News Archive
Filter By
- Abyssinian ground hornbill
- Addax
- Aldabra tortoise
- Allen's swamp monkey
- Alpaca
- American alligator
- American avocet
- American bison
- American flamingo
- American wigeon
- Andean bear
- Aquatic caecilian
- Arapaima
- Asian elephant
- Asian small-clawed otter
- Asian water dragon
- Australian snake-necked turtle
- Bald eagle
- Baltimore oriole
- Barred owl
- Beaver
- Bennett's wallaby
- Binturong
- Black-and-white ruffed lemur
- Black-and-white warbler
- Black-crowned night heron
- Black-footed ferret
- Black-tailed prairie dog
- Black-throated blue warbler
- Blue-billed curassow
- Blue crane
- Bobcat
- Brown pelican
- Bufflehead
- California sea lion
- Canvasback
- Cedar waxwing
- Channel catfish
- Cheetah
- Chicken
- Chinese alligator
- Chinese three-striped box turtle
- Clouded leopard
- Collared brown lemur
- Common raven
- Common yellowthroat
- Corals and sea anemones (anthozoa)
- Cow
- Crocodile monitor
- Cuban crocodile
- Dama gazelle
- Degu
- Dunlin
- Eastern indigo snake
- Eastern newt
- Eastern red-backed salamander
- Eastern screech-owl
- Eld's deer
- Electric eel
- Emperor newt
- Emperor tamarin
- Fennec fox
- Fishing cat
- Gaboon viper
- Geoffroy's marmoset
- Gharial
- Giant leaf-tailed gecko
- Giant panda
- Goat
- Golden-headed lion tamarin
- Golden lion tamarin
- Gray seal
- Gray wolf
- Green tree python
- Grevy's zebra
- Guam kingfisher (sihek)
- Guam rail (ko’ko’)
- Guinea pig
- Harbor seal
- Hartmann's mountain zebra
- Hawk-headed parrot
- Hellbender
- Home's hinge-back tortoise
- Hooded crane
- Iranian fat-tailed gecko
- Japanese giant salamander
- King vulture
- Komodo dragon
- Kori bustard
- Kunekune pig
- Land hermit crab
- Larger Malay mouse-deer
- Lemur leaf frog
- Lesser kudu
- Lesser Madagascar hedgehog tenrec
- Lion
- Loggerhead shrike
- Long-tailed chinchilla
- Maned wolf
- Meerkat
- Miniature donkey
- Naked mole-rat
- North American porcupine
- North American river otter
- Northern Luzon giant cloud rat
- Northern pintail
- Northern red salamander
- Northern snakehead fish
- Northern tree shrew
- North Island brown kiwi
- Norway rat
- Orangutan
- Orchard oriole
- Ossabaw Island hog
- Ostrich
- Ovenbird
- Pale-headed saki monkey
- Pallas's cat
- Panamanian golden frog
- Patagonian mara
- Persian onager
- Philippine crocodile
- Prehensile-tailed porcupine
- Prevost's squirrel
- Przewalski's horse
- Pygmy slow loris
- Red-crowned crane
- Red-fronted lemur
- Red-rumped agouti
- Red-winged blackbird
- Red knot
- Red panda
- Red River hog
- Red ruffed lemur
- Red wolf
- Ring-tailed lemur
- Ruddy duck
- Schmidt's red-tailed monkey
- Scimitar-horned oryx
- Screaming hairy armadillo
- Semipalmated plover
- Semipalmated sandpiper
- Siamang
- Sitatunga
- Sloth bear
- Southern lesser galago
- Southern swamp sparrow
- Southern tamandua
- Spider tortoise
- Striped skunk
- Swainson's thrush
- Tanagers
- Tentacled snake
- Tiger
- Titi monkey
- Turkey
- Twig catfish
- Two-toed sloth
- Vietnamese mossy frog
- Virginia opossum
- Von der Decken's hornbill
- (-) Western lowland gorilla
- White-cheeked gibbon
- White-naped crane
- White-nosed coati
- Whooping crane
- Yellow-breasted chat
Displaying 76 - 90 of 90 articles.

#GorillaStory: Two Troops
Family dynamics and relationships can be complicated, even among gorillas. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Great Ape House is home to two groups—called troops—of western lowland gorillas. When deciding to introduce gorillas into a troop, animal care staff carefully consider each individual’s age...

#GorillaStory: Ultrasound Training with Calaya
Primate keeper Melba Brown trained the Zoo’s pregnant western lowland gorilla, Calaya, to participate in ultrasounds.

#GorillaStory: Maternal Training with Calaya
When it comes to caring for babies at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, it takes a village. For western lowland gorilla Calaya, her village of support is the great ape animal care team and her primary keeper, Melba Brown. Every day, keepers use positive reinforcement training to teach the gorillas...

#GorillaStory: Nest Building
Everyone likes to have a cozy place to sleep. Western lowland gorillas, however, rarely sleep in the same bed twice. With the exception of young infants, each gorilla in a troop constructs his or her own nest. Gorillas forage where resources are available, so they are often on the move, leaving...

#GorillaStory: Morning Sickness and Eating for Two
Western lowland gorilla Calaya recently entered her second trimester of pregnancy. Just like other members of the great ape family—including humans—gorillas experience weight gain, and some experience bouts of morning sickness.

#GorillaStory: Communicating with Calaya
When western lowland gorilla Calaya first arrived at the Zoo, she was unfamiliar with many husbandry behaviors. Then, one Day, animal keeper Melba Brown had an 'aha' moment. She noticed that Calaya would often watch other gorillas interact with keepers.

Gorilla Matchmaking
Excitement abounds at the Great Ape House as animal keepers prepare western lowland gorilla Calaya for motherhood. Even before she arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in 2015, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan coordinators were matchmaking Calaya with male silverback...
Western Lowland Gorilla at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is Pregnant
For the first time in nine years, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is making preparations for the highly anticipated birth of a critically endangered western lowland gorilla.

A Day in the Life of a Primate Keeper
Ever wondered what it would be like to care for an endangered animal? For the team who works with the Smithsonian's National Zoo's primates-- gibbons, siamangs, lemurs, orangutans and gorillas, among others-- the job entails thinking of creative ways to provide these intelligent animals with...

The Secret Ingredient to Primate Development
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientist Michael Power and primate keeper Erin Stromberg discuss the science behind great ape milk in this Q & A.
Gorilla See, Gorilla Do
Calaya is not like the Zoo’s other western lowland gorillas. For months, keepers tried to encourage Calaya to train and participate in enrichment activities to no avail. Then came an “AHA!” moment: Calaya learned best not solely through human interaction, but by observing the actions of the other...
A Primate Paradox: Keeping Wildlife Wild Through Habituation And Eco-Tourism
What is it like to see a gorilla in the wild? Get a glimpse of gorillas on their own turf, thanks to our Gabon Biodiversity Program (GBP). In Gabon’s National Park, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) scientists have teamed up with local experts to habituate western lowland gorillas to...
Kigali
The Great Ape House staff sent 19-year-old female western lowland gorilla Kigali to the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas on October 16. She was born here at the National Zoo to Mandara and Gus in 1994. She had received a breeding recommendation with a male at Sedgwick from the Gorilla Species...
Gorilla Group Social Structure
The Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP) is dedicated to providing a healthy, genetically diverse and self-sustaining population of Western Lowland gorillas in zoos across the United States. One goal of the Gorilla SSP is to maintain gorillas in species typical groupings, either as a troop consisting...
