Smithsonian National Zoological Park

The Smithsonian National Zoological Park, commonly known in the United States as the National Zoo or 'Washington Zoo', is a zoo located in Washington, D.C. It is accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). Founded in 1889, it consists of two distinct installations: a 163 acre (0.7 km²) zoo within the Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C., and a 3,200 acre (13 km²) Conservation and Research Center located in Front Royal, Virginia, at the edge of the Shenandoah National Park. The zoo in Washington is open to the public and dedicated in large part to education; the conservation center in Virginia is closed to the public and used primarily to breed and study endangered species. Altogether, the two facilities contain some 2,700 animals of 435 different species. The National Zoo is one of only three zoos in the United States that offer free admission, including the Saint Louis Zoo, in St. Louis, MO and the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois.

Despite being well known for its scientific excellence and a handful of unique species, the zoo's exhibits are average or below average when compared to modern US zoos.

History

The National Zoo was founded by famed naturalist and American conservation leader William T. Hornaday. Hornaday, then serving as a taxidermist for the Smithsonian, became increasingly concerned over the decline of many native American species, most notably the American bison. Hornaday envisioned a facility that would breed endangered American animals in captivity and educate the public about wildlife. He opened a small trial zoo outside the Smithsonian castle featuring bison, bears, and other American animals. With the aid of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, Congress approved of the founding of a National Zoological Park in Rock Creek Park; Hornaday, embittered over not being chosen as director, left Washington in disgust. He latter went on to help found and serve as the first director of the Bronx Zoo.

The zoo grew slowly, mostly from contributions of animals from the public and circuses, and lurched to the edge of closure many times in its early history. It did not begin to truly grow until William Mann became the zoo's third director, prior to World War II. Mann organized collecting expeditions around the world to bring a variety of species to the zoo, some common place, "must haves" like giraffes and leopards, others great rarities, like a young gorilla. Today the National Zoo is recognized as one of the premier zoological institutions in the United States, largely on account of the important research it contributes to wildlife conservation. The 116-year-old zoo attracts 2 million visitors a year, according to the Washington Post in 2005.

The National Zoo conducts research in numeorus field stations around the world, providing expertise and logistical support to local research and conservation efforts in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America.

The National Zoo maintains its own security police, the National Zoological Park Police, which consists of 50 full-time and part-time officers. They have concurrent jurisdiction over the zoo with the U.S. Park Police and the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department.

Special events

Annually, each Easter Monday, the National Zoo serves as the venue for the African American Family Celebration. This celebration has been a tradition for more than 100 years. The celebration began in response to the inability of African Americans to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll held at the White House, until the Eisenhower presidency.

Giant pandas at the Zoo

The government of the People's Republic of China donated two giant pandas, Ling-Ling (female) and Hsing-Hsing (male), to the zoo two months after President Richard Nixon's historic 1972 trip to China. Ling-Ling died in 1992 and Hsing-Hsing in 1999 without producing any cubs that survived for more than a few days.

A new pair of pandas, Mei Xiang (female) and Tian Tian (male), arrived on loan from the Chinese government in late 2000 ^*. The zoo pays an estimated 10 million dollars for 10 years of panda loan. On July 9, 2005, a male panda cub was born at the Zoo; it was the first surviving panda cub birth in the Zoo's history, and was the product of artificial insemination done by the zoo's reproductive research team. The cub was named Tai Shan ("Peaceful Mountain") on October 17, 100 days after his birth; the panda went without a name for its first hundred days in observance of a Chinese custom. (If Tai Shan survives into adulthood, he will become the third giant panda to do so in U.S. history. The previous two panda cubs were born at the San Diego Zoo in 1999 and 2003. A fourth panda, a female cub named Su Lin, was born at the San Diego Zoo on August 2, 2005.)

Tai Shan is often informally called "Butterstick," since he was described in the media as being the size of a stick of butter at the time of his birth. Tai Shan is property of the Chinese Government and will be sent to China shortly after his second birthday sometime in July 2007.

Exhibits and Animals of Note

Panda House - Features the zoos pair of pandas, Mei Xian and Tian Tian and their offspring, Tai Shan, who was born after artificial insemination by the zoo's reproductive scientists.

