Looks like they went with a standard pet cage instead of making a little natural exhibit for them
Smithsonian National Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo News 2020
- Thread starter Mbwamwitu
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Looks like they went with a standard pet cage instead of making a little natural exhibit for them
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
Keepers have been assessing the intelligence of its sloth bears.
Sloth Bears Recognize 2D Images as Representations of 3D Objects Smithsonian’s National Zoo Cognition Study Finds
Sloth Bears Recognize 2D Images as Representations of 3D Objects Smithsonian’s National Zoo Cognition Study Finds
Nolie Thornell
Active Member
The enclosure is actually pretty cool. I"ll link a picture if I can figure out how toLooks like they went with a standard pet cage instead of making a little natural exhibit for them
Nolie Thornell
Active Member
Looks like they went with a standard pet cage instead of making a little natural exhibit for them
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I feel as though there are cooler and more endangered species which could have been added to Amazonia...
~Thylo
~Thylo
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
This research is cool, and equally cool is the fact that the near-mythical Remi and Niko are still indeed at the zoo
This research is cool, and equally cool is the fact that the near-mythical Remi and Niko are still indeed at the zoo
Maybe they've been spending all of their time inside looking at photos and eating snacks instead of coming outside where the people are - I can certainly relate
That's my favorite pastime.
Sydney, the zoos 20 year old northern white-cheeked gibbon was euthanized on Feb. 4th. He was the last white-cheeked gibbon at the zoo.
White-Cheeked Gibbon Dies at Smithsonian’s National Zoo
White-Cheeked Gibbon Dies at Smithsonian’s National Zoo
The first two cheetah cubs ever born via embryo transfer were born at SCBI.
First Cheetah Cubs Born as Result of Embryo Transfer
First Cheetah Cubs Born as Result of Embryo Transfer
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
I don't exactly know if this is necessary for the cheetah population, but embryo transfer is what SDSP is utilizing to recreate the northern black rhino. If success in any species furthers the chances for the rhino project, go team!
Typo error I guess: northern white rhino?
(Can happen ... sometimes)
Jumping the species barrier one too many! (LOL)
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
You're so kind to realize it's a typo and not think me rhino-ignorant!
Correction, the cubs were born at Columbus, my mistake.
For the first time in 3 and a half years, a Japanese Giant Salamander is once again on display, this time in the Reptile Ho.... I mean Reptile Discovery Center.
The Smithsonians FY21 budget request to congress is out, and the zoos section starts on page 55 for those that wanna read it.
https://www.si.edu/sites/default/files/about/fy2021-budgetrequestcongress.pdf
https://www.si.edu/sites/default/files/about/fy2021-budgetrequestcongress.pdf
AmbikaFan
Well-Known Member
This
This budget request, reduced to 20 takeways:
1) One of the very first projects in the increased budget is for "introducing more intensive animal quarantine and screening procedures to prevent disease transmission from wildlife to livestock, people, and other animals in the Zoo’s collections." Has there been a problem with disease transmission in the collection?
2) Interesting SCBI figures: "Activities such as fence maintenance (18 miles of perimeter, 36 miles of cross, eight miles of electric), gate maintenance (207 manual, nine electric), snow removal, mowing 519 acres of pastures and holding yards, the management and making of hay for animals (both at SCBI and NZP locations), and maintaining 10 miles of overhead and underground power lines are vital to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the research and breeding collection." There are 26 endangered species bred there with excellent results, but doesn't it seem as if they could be holding more animals by utilizing more of its 3,200 acres either for more breeding research subjects or an off-site safari park?
3) The wording is a bit obscure, but SCBI coordinates what are suggested to be only 9 zoos breeding cheetahs. Nine! I never realized there were so few, so it really puts the importance of the zoo's work into fresh perspective.
4) If you haven't been to SCBI in the last five years, the Smithsonian-George Mason University School of Conservation (SMSC) is an actual residential campus offering degrees in advanced zoological care. They have even developed a nutrition course that people worldwide come to attend.
5) The document boasts that elephant Ambika is the oldest Asian elephant in the country. She is not. Shirley of Wild Adventures in GA is four years older, born in 1948, and Mysore of Ringling is two years older. Ambika is wonderful enough without hyperbole. If I know this fact, don't you think someone at the zoo does? Wouldn't you expect an official legal document submitted to Congress would be accurate?
