Smithsonian National Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo News 2019

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AmbikaFan said:
The assistant manager told me in August of 2018 that they already knew she wasn't, even though Rani was off exhibit getting a sonogram at the time. There have been quite a few breedings, and staff will tell you what's up in person, but I think it will be a long time into a possible pregnancy before anything is announced. The team waited until a very long, near-death illness of Bozie miraculously resolved before revealing it at all. The panda, great cat and pinniped teams are known for providing very regular and informative updates about their lives in general. The elephant team has gotten a bit better with isolated reports on advances in Shanthi's arthritis treatments, and intro of Spike, and one on training Swarna to accept a radiograph plate next to her head for dental x-rays, but there's no regular update and never any breeding reports that I can recall. Back before the Calgary girls (Kandula's family) arrived, the zoo had been offered female calfs from Ringling--a big deal to DC because it would have meant homeboy Kandula could stay. However, the zoo and Smithsonian were nervous about accepting "controversial" Ringling elephants and all the activists that would rain down on DC, fairly perhaps feeling that a national zoo should represent everyone's interests and not show partiality. This is essentially their communication policy to this day--talk about nothing that could be controversial. Births and deaths are all reported in the Newsroom link way at the bottom of the page; from there, you can go back further than what's offered by hitting the Press Archive button.
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Thank you very much for the information.:);) Let's hope she gets pregnant soon.
 
A hooded crane hatched at SBCI on June 12, only the second such hatchling for the zoo. The breeding, between 18-year-old Liza and 29-year-old Louie was accomplished via AI. Because the chance of these endangered chicks surviving are low, this hatchling is being given to the facility's second hood crane pair--the ones with the Zoo's first successful hatch--to rear as foster parents.
 
I'm a little confused about who is who in the article about the water dragon's death, and the overuse of pronouns only furthers that confusion. We only got word about the hatchling by parthogenesis in the last two months, so how could she be the 2-year-old who died?
 
AmbikaFan said:
I'm a little confused about who is who in the article about the water dragon's death, and the overuse of pronouns only furthers that confusion. We only got word about the hatchling by parthogenesis in the last two months, so how could she be the 2-year-old who died?
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The article is about the water dragon which was produced through parthenogenesis in 2016.

The other articles came out recently because the paper about the research was published then, not because the baby had just hatched.

Note that there have been quite a few fertile eggs produced parthenogenetically by the female dragon, but most did not get to hatching stage. The individual that has just died was the first baby to hatch successfully.
 
Thanks. And you're right--it's very interesting that this one individual experienced parthogenesis repeatedly. I wonder if they were doing anything hormonally to stimulate this in her? It's so far from the norm, and the article says they were studying parthogenesis, that I wonder.
 
AmbikaFan said:
Thanks. And you're right--it's very interesting that this one individual experienced parthogenesis repeatedly. I wonder if they were doing anything hormonally to stimulate this in her? It's so far from the norm, and the article says they were studying parthogenesis, that I wonder.
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No. Because parthenogenesis had been shown to occur in a number of other reptile species, basically they simply wondered whether the eggs being produced by the female when isolated from males would hatch.

The paper is here: Parthenogenesis in a captive Asian water dragon (Physignathus cocincinus) identified with novel microsatellites
 
Hi everyone!

I'm visiting the zoo for the first time next week and I was hoping to get some advice/recommendations on must-see species/exhibits/enclosures.

I'm only in the city for a couple of days and visiting with some non-zoo enthusiasts so I'll probably only be able to spend half a day at the zoo and I want to make the most of it!

Thanks in advance!
 
tom1998 said:
Hi everyone!

I'm visiting the zoo for the first time next week and I was hoping to get some advice/recommendations on must-see species/exhibits/enclosures.

I'm only in the city for a couple of days and visiting with some non-zoo enthusiasts so I'll probably only be able to spend half a day at the zoo and I want to make the most of it!

Thanks in advance!
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Elephants, pandas, Asia trail or great cats.....;)
 
tom1998 said:
I'm visiting the zoo for the first time next week and I was hoping to get some advice/recommendations on must-see species/exhibits/enclosures.
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I also recommend the America Trail. There are three North American River Otter pups that were born back in January. They are almost as big as the mother now and are very playful so I suggest you go earlier in the day and look at them.
 
EmmettTheOtter said:
I also recommend the America Trail. There are three North American River Otter pups that were born back in January. They are almost as big as the mother now and are very playful so I suggest you go earlier in the day and look at them.
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I was planning on spending some time at the American Trail so this is good to hear, I love seeing how a zoo displays it's country's native species and in my experience American zoos always do this so well
 
The exhibit features sea lions, seals, a harbor--er, sorry, harbour--seal, beavers, otters, and American eagles. Is the remaining maned wolf on exhibit still? There also bison on the other side of the zoo too, across from the gift shop.
 
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