News Archive

The newest member of our primate family has arrived! Meet Redd, a Bornean orangutan born to mother Batang and father Kyle on Sept. 12. In our latest #OrangutanStory update, keeper Erin Stromberg reveals how our first-time mom is adjusting and bonding with her newborn.

How are Batang and Redd doing...

One of the defining and iconic characteristics that makes giant pandas unique among bears is their diet -- bamboo. They evolved to eat bamboo, which is a type of grass, and although it makes up about 99 percent of their diet, pandas have the gastrointestinal tract of a carnivore. All bamboo might...

The Great Ape house will reopen on Tuesday morning.  This will be the first opportunity for the visitors and the media to see the Zoo’s infant Bornean orangutan born to Batang on Sept. 12.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Va., will open to the public for its annual Autumn Conservation Festival Oct. 1 and 2. The festival is the only time of year when the breeding and research facility is open to the public. The 3,200-acre facility serves as...

Batang and her infant are doing well! Keepers report that she is very attentive to his needs, holds him gently and consistently nurses him—all encouraging signs. The primate team provided the pair with extra hay and blankets to keep them comfortable. While the other adults have not met the newest...

On September 15, ASLA and the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) teamed up to host Landscape Architects as Federal Leaders, a live webinar exploring positions for landscape architects in the federal government and pathways to employment throughout the federal agencies. The webinar featured...

For the first time in 25 years, primate staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are celebrating the birth of a male Bornean orangutan. He was born at 8:52 p.m. Sept. 12. Both 19 years old, female Batang and male Kyle bred in January following a breeding recommendation from the Association of Zoos...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is proud to announce Jonathan D. Ballou, research scientist emeritus, has received the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)’s prestigious Devra Kleiman Scientific Advancement Award for outstanding scientific research contributions...

Thank you Kris for that very kind introduction. 

I want to add my thanks for all the work of outgoing Board Members Amos Morris and Lynn Clements and previous Board Chair Dennis Pate; I have learned much from of you, and it has been an honor to serve with you. 

I want to give my personal thanks to...

Over Labor Day weekend, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released excellent news about its Red List of Threatened Species. It upgraded the giant panda from "endangered" to "vulnerable." The latest giant panda census counted more than 1,800 in the wild -- nearly double the...

Ever since 41-year-old Asian elephant Shanthi was diagnosed with arthritis in her front wrists more than a decade ago, animal care staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo have been working to minimize the impact of the disease. Staff surmised that arthritic pain led Shanthi to bear weight on her...

Keepers at the Reptile Discovery Center, including animal keeper Lauren Augustine, are upholding that proud tradition with ground-breaking research on social behavior, reproduction and play in a species not typically associated with any of those words: a crocodile.

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists, as part of a team of international researchers, have shed light on the genetics of the pangolin, a mammalian mystery.

Visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo can view 2-month-old female sea lion Catalina making a splash on American Trail. Born June 26, Catalina is the first sea lion pup born at the Zoo in 32 years. Since Aug. 22, she has been slowly acclimating to the exhibit and exploring alongside 11-year-old...

The Smithsonian's National Zoo is home to a new male Sumatran tiger. Sparky is acclimating to his new home and can be seen at the Great Cats Exhibit. The 12-year-old tiger came to the Zoo on a breeding recommendation from the Sumatran Tiger Species Survival Plan. Sparky has never sired a litter of...

Thirty years after the scimitar-horned oryx were driven to extinction, the desert antelope will return to the last-known place it existed: Chad's Sahelian grasslands. The reintroduction--the culmination of decades of work--is being led by the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), the government of...

WHAT: A traditional Zhuazhou ceremony for giant panda cub Bei Bei. (Media opportunity only. Not open to the public. Public celebration for Bei Bei, Bao Bao and Tian Tian's birthday begins at 11 a.m.)

WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 20 
8 a.m. to 9 a.m.: Zhuazhou ceremony
1 p.m.: Giant pandas receive frozen...

Two red pandas died at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute on consecutive days, July 24 and 25. The initial necropsy results and investigation do not reveal an obvious cause of death nor do the results link the deaths. The two male red pandas, along with the rest of the collection, were...

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...

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) hatched its first hooded crane chick June 14. The chick was born as the result of artificial insemination. The chick is being raised by its parents and appears to be doing well. This is the first chick for Tempest (female) and Mr. Crane (male).

For the first time in more than 15 years, zebras will graze the fields at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Va. Three Hartmann's mountain zebras—two females (Yvonne and Xolani) and one male (Raylan)—came out of quarantine last week at SCBI. The Association of Zoos...