News Archive

Keepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are celebrating a conservation success five years in the making: a pair of Bourret’s box turtle hatchlings.

On May 10, inquiring minds spent a day with Smithsonian scientists at the fourth annual Conservation Immersion Seminar – Genomics: The New Frontier. The seminar was held at the Zoo’s Rock Creek Science Building where participants learned how genomics can be applied to conservation, saw DNA...

In the largest camera-trap study ever conducted in a forest canopy, Smithsonian scientists and partners found that tree-dwelling mammals were willing to travel using intentionally preserved natural bridges.

It's nesting season. In April, the Reptile Discovery Center's Cuban crocodile Blanche built up a large mound nest. She constructed the nest by kicking up the mulch in the exhibit into a central location.

The James Smithson Bicentennial Medal will be presented Sept. 28 to Harrison Ford and Betty White to honor their commitment to wildlife and efforts to create a sustainable planet. The medals will be presented by Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo isn’t home to any warthogs. So why is its chief veterinarian, Don Neiffer, interested in studying the species? Why study warthog health in South Africa? Humans are putting pressure on wildlife populations by expanding into their native habitats, bringing our livestock...

Neither wind, nor rain, nor dark of night can stop a songbird’s migration. Crossing the Gulf of Mexico, a popular stopover site, can take a 24 hour non-stop flight. Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center scientist Emily Cohen is studying how they survive against tremendous odds.

Venture into the Reptile Discovery Center and find more than 70 species, including crocodilians, snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and salamanders, among others. Follow keepers Kyle Miller and Matt Neff as they train, enrich and care for some of the most charismatic (and dangerous) animals at the...

How do keepers ensure a gray seal’s teeth are healthy? American Trail animal keeper Diana Vogel is training the Zoo’s 26-year-old male gray seal, Gunther, to voluntarily participate in dental radiographs. Why does Gunther need dental radiographs? When we ask our gray seals to open their mouths on...

Ninety Limosa harlequin frogs bred in human care are braving the elements of the wild after Smithsonian scientists sent them out into the Panamanian rainforest as part of their first-ever release trial in May.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s team of reproductive scientists, veterinarians and panda keepers performed two artificial inseminations on female giant panda Mei Xiang.

Four years after conservationists relocated 570 desert tortoises in California from a threatened habitat to a nearby location, the tortoises outwardly appeared to have successfully acclimated. Genetic paternity testing of 92 hatchlings by SCBI geneticists, however, has revealed that the translocated...

Mei Xiang, the Zoo’s 18-year-old female giant panda, is showing behavioral and physical signs of estrus.

Bei Bei is a bit of a daredevil. Although eating and sleeping are still his favorite pastimes, the giant panda cub also loves to climb trees. Lately, he has been climbing trees in his yard and sliding back down. Giant pandas are excellent climbers, but they are also built to withstand falls.

The loss of intact forest cover in Myanmar has accelerated over the past decade, according to a study by Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) scientists and partners published May 17 in PLOS ONE.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) is celebrating the upcoming Endangered Species Day (May 19) with a slew of new births of endangered and vulnerable species. The births have ranged from mammals to birds, and some of the new arrivals will be reintroduced to the wild later this...

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center scientists have been banding migrating birds at some of the first resting and refueling habitats for northward migrants that have flown hundreds of miles non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico, including The Nature Conservancy's Clive Runnells Family Mad Island Marsh...

This story appears in the May 2017 issue of National Zoo News. Learn more about king vultures at the Bird House outdoor exhibit!

It’s not easy to be low on the food chain. But white-bearded wildebeests face a threat even greater than lions and leopards. Habitat loss and fragmentation are causing an alarming collapse in their numbers, says Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientist Jared Stabach. In March, he...

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...

Every fall, forest elephants venture onto Shell Gabon’s Yenzi camp in search of mangos, putting both animals and humans in jeopardy. Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists are helping the camp’s staff manage and safely share the land on which both elephants and humans depend.

The period of a migratory bird’s annual cycle thought to be the most perilous—its twice-annual journeys over oceans and inhospitable landscapes—is also the least understood. A new collaborative study led by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) synthesizes what is already known and outlines...