6) "SCBI and its partners are working to develop techniques to restore and preserve more than 11 species of corals. Their techniques have enabled corals to be frozen and subsequently thawed to enable outplanting of new corals."
7) "Significant mammal additions in FY 2019 and expectations for FY 2020 include clouded leopard cubs, a female amur tiger, and a sea lion pup. Zoo staff expects successful breeding for the carnivores (lions/tigers and cheetahs), elephants, giant pandas, and pinnipeds (sea lions and seals" (emphasis mine) At 22, Mei Xiang would be older than the oldest giant panda females ever to give birth, Dong Dong and her daughter Bai Yun, both at age 21. Likely? No. And with Maharani not pregnant as of 1/1/20 after nearly two years with no success, "expects" may a bit optimistic.
8) An enhanced Coral Lab in Amazonia "will transport visitors to the waters of a coral reef, deepening their connection to coral and their habitat, while also providing a much-needed calming space for children and adults at the Zoo." Hyperactive children and adults is such a significant problem that it's the justification for a more sensory coral experience?
9) "The Gibbon Ridge exhibit will be updated to improve accessibility for deaf and blind visitors at the Zoo." Gibbon Ridge is such a small part of the zoo that I have to wonder if this is experimental in nature, to see what works. Surely there are more popular exhibits that would otherwise merit this accessability more.
10) The proposed guinea pig exhibit is already here, in Amazonia.
11) "Digital signs help provide visitors with maps of exhibits and facilities, schedules of activities such as keeper demonstrations, and more in-depth information about the animal collection. NZP/SCBI will continue to develop its digital signage program and will install new signs as funds become available." This would be great, but this paragraph notably doesn't say that this will happen in FY2021, despite this being the FY2021 budget....
12) "SCBI is the co-creator and leader of eMammal, a regional wildlife project that uses citizen scientists and camera traps to monitor wildlife across public lands in the mid-Atlantic states." If this was ever publicized in Zoogoer, I missed it.
13) "With the onset of OSPRI (One Smithsonian Plastic Reduction Initiative) in FY 2019, the Zoo began working toward eliminating the sale of single-use plastics. We have eliminated all soda bottle sales in the restaurants, soda machines and retail stores, and are working toward eliminating all single-use plastic beverage sales by end of FY2020." Is there a plan to eliminate plastics in vending machines?
14) "The FY 2021 budget request includes an increase of $2,039,000. The increase includes $1,373,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item, $200,000 for fixed costs related to Zoo operations, and a programmatic increase of $466,000 and 2 FTEs for animal welfare." As always, staff is on federal pay scale, so 2/3 of the budget increase is for fixed salary increase. The $200,000 increase in fixed operations cost and the "programmatic increase" are unaddressed.
15) The document mentions the major Bird House renovation and nothing about any other infrastructure improvements at all except a new "BioRepository Facility, which will store frozen germ plasm(a)(sic), DNA samples and cell lines of hundreds of species from around the planet. studies rare and critically endangered species, using reproductive sciences, including the collection and storage of genomic resources derived from biomaterials"
It's worrisome that there is virtually no other infrastructure expenditure mentioned, except fencing and maintaining the shade structure for bison and the climbing structure for the gorillas. It's a sign of how little funding there is for maintenance that they mention the paltry bison shading; few animals live in accommodations as barren as the bison. We know from the deferred maintenance in the 1980s and 1990s how much deterioration can occur. Yes, the locked federal salary schedule is an ever-increasing fixed expense that can't be changed, leaving little wiggle room for anything else, but surely it would be prudent to include some in the budget so that Congress knows the facilities could otherwise deterioriate rapidly.
16) The removal of trees infested with an ash borer infestation, "reforesting" after this loss, and irrigation seem to have resulted in unexpected high expenditures, warranting a rather lengthy discussion.
17) "Increased diverse threats, such as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, require staffing to respond to new requirements and maintain a viable collection." Again, the suggestion that there are new requirements that the zoo has not been compliant with and/or there has been spread of disease.
18) "NZP has approximately 130 aquatic exhibits and 55 aquatic holdings, totaling 1.7 million gallons of water. The number of systems and total volume is similar to that of a large public aquarium but spread out over the Zoo’s 163-acre park."
19) "Finally, although we have successfully maintained minimal care standards, mission-essential resources have been redirected to maintain these standards. Without the additional resources for the live collection, the quality of both research and animal care will be diminished or the size of the live collection may have to be reduced — meaning that species at risk today will not benefit in the way that other critically endangered species have. Without additional resources, prior successes will be diminished, and future efforts and visitors’ experiences will be put at risk."
