Smithsonian National Zoo

Two black-footed ferret kits have been born at the Smithsonian National Zoo after their mothers were artificially inseminated by decade-old frozen sperm. The kits' fathers, deceased now for seven and eight years respectively, had provided sperm in 1997 and 1998 as a part of the Smithsonian's initiative to rescue the black-footed ferret from the doorstep of extinction. Can I call you...dad? Because prairie dog populations (black-footed ferrets' primary source of food) have been depleted by over 98% in the wild, so have the ferrets. In the 1990's they were presumed extinct until a population…

Many people collect baseball cards, stamps, coins, comic books, rocks, fossils or nutcrackers. I believe I have opened up a whole new field of nerd-dom with my zoo and aquarium shot glass collection. Given that it is the only zoo and aquarium shot glass collection I know of, I have also decided it is the world's largest. In no particular order, I currently have shot glasses from the San Diego Zoo, Newport Aquarium, Cincinnati Zoo, Knoxville Zoo, Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, Tennessee Aquarium, New York Aquarium, Smithsonian National Zoo, Bronx Zoo, New England Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium…