Smithsonian National Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo News 2025

NAIB Volunteer

NAIB Volunteer

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
A few little updates:

Asia Trail: I was fortunate enough to view the pandas and the recently renovated exhibit. The changes are subtle and the average zoo-goer shouldn't notice anything different. For outside, there's a new fence, some removed trees and landscaping, new bird strike prevention stickers, and larger climbing structures in all three yards. For inside, there are new floors, pools, and climbing structures along with some refreshed graphics and new cameras. Renovations look good, but nothing drastic at all. I have pictures but have been asked to wait until they make their debute on January 24th before posting.

Everyone is certainly going to love Bao Li and Qing Bao!

Africa Trail: All of Africa has been pretty much leveled with some old barns still remaining. There's a new fence and holding barn in the kudu/ hornbill exhibit. Until Asia Trail reopens, the entire upper part of the Zoo is empty.
 

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A few small updates from my visit today.

Asia Trail: Today was the first day of member previews for the pandas. Nothing really to add regarding the renovations that @NAIB Volunteer didn't already say, though I will say the inside habitats had the most drastic change in look. The new climbing structures are the same wood design they used outside, replacing the old fake-rock mini mountains they had before (the new pools are still the same fake-rock design). The pandas themselves were doing what pandas do — eating and sleeping.

Small Mammal House: A new 1.1 pair of white-faced sakis are now on exhibit in their old habitat across from the meerkats.

Reptile Discovery Center: The former king cobra habitat was cleaned and refurnished recently and is now home to a Gila monster (their old habitat is still empty). Not new from my visit today but I don't believe I or anyone else has mentioned this, but the following species all received new/updated habitats at some point over the last few months: green tree python, Taylor's cantil, eastern corn snake, Iranian leopard gecko, and New Caledonian giant gecko.
 
Made it down for the first weekend of member previews for the panda.

Fantastic experience. There was palpable buzz for the bears from guests to staff. The scheduled admission to the exhibit was much more controlled than I anticipated, which made for a personal experience with the pair.

The exhibit is wonderful.

I've never been to the National Zoo before and found it strange (to what we've grown accustomed) that there is zero security, bag checks, or metal detectors.

They won't let you have a drink with a lid, but you could, theoretically, bring in an elephant gun.
 
RhinoTony said:
Made it down for the first weekend of member previews for the panda.

Fantastic experience. There was palpable buzz for the bears from guests to staff. The scheduled admission to the exhibit was much more controlled than I anticipated, which made for a personal experience with the pair.

The exhibit is wonderful.

I've never been to the National Zoo before and found it strange (to what we've grown accustomed) that there is zero security, bag checks, or metal detectors.

They won't let you have a drink with a lid, but you could, theoretically, bring in an elephant gun.
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At the standard street entrances, they do have security with bag checks. If you're a member going to a member event, maybe it might be different?
 
StoppableSan said:
Citing Wikipedia of all sites. o_O
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This was a quite unintentional and accidental finding, I just happened to find it when looking through it! I phrased it differently in my post above since I am not 100% sure on this information if it is true and I just wanted to post this to see if anyone else has heard of this news or if it is just a scammer who edited that page.
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
This was a quite unintentional and accidental finding, I just happened to find it when looking through it! I phrased it differently in my post above since I am not 100% sure on this information if it is true and I just wanted to post this to see if anyone else has heard of this news or if it is just a scammer who edited that page.
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That claims been on there for a couple of months now. Anytime you remove it the same user would immediately add it back, never once citing a source. Originally they said the zoo announced that they would be acquiring a rhino, even though no such announcement was ever made. There's no reason to treat this claim with any legitimacy.
 
As much as I love Wikipedia, it is NOT a good source of updates when it comes to zoos. I've come across zoo articles that contained information that was outdated or (in some cases) downright incorrect. And that's not even mentioning the absolutely ridiculous vandalism that occurred on the North Carolina Zoo article.

It's fine for general info, but not specific updates.
 
StoppableSan said:
Smithsonian National Zoo Lynx… | American Galvanizers Association

According to the American Galvanizers' Association, National Zoo's getting Canadian lynx and bat-eared fox for the new carnivore enclosures adjoining Lion and Tiger Hill! The bat-eared fox caught me off guard, honestly I was expecting something like caracals to make a return.
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Caracals seem to be on the decline in US zoos. Personally I'm happy to see a zoo invest in Bat-Eared Foxes, another wonderful species that seems to be silently slipping away.

~Thylo
 
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