This is walking a very fine line. They can't admit to failing to maintain minimal care standards, yet they're saying that that has only been averted by diverting funds intended for other purposes--which I suspect again is maintenance of infrastructure. This is a very tricky road. I don't think it's legal to spend moneys allotted in ways not approved by Congress, which always has "the power of the purse." This suggests that they may not be providing minimal standards of care or they may be mis-allocating funds to do so. We've seen species leave the collection to make room for larger habitats for those that remain; this makes sense. However, this seems to be a warning that insufficient funding will result in insufficient care unless the collection is reduced in size. I don't think this is an idle threat; the closure of the Invertebrates Exhibit was an example of reduction in the collection, so it can happen.
20) Footnote: There are two very important collections that are managed by the Museum of Natural History, covered under the section devoted to that Smithsonian branch. The National Parasite Collection is a huge collection begun in 1892 that is deteriorating and in need of new storage containers; again, we are reminded of the importance of controlling transmission of diseases. Also, "the National Cancer Institute (NCI) collection contains an extensive collection of tissue samples from rare and highly controlled animals," It's unclear to me why these are managed by MNH, but at least NZP does not have to fight for funding for these huge projects.
This budget request, reduced to 20 takeways:
1) One of the very first projects in the increased budget is for "introducing more intensive animal quarantine and screening procedures to prevent disease transmission from wildlife to livestock, people, and other animals in the Zoo’s collections." Has there been a problem with disease transmission in the collection?
2) Interesting SCBI figures: "Activities such as fence maintenance (18 miles of perimeter, 36 miles of cross, eight miles of electric), gate maintenance (207 manual, nine electric), snow removal, mowing 519 acres of pastures and holding yards, the management and making of hay for animals (both at SCBI and NZP locations), and maintaining 10 miles of overhead and underground power lines are vital to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the research and breeding collection." There are 26 endangered species bred there with excellent results, but doesn't it seem as if they could be holding more animals by utilizing more of its 3,200 acres either for more breeding research subjects or an off-site safari park?
3) The wording is a bit obscure, but SCBI coordinates what are suggested to be only 9 zoos breeding cheetahs. Nine! I never realized there were so few, so it really puts the importance of the zoo's work into fresh perspective.
4) If you haven't been to SCBI in the last five years, the Smithsonian-George Mason University School of Conservation (SMSC) is an actual residential campus offering degrees in advanced zoological care. They have even developed a nutrition course that people worldwide come to attend.
5) The document boasts that elephant Ambika is the oldest Asian elephant in the country. She is not. Shirley of Wild Adventures in GA is four years older, born in 1948, and Mysore of Ringling is two years older. Ambika is wonderful enough without hyperbole. If I know this fact, don't you think someone at the zoo does? Wouldn't you expect an official legal document submitted to Congress would be accurate?
6) "SCBI and its partners are working to develop techniques to restore and preserve more than 11 species of corals. Their techniques have enabled corals to be frozen and subsequently thawed to enable outplanting of new corals."
7) "Significant mammal additions in FY 2019 and expectations for FY 2020 include clouded leopard cubs, a female amur tiger, and a sea lion pup. Zoo staff expects successful breeding for the carnivores (lions/tigers and cheetahs), elephants, giant pandas, and pinnipeds (sea lions and seals" (emphasis mine) At 22, Mei Xiang would be older than the oldest giant panda females ever to give birth, Dong Dong and her daughter Bai Yun, both at age 21. Likely? No. And with Maharani not pregnant as of 1/1/20 after nearly two years with no success, "expects" may a bit optimistic.
8) An enhanced Coral Lab in Amazonia "will transport visitors to the waters of a coral reef, deepening their connection to coral and their habitat, while also providing a much-needed calming space for children and adults at the Zoo." Hyperactive children and adults is such a significant problem that it's the justification for a more sensory coral experience?
9) "The Gibbon Ridge exhibit will be updated to improve accessibility for deaf and blind visitors at the Zoo." Gibbon Ridge is such a small part of the zoo that I have to wonder if this is experimental in nature, to see what works. Surely there are more popular exhibits that would otherwise merit this accessability more.
10) The proposed guinea pig exhibit is already here, in Amazonia.
