I don't quite understand how this benefits the zoo. Can someone break it down for me?
Smithsonian National Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo News 2021
- Thread starter red river hog
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I don't quite understand how this benefits the zoo. Can someone break it down for me?
I don't think the point of it is to benefit the zoo; it reads to me that FONZ no longer has the money to continue running their areas of the partnership.
Frankly it sounds like FONZ has a precarious outlook right now; they state that they are "reinventing" and that they will continue doing conservation and education work but that they "don't know what form that will take." It's not clear to me what their overall purpose or financial model would look like separate from being in partnership with the zoo.
Thanks! That was the vibe I was getting but I wasn't sure if I was reading too much between the lines. I'm a little surprised they blew through all of their money in a year, given most employees are seasonal.
It sounds like they actually didn't blow through all of their reserves, but instead opted to dissolve the partnership and idle their engine while they figure out what to do next. Of course, without a revenue stream they'll eventually burn through whatever is still left.
It does make me wonder, though, if this was specifically a case of Smithsonian and FONZ having financial vulnerabilities/weaknesses before the pandemic or if we are going to start seeing delayed effects of exhausted reserves with other zoos and zoo organizations.
I was only vaguely familiar with FONZ, but this seems like a major loss for the National Zoo. With the loss of FONZ has the zoo's education department essentially been dissolved?
Most of it, yes. FONZ ran all of their events, membership, gift shops and food services, basically everything public-facing.
Presumably the zoo will pick up most of those services itself or outsource them to other organizations/companies, though it remains to be seen what that'll look like. Given that the pandemic is still ongoing, a lot of public-facing services are going to be on pause or dialed down for a while anyway.
Mai Thai
Well-Known Member
I just found this pice of crap from the so called “In Defense of Animals” about Shanti’s death. Here is the link: Shanthi the Elephant Died Too Young: Tell the National Zoo to Send Survivors to a Sanctuary Every time an elephant dies they claim that the zoo is abusing the elephants!!! An elephant could live to be 100 in captivity and they would say it died of abuse.
FONZ and the National Zoo are never ever getting back together.
I think @TinoPup was asking what the benefits were for the zoo rather than for an explanation of what 'dissolving their partnership' means
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I think @TinoPup was asking what the benefits were for the zoo rather than for an explanation of what 'dissolving their partnership' means
Sorry, couldn’t resist mate.
Moving on...
Article on the zoo’s new tamandua:
New at the Zoo: Tamandua
Meet Chiquita, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s new tamandua! The 1.5-year-old female arrived from Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Washington after receiving a recommendation to breed with our male Cayenne.
This article explains more about the new bird house and growing collection. It says that some of the new species have never been kept in human care before!
Really, really sad to hear this8 is pretty young for a cheetah.
It’s very unfortunate news as he was a well known Cheetah. Cheetahs can live up to the age of 20 in captivity, so he died rather young.
I keep a spreadsheet with the studbook info of all cheetahs currently living in the USA... it's always a bit painful when one has to be removed, more so when it's a cat from a local zoo
Resource Library • Cheetah Conservation Fund • Researching Cheetahs
Regarding my previous post with link to Cheetah ISB (which was unable to complete at the time due a medical emergency): following considerable study of the ISB (more so over the last 12 months!), it seems Cheetahs are the epitome of "live fast, die young", with many not living beyond 10 years. The trend, in fact, seems to be that Cheetahs born in the 1980s could expect to reach 16-17 years old whereas those born in the late 1990s to early 2000s will be fortunate to live beyond 12. The lower life expectancy is offset by larger litters with more cubs surviving from them.
The Cheetah ISB is perhaps the only ISB available online, all others being treated with the utmost secrecy (a deliberate policy designed to prevent animal rights groups gathering information about animal mortality rates in captivity or, possibly, due to the embarrassing number of supposedly critically endangered animals that end up in unsuitable places - snow leopards in Dubai, Amur tigers to Brazil - or as 'lost to follow-up').
Justin will also be one of the few Cheetahs to have gained any media coverage at his passing as cheetahs usually do not get as much attention as other big cats, despite being just as wonderful (imo). I have had a cheetah encounter and being in close contact with a purring cheetah is a very uplifting experience (I must add that the cheetah in question was hand-reared and I had to follow a long list of 'do's & don't's' before being allowed anywhere near him).
I greatly prefer to add information on births and transfers, but sometimes even that news isn't reported by some zoos. And as I keep spreadsheets on all the big cats being able to find an ISB online that is kept up to date fills the gaps when information on individuals is not otherwise available.
Regarding my previous post with link to Cheetah ISB (which was unable to complete at the time due a medical emergency): following considerable study of the ISB (more so over the last 12 months!), it seems Cheetahs are the epitome of "live fast, die young", with many not living beyond 10 years. The trend, in fact, seems to be that Cheetahs born in the 1980s could expect to reach 16-17 years old whereas those born in the late 1990s to early 2000s will be fortunate to live beyond 12. The lower life expectancy is offset by larger litters with more cubs surviving from them.
The Cheetah ISB is perhaps the only ISB available online, all others being treated with the utmost secrecy (a deliberate policy designed to prevent animal rights groups gathering information about animal mortality rates in captivity or, possibly, due to the embarrassing number of supposedly critically endangered animals that end up in unsuitable places - snow leopards in Dubai, Amur tigers to Brazil - or as 'lost to follow-up').
Justin will also be one of the few Cheetahs to have gained any media coverage at his passing as cheetahs usually do not get as much attention as other big cats, despite being just as wonderful (imo). I have had a cheetah encounter and being in close contact with a purring cheetah is a very uplifting experience (I must add that the cheetah in question was hand-reared and I had to follow a long list of 'do's & don't's' before being allowed anywhere near him).
I greatly prefer to add information on births and transfers, but sometimes even that news isn't reported by some zoos. And as I keep spreadsheets on all the big cats being able to find an ISB online that is kept up to date fills the gaps when information on individuals is not otherwise available.
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The new bird house will have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds!
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Is this the first confirmed species for the new building?
No there have been plenty in recent years. These include wood thrush, indigo bunting, rose-breasted grosbeak, swainson’s thrush, song sparrow, band-tailed pigeon, Baltimore Oriole, sanderling, ruddy turnstone, red knot, horseshoe crab, American avocet, among plenty of others. All together their are currently 23 species of shorebird and songbird off display, with many more expected in the coming year (waterfowl haven’t really been discussed as of yet).