustratorBrian...

Cuban crocodile breeding season started in December at the Reptile Discovery Center. This usually means we see some aggressive behaviors between our two males. Our males are separated in different enclosures and are never in the same space, but they can still see each other. They will signal their...

In a serendipitous turn of events, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and partners have discovered a malaria parasite, Plasmodium odocoilei, in up to 25 percent of white-tailed deer along the East Coast of the United States. The results, published Feb. 5 in Science Advances...

A 16-year-old male Przewalski's (shah-VAL-skee) horse named Frog died suddenly under anesthesia in preparation for a reproductive assessment at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI). A final pathology report will provide more information in the coming weeks. The median life...

For the past 50 years, the number of wood thrush ( Hylocichla mustelina) that breed in the United States has decreased more than 60 percent.

On behalf of the entire Zoo, we'd like to thank the 7,498 people who traveled far and wide to meet Bei Bei last Saturday! The panda house is now open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Now that Bei Bei is bigger and more active, he's not always inclined to sit still on the scale long enough to get an...

Extreme weather conditions, like those expected with this year's powerful El Niño have strong effects on a charismatic Amazonian bird species, the wire-tailed manakin (Pipra filicauda).

Examing bird-insect differences between individual species of trees on coffee farms.

WHAT: Public debut of giant panda cub Bei Bei at the National Zoo WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 16 WHAT: Public debut of giant panda cub Bei Bei at the National Zoo WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 16 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.Note: It is recommended that visitors interested in seeing Bei Bei arrive at the panda habitat by 3:30 p...