11) "Digital signs help provide visitors with maps of exhibits and facilities, schedules of activities such as keeper demonstrations, and more in-depth information about the animal collection. NZP/SCBI will continue to develop its digital signage program and will install new signs as funds become available." This would be great, but this paragraph notably doesn't say that this will happen in FY2021, despite this being the FY2021 budget....
12) "SCBI is the co-creator and leader of eMammal, a regional wildlife project that uses citizen scientists and camera traps to monitor wildlife across public lands in the mid-Atlantic states." If this was ever publicized in Zoogoer, I missed it.
13) "With the onset of OSPRI (One Smithsonian Plastic Reduction Initiative) in FY 2019, the Zoo began working toward eliminating the sale of single-use plastics. We have eliminated all soda bottle sales in the restaurants, soda machines and retail stores, and are working toward eliminating all single-use plastic beverage sales by end of FY2020." Is there a plan to eliminate plastics in vending machines?
14) "The FY 2021 budget request includes an increase of $2,039,000. The increase includes $1,373,000 for necessary pay and other related salary costs for existing staff funded under this line item, $200,000 for fixed costs related to Zoo operations, and a programmatic increase of $466,000 and 2 FTEs for animal welfare." As always, staff is on federal pay scale, so 2/3 of the budget increase is for fixed salary increase. The $200,000 increase in fixed operations cost and the "programmatic increase" are unaddressed.
15) The document mentions the major Bird House renovation and nothing about any other infrastructure improvements at all except a new "BioRepository Facility, which will store frozen germ plasm(a)(sic), DNA samples and cell lines of hundreds of species from around the planet. studies rare and critically endangered species, using reproductive sciences, including the collection and storage of genomic resources derived from biomaterials"
It's worrisome that there is virtually no other infrastructure expenditure mentioned, except fencing and maintaining the shade structure for bison and the climbing structure for the gorillas. It's a sign of how little funding there is for maintenance that they mention the paltry bison shading; few animals live in accommodations as barren as the bison. We know from the deferred maintenance in the 1980s and 1990s how much deterioration can occur. Yes, the locked federal salary schedule is an ever-increasing fixed expense that can't be changed, leaving little wiggle room for anything else, but surely it would be prudent to include some in the budget so that Congress knows the facilities could otherwise deterioriate rapidly.
16) The removal of trees infested with an ash borer infestation, "reforesting" after this loss, and irrigation seem to have resulted in unexpected high expenditures, warranting a rather lengthy discussion.
17) "Increased diverse threats, such as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, require staffing to respond to new requirements and maintain a viable collection." Again, the suggestion that there are new requirements that the zoo has not been compliant with and/or there has been spread of disease.
18) "NZP has approximately 130 aquatic exhibits and 55 aquatic holdings, totaling 1.7 million gallons of water. The number of systems and total volume is similar to that of a large public aquarium but spread out over the Zoo’s 163-acre park."
19) "Finally, although we have successfully maintained minimal care standards, mission-essential resources have been redirected to maintain these standards. Without the additional resources for the live collection, the quality of both research and animal care will be diminished or the size of the live collection may have to be reduced — meaning that species at risk today will not benefit in the way that other critically endangered species have. Without additional resources, prior successes will be diminished, and future efforts and visitors’ experiences will be put at risk."
This is walking a very fine line. They can't admit to failing to maintain minimal care standards, yet they're saying that that has only been averted by diverting funds intended for other purposes--which I suspect again is maintenance of infrastructure. This is a very tricky road. I don't think it's legal to spend moneys allotted in ways not approved by Congress, which always has "the power of the purse." This suggests that they may not be providing minimal standards of care or they may be mis-allocating funds to do so. We've seen species leave the collection to make room for larger habitats for those that remain; this makes sense. However, this seems to be a warning that insufficient funding will result in insufficient care unless the collection is reduced in size. I don't think this is an idle threat; the closure of the Invertebrates Exhibit was an example of reduction in the collection, so it can happen.
20) Footnote: There are two very important collections that are managed by the Museum of Natural History, covered under the section devoted to that Smithsonian branch. The National Parasite Collection is a huge collection begun in 1892 that is deteriorating and in need of new storage containers; again, we are reminded of the importance of controlling transmission of diseases. Also, "the National Cancer Institute (NCI) collection contains an extensive collection of tissue samples from rare and highly controlled animals," It's unclear to me why these are managed by MNH, but at least NZP does not have to fight for funding for these huge projects.
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