Reptile Discovery Center - Home to the zoo reptile collection, including cobras, crocodiles, and Komodo dragons. The first Komodo dragon born outside of Indonesia was hatched at the National Zoo.

Bird House - Features a nocturnal room for kiwis and a free-flight room for tropical birds. Outside walkways pass yards of larger birds, such as cassowaries, cranes, flamingos, and king vultures.

Cheetah Conservation Station - Besides the cheetahs (the first litter of cheetah cubs in the zoo's history was produced in fall 2004), the cheetah area displays maned wolves, oryx, and Grevy's zebra.

Amazonia - This South American immersion exhibit features a walk through rainforest, home to sloth, small monkeys, birds, and tortoises and a massive freshwater aquarium of large Amazonian fish.

Invertebrate House - A unique collection of invertebrates, including coral, anemones, and a giant Pacific octopus. A butterfly room/Pollinarium is also part of the exhibit.

Marine Mammals - Features a group of California sea lions, including two rehabilitated orphaned sea lion pups, who were not able to be released to the wild. They also exhibit a pair of grey seals.

Beaver Valley - Home to the zoo's North American animals, Beaver Valley displays not only its namesake beavers, but also river otters, bald eagles, and Mexican gray wolves.

Elephant House - The elephant house is home to the zoo's Asian Elephant family, as well as hippopotamus and capybara. On June 22, 2006, the zoo announced plans for a new $60 million state of the art Asian elephant exhibit. (Washington Post Story, June 22, 2006 by Carolyn Barker).

Asia Trails - Opening in Fall 2006

Animal care controversies and dark times at the zoo

In the past few years, mismanagement has led to the accidental deaths of around two dozen animals in the National Zoo's care, threatening the Zoo's accreditation and causing the resignation of its director, Lucy Spelman, at the end of 2004. One incident involved the January 2003 death of two endangered red pandas after they ate vermin poison that had been buried in their yard by a contractor that was unlicensed in the District of Columbia. The incident led the city of Washington to seek to fine the Zoo over its claim of federally granted immunity. In late 2002 and early 2003, besides the red pandas, the Zoo experienced other high profile deaths, and the Washington Post featured a story the Washington Post headlining "Nation's Emblem of Freedom Dies on Independence Day"^*. The insider source of most of the deaths and the interpretation on how they happened was a disgruntled former employee and zoo pathologist, Dr. Don Nichols. As part of budget cuts during Dr. Spelman's tenure as director, Dr. Nichols' research funding had been terminated in lieu of animal care. As a former veterinarian, Dr. Spelman had practiced medicine on several of the animals that died and were featured in the Washington Post article after Dr. Nichols released insider information under his own interpretation of circumstances.

In January 2005, the National Academy of Sciences released its final report on a two-year investigation into animal care and management at the National Zoo. The committee, consisting of external veterinarians and scientists, evaluated 74% of all large mammal deaths that occurred at the National Zoo from 1999 to 2003. They concluded that "in a majority of cases, the animal received appropriate care throughout its lifetime. In particular, the committee’s evaluation of randomly sampled megavertebrate deaths at the Rock Creek Park facility revealed few questions about the appropriateness of these animals’ care, suggesting that the publicized animal deaths were not indicative of a wider, undiscovered problem with animal care at the Rock Creek Park facility." ^* This finding, however, was not widely reported by the Washington Post nor other media outlets.

The problems at the zoo, which culminated with Dr. Spelman's resignation, included facilities and budget shortcomings, although the animal care problems where prominently highlighted. As a member of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Zoo has been well known for scientific research, but the exhibits and animals at the zoo are average by most US zoo standards.

Changes in 2005 and beyond

In 2005, the National Zoo appointed a new director, John Berry. Under his brief tenure, political celebrities such as Bill Frist (R-Tenn) and Senator Stevens (R-Alaska) have been seen regularly touring the zoo. In fact, Senator Frist's visit as a heart consultant to one of the zoo's gorillas was featured as an editorial story on the Washington Post by Laura Blumenfeld ^*. The story was criticized in many blogs due to its heavy propaganda content.

External links

National Zoo official site

Landmarks in Washington, D.C. | Smithsonian Institution | Zoos in the United States