News Archive

Today was Bao Bao's first time playing in the snow outside! And she was quite the little snow panda. She spent her morning tumbling down the hill in her yard, climbing and sliding down trees and pouncing on her mom Mei Xiang! Bao Bao also did the panda version of snow tubing, which we caught on...

As the year's first blanket of snow coated the Washington, D.C. area today, giant panda Bao Bao spent much of the morning playing in it for the very first time. The sixteen month-old panda cub tumbled down the hill in her outdoor enclosure, climbed trees and pounced on her mother Mei Xiang. Our...

We are sad to announce that our 17-year-old female ring-tailed lemur, Andromeda, was humanely euthanized Jan. 5. Keepers observed bleeding in Andromeda’s mouth Jan. 2, and she was transported to the vet hospital. Zoo veterinarians discovered lesions on her gums and an ulcer on the tip of her tongue...

Happy birthday to sloth bear cub Remi! With the help of a dedicated group of biologists, keepers, veterinarians and nutritionists, hand-reared cub Remi made it through her first year and is thriving, weighing in at 125 lbs. Keepers describe Remi as smart, goofy, and social. Remi is one of three...

Dr. Janine Brown, a researcher with SCBI and an expert on reproductive hormones, is spending a month in Thailand, lending her expertise to clouded leopard and elephant projects there. Brown is a reproductive physiologist and one of the world’s leading experts on elephants. She has been studying...

For the first time, SCBI geneticists have sequenced the genome of a vertebrate: A Hawaiian honeycreeper For the first time, conservation geneticists in the Center for Conservation Genomics at SCBI have sequenced the genome of a vertebrate: a Hawaii amakihi, a colorful bird with a hooked beak they...

Sumatran tiger cubs Bandar and Sukacita are growing up fast and undergoing some big changes at the Great Cats exhibit! At 16 months old, these cubs won't be fully-grown adults for another year or two, but they're already showing maturity and independence. Keepers Marie Magnuson and Dell Guglielmo...

Holiday armadillos may not be real, but don't worry because the screaming hairy armadillo is real! Say hello to Walter, our screaming hairy armadillo! Dylan is 3-years-old and came to us from the Cincinnati Zoo. Unlike the three other armadillos who live at the Small Mammal House, Walter is our only...

Researchers have learned that despite strong global support for tiger conservation, the survival of the species continues to be threatened. Habitat loss, poaching and isolation are all factors leading to population decline, but a team of scientists, including Robert Fleischer and Jesus Maldonado...

This update was written by Virginia Carter, a Smithsonian coral biologist with the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology During the second week of November, at the start of summer in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef was thriving with new life. As part of the Reef Recovery Initiative, Smithsonian...

This update was written by keeper Nicole MacCorkle. We've noticed Mei Xiang and Bao Bao are spending increasing amounts of time apart from each other, and Mei is permitting Bao Bao to nurse less often. Sometimes, they even sleep in separate enclosures, a sign that they are beginning the separation...

The Smithsonian's National Zoo is celebrating the birth of two Andean bear cubs born to 8-year-old Billie Jean Nov. 10 and 11. The Zoo announced Nov. 6 on its website, Facebook and Twitter that animal care staff observed two cubs on Billie Jean's ultrasound. Twenty-one-year-old male Cisco is the...

Curator Steve Sarro recently traveled to South Africa to research and identify conservation methods of African penguins. Currently, the African penguin is an endangered species whose population is declining due to over-fishing, human disturbance, climate change, and oil spills/pollution. While in...

In October 2014, two female striped skunks made their debut at the National Zoo's Small Mammal House exhibit.

Dr. Donald Neiffer has been named chief veterinarian of the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., effective Oct. 20. Neiffer most recently worked as head veterinarian at The Wilds in Cumberland, Ohio. Previous to that, he was the veterinary operations manager for Walt Disney World's Animal...

The six lion cubs at the Great Cats Exhibit are growing fast and their husbandry training sessions are in full swing! Parents Luke, Naba and Shera have their paws full with the rambunctious cubs—but it's our animal care team's challenge to care for the entire pride. Curator Craig Saffoe and keepers...

The Smithsonian's National Zoo recently welcomed the newest member of its zoological family: the North American Porcupine. Two adult porcupines named Quillby and Maude are now on exhibit adjacent to the prairie dog exhibit. Both porcupines came from a breeding facility in Pennsylvania and are...

The rusty-patched bumble bee ( Bombus affinis), which has not been seen in the eastern United States in five years, has been found by a Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute research team at Sky Meadows State Park in Delaplane, Virginia.

In 2014, Smithsonian researchers travelled to the China Centre for Research and Conservation of the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) Dujiangyan base.

This update was written by Keeper Nicole MacCorkle. Bao Bao has been introduced to the training cage! This is an important developmental step because this is where the animal care team conduct husbandry behaviors such as measuring blood pressure, drawing blood, taking radiographs, and even routine...

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., is opening its doors—usually closed to the public—for special opportunities in October. The month kicks off with the Autumn Conservation Festival Saturday, Oct. 4, and Sunday, Oct. 5. Visitors to SCBI can see endangered species and...

The membership of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has elected Dennis Kelly, Director of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, to the position of Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. The AZA community recognizes Dennis's strong leadership abilities, said AZA President and CEO Jim...

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Last week saw a perfect example of how the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute saves species: Staff released black-footed ferrets—once feared to be extinct—into the wild prairie on a ranch in Colorado. Of the six ferrets released, two lived at SCBI from 2010 to 2013, where they were...

One hundred years after the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the nation's top bird science and conservation groups have come together to publish The State of the Birds 2014—the most comprehensive review of long-term trend data for U.S. birds ever conducted.