News Archive

The least flycatcher spends most of its life in the lowlands of Mexico and Central America. It is easy to overlook with its drab coloration and size. It is only 5 inches long and weighs about the same as 2 nickels. In fact, the best way to find one might be to listen for its oft-repeated song or...

On August 30, around 10:30 p.m., the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s 5-year-old female African lion Shera watched as her very first cub awkwardly wriggled at her feet. Moments later, lion keepers watching from a webcam breathed a sigh of relief as she lay down and gingerly groomed and nursed her cub...

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have created the first frozen bank for Hawaiian corals in an attempt to protect them from extinction and to preserve their diversity in Hawaii. Mary Hagedorn, an adjunct faculty...

As part of her acclimation to her new home, Shanthi, a 34-year-old female Asian elephant at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, explored her grassy “lower” yard yesterday for the first time. She happily drank from the new pool too. Throughout the summer, elephant keepers are gradually introducing the...

A black and rufous giant elephant shrew, or sengi (Rhynchocyon petersi), was born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Small Mammal House around July 10. This female sengi is the first birth for the baby’s parents. Sengis typically stay in their nest for about a month after birth, but this baby has...

Once believed to be extinct, black-footed ferrets have had a banner year for breeding at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s conservation facility in Front Royal, Va. Twelve litters of black-footed ferrets have been born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute since May 7, including litters...

Four years of work by a team of scientists, veterinarians, animal care specialists and interns from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., and ”The Wilds” in Cumberland, Ohio, have culminated in the birth of two rare Persian onagers ( on- uh-ger). The foals, born at The...

Overnight, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed this year’s second litter of African lion ( Panthera leo) cubs. On Aug. 31, Shera gave birth to four cubs—the first litter for 5-year-old Shera and the first surviving litter for 4-year-old male Luke. “The National Zoo is thrilled that our captive...

Visitors to the Think Tank exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo will see new interactive activities relating to orangutans—an ape may spray them with water at the Orangutan Mister or play tug-of-war with them at the Orangutan Pull. These new interactive enhancements give the orangutans an...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo has become the first in the zoo and aquarium community to use coral larvae settling techniques to successfully grow two species of anemones—an accomplishment that will provide the Zoo a unique opportunity to learn how anemones grow. “We have many questions about how to...

One of Japan's "special natural treasures" is now among the National Zoo's most valued scientific gems, after a voyage that has united two cultures in an international conservation effort. The City of Hiroshima Asa Zoological Park gave the Zoo Japanese giant salamanders. These salamanders will be...

As frogs around the world continue to disappear—many killed by a rapidly spreading disease called chytridiomycosis, which attacks the skin cells of amphibians—one critically endangered species has received an encouraging boost. The La Loma tree frog, Hyloscirtus colymba, is notoriously difficult to...

The recent discovery of what may be three new frog species by researchers in Panama illustrates the hope and fear encountered daily by the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project. The discoveries lead to hope that project researchers can save these animals from a deadly fungus killing frogs...

After a voyage that has united two cultures in an international conservation effort, one of Japan’s “special natural treasures” is now among the National Zoo’s most valued scientific gems. The Japanese giant salamanders given to the Zoo by the City of Hiroshima Asa Zoological Park will be the...

The National Zoo euthanized the 15-year-old Speke’s gazelle named Bati today after animal care staff determined his health had declined significantly due to his advanced age. Per standard procedure, a necropsy will be performed. He was the oldest documented Speke’s gazelle living in a zoo and the...

WhatOpening of the National Zoo’s Japanese giant salamander breeding facility WhenThursday, July 2210:30 a.m. WhereReptile Discovery Center3001 Connecticut Avenue N.W.(Park in Lot B) WhoIchiro Fujisaki, ambassador, Embassy of Japan in the United StatesEva Pell, Under Secretary for Science...

By Sara Hallager, Bird House Biologist at the National Zoo The southern, or double-wattled, cassowary is one of three species of cassowary and the third largest bird in the world. Endemic to New Guinea and northern Queensland, it is believed that fewer than 1,500 of these birds survive in Australia...

Visitors can celebrate the beauty of gardens at the National Zoo’s first Family Garden Day Saturday, July 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free event focuses on the Zoo’s unique collection of gardens and aims to educate visitors about conservation and how plants and animals coexist. It includes a...

Standing an impressive 12 feet tall with vibrant yellow flowers at its tip, the agave plant is in bloom at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The plant, whose Latin name is Agave parryi, has been at the Zoo for many years, but the exact age of the plant is unknown. An agave plant blooms once in its...

It was love at first sight for Shama and Tate, the red pandas at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, and now, nearly 1½ years after they were introduced, the pair has a cub as evidence of their strong bond. On Wednesday, June 16, Shama gave birth to a single cub—the first for both of the Zoo’s red...

One, possibly two, red-billed hornbill chicks hatched in early May at the National Zoo’s Bird House. This is the first red-billed hornbill hatching at the Zoo since 1994. However, due to this species’ peculiar nesting behavior, it was only recently that keepers have been able to confirm one chick....

The newest sloth bear ( Melursus ursinus)at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is not so new at all—born at the Zoo, his debut on Asia Trail marks his homecoming after seven years. Francois, a 260-pound, 19-year-old bear, was born at the Zoo in 1991 and was later moved to the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas...

Visits to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo just became a little bit sweeter with the arrival of a new honeybee colony. With a hive made of glass in the Zoo’s Pollinarium and full access to the outdoors, these bees are showing off the wondrous ways of their world. “Our display allows you to get up...

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute has scientists all over the world, working to conserve all sorts of threatened ecosystems: grasslands in South America, jungles in Africa, cloud forests in Asia, coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. But not all endangered ecosystems are in far-flung...

When you ponder the enormity of the situation we’re in: the biggest mass extinction of life on Earth, bigger even than the extinction that saw the dinosaurs out, up against that, any one human’s actions can seem like trying to bail the Titanic with a soup spoon. Many people are trying though. For...