Earlier this summer, the Zoo welcomed Basil, a Virginia opossum (also known as a North American opossum) to the Small Mammal House. Get to know Basil in our new feature, written by animal keeper Mimi Nowlin!
A female opossum can have up to 25 offspring in one litter!
Always free of charge, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is one of Washington D.C.’s, and the Smithsonian’s, most popular tourist destinations, with more than 2 million visitors from all over the world each year. The Zoo instills a lifelong commitment to conservation through engaging experiences with animals and the people working to save them.
Old World primates and great apes, which have identical amino acids at the binding
Get to know our red pandas’ personalities and insider tips on the best times to spot them from Asia Trail keeper Mariel Lally.
We have to keep on our toes, or she will try to ‘outsmart’ us!
Norway rats, also called brown rats, are foragers that can survive on a wide range of food, which has helped them successfully spread across the world.
Members of this species have been bred as pets to be white, black or brown.
Why is this Asian elephant wearing a collar? He’s one of four pachyderms whose movements and behaviors are being tracked via satellite! This information helps SCBI scientist John McEvoy and partners understand the causes of human-elephant conflict and find solutions to help animals and people coexist.
Luckily, we have a terrific partnership with the forestry department, and they connected
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, two animals that are red and white and beloved by everyone made their debut on Asia Trail! Meet Nutmeg and her son, Jackie, who came to the Zoo from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in December.
We have started positive reinforcement training, and a key component of this type
Alligator snapping turtles are the largest freshwater turtles in the world. Their heavy heads, strong jaws, hooked beak and spiked shells give them a prehistoric appearance.
Alligator snapping turtles have long, narrow tongues equipped with an appendage that
Also known as the Iranian leopard gecko, Iranian fat-tailed geckos are lizards found in semi-desert, mountainous regions of northeastern Syria, northern Iraq, west-central Iran, and Turkey.
Iranian geckos also have long toes and spider-like legs that help them climb and
Asian elephants get much less attention than African elephants, but there is less than a tenth as many left in the world. About 500,000 African elephants remain in the wild compared to 30,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants.
By now, we have collared 19 elephants, and it appears that all of the ones that disappeared
Studying hormones can help enhance the health and well-being of wildlife in zoos and in the natural world.
Endocrinology Research Laboratory fills the need to train young biologists who have
