national zoo
laelaps | May 7, 2010
A close-up shot of a giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), photographed at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.
laelaps | May 5, 2010
Rokan the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), photographed at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.
laelaps | April 13, 2010
A sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), photographed at the National Zoo in Washington DC.
bioephemera | March 25, 2009
Photo by Tracy Woodward, WaPo
Yesterday, zookeepers at the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center discovered two newborn clouded leopard cubs in the enclosure of their mother, Jao Chu. This is a big deal because it is notoriously difficult to breed clouded leopards in captivity: males can attack and kill females with whom they aren't properly bonded, and captive mothers often inadvertently or deliberately kill their cubs. Because of that risk, these two cubs were taken from Jao Chu to be raised by human researchers.
Jao Chu and her mate Hannibal were imported from Thailand last…
grrlscientist | March 12, 2008tags: North Island brown kiwi, Apteryx australis mantelli, endangered species, conservation, birds, National Zoo
The National Zoo welcomed a new North Island brown kiwi chick, Apteryx australis mantelli, on March 7, 2008.
The chick, whose sex has yet to be determined by DNA testing, is the third chick to ever hatch at the National Zoo. The first hatching occurred in 1975 and was the first to occur outside of New Zealand. Kiwis are endangered and are extremely rare to see in captivity -- only four zoos outside of New Zealand have successfully bred kiwis, and only three US zoos exhibit them…
zooillogix | February 25, 2008Ever wanted to build a world-class exhibit for your pet Asian Sloth Bear in your backyard or living room but didn't know where to start? What kind of furniture do sloth bears prefer? How do they feel about toile? Can you feed them chocolate? Well now your problems are solved, thanks to ZooLex!
ZooLex is a service of the World Zoo and Aquarium Association (WAZA), and includes a small but growing collection of design specs and industry resources for folks in the zoo exhibit planning business. As you might imagine, every last detail needs to be mapped out, from safety, cleaning and feeding to…
laelaps | October 21, 2007
Yesterday's photo of Tai Shan received so many positive responses I thought I would put another one up. Getting these shots could be a little difficult at times, however, (warning: bad pun ahead) as it was definitely pandemonium around the enclosure when the young bear came out. His parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian certainly didn't get as much attention, but they also were not as active or curious as their offspring. If you want to look in on the pandas yourself the National Zoo has a Panda Cam that will allow you to do so.
laelaps | October 20, 2007
As I mentioned in the description of yesterday's "Photo of the Day," when I visited the National Zoo I wanted to make sure I got there especially early, and this Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) cub is part of the reason. Any exhibit that holds a giant panda, especially a baby one, is going to get swamped by visitors so I wanted to make sure I had a chance to get some decent shots (although I didn't know that the pandas would not be let out until 10 AM so I had a bit of waiting to do). This particular individual is a 2 year old male named Tai Shan, the offspring of Mei Xiang (the mother…
laelaps | October 19, 2007
Although I've been able to capture some good Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) pictures when the animals have been bright-eyed and busy-tailed (then again, aren't they always bushy-tailed?), I love this shot because I was able to make a "boring" sleeping subject seem more interesting. It was taken at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. this past spring at about 6 AM and the two red pandas sleeping in the trees did not move the entire day.
If you want to know more about these fascinating (and endangered) mammals, Jeremy at The Voltage Gate ran a multi-part series about them earlier this year; Part…
grrlscientist | September 29, 2007tags: Smithsonian Institution, National Zoo, museum, funding crisis
What's wrong with this picture: America is spending billions and billions of dollars to bomb the snot out of Iraq, but we can't even spare a fraction of that cost to fix our premier museum and zoo??
According to a news story that appeared in today's Washington Post, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Zoo are rapidly deteriorating due to a lack of funds to repair and update the facilities and to hire enough security guards to protect this nation's historic treasures.
Deteriorating Smithsonian facilities have…