Press Release Archive

Find out about events being held at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in May!

On April 27, 2018, Asian elephant Spike received a celebratory cake as he explored his new habitat in the Elephant Community Center at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

Asian elephant Spike will receive a celebratory cake as he explores his new habitat in the Elephant Community Center at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

Smithsonian scientists are part of an expanding global effort set to tackle what could be the most ambitious project in the history of biology—sequencing the DNA of all eukaryotic species on Earth, which includes all plants, animals, fungi and algae.

For the first time in nine years, primate staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are celebrating the birth of a male western lowland gorilla.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo community is celebrating the arrival of a 36-year-old male Asian elephant named Spike.

Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute have found that poaching is an emerging crisis for Asian elephants in Myanmar. They published their findings March 13 in PLOS ONE.

A well-known prehensile-tailed porcupine named Clark died March 7 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Clark had developed intermittent wheezing and a suspected upper-respiratory tract infection earlier this year that did not completely improve with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory treatment.

A team of reproductive scientists, veterinarians and panda keepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute performed an artificial insemination on giant panda Mei Xiang.

Hoofstock keepers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) are mourning the loss of Raylan, a 4-year-old male Hartmann’s mountain zebra who was humanely euthanized yesterday.

Once common along highland streams in western Costa Rica and Panama, the variable harlequin frog, Atelopus varius, is endangered throughout its range, decimated by a disease caused by the amphibian chytrid fungus. On Jan. 17, 2018, Smithsonian researchers released approximately 500 frogs at First...

Ms. Chips, a two-toed sloth and longtime resident of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, died overnight Jan. 2. She was 46 years old. The median life expectancy for female two-toed sloths in human care is 15 years old.

For the first time since 1948, the Great Cats habitat at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is once again home to an Amur tiger, a 10-year-old male named Pavel.

Hoofstock keepers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are mourning the loss of Yvonne, a 15-year-old female Hartmann’s mountain zebra who was humanely euthanized Dec. 31, 2017. The median life expectancy for a female of this species is 15 years.

There is a brand new band of brothers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. A coalition of two male cheetahs made their debut at the Cheetah Conservation Station yesterday, Dec. 21.

A new study from the Smithsonian and partners presents the most comprehensive evolutionary family tree for the eight known species of pangolins—one of Earth's most evolutionarily unique animals and the world's most trafficked mammal.

A new study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute is helping to make headway in an area of animal management that has historically proven challenging: the breeding of cheetahs under human care.

ZooLights visitors will have the opportunity to attend GRUMP, a European-style outdoor market, Dec. 15, 16 and 17 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute hatched two Guam rail chicks earlier this month. The hatchings are a boon for the species, which is currently classified as “extinct in the wild” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN), although there are small populations that...

Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Director Dennis Kelly plans to retire after a temporary appointment as the interim president of Smithsonian Enterprises. Effective Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, Steven Monfort will become acting director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo, in collaboration with CulturalDC, will host Washington, D.C.’s first mobile art gallery during ZooLights, powered by Pepco, the Zoo’s annual free holiday lights festival from Nov. 24 through Jan. 1 (except Dec. 24, 25 and 31).

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.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, and the Embassy of New Zealand in the United States are asking animal lovers to help name an endangered female brown kiwi chick.

As global warming, acidification and disease threaten a healthy future for the world’s coral reefs, conservationists in recent years have turned to the lab to study advanced reproductive methods, especially cryopreservation—or the freezing of coral eggs, sperm and other material—as a tool to produce...