Smithsonian National Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo News 2021

Today Xiao Qi Ji, the panda cub, celebrates his first birthday at the zoo

 

On August 26th, the zoo announced that their last meerkat in the Small Mammal House, Dogo, has been humanely euthanized at age 14. Dogo was euthanized on August 23rd, and his exhibit is now home to just Von der Decken hornbills.

Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

 

The zoo received a new female lesser kudu from the St. Louis zoo back in March. She along with their other female kudu have SSP recommendations to breed with their current male.

They also moved their 2.5 and almost 2 year old male kudu calves into the yard with their two Ruppell's griffon vultures earlier this month.

New Hooves, New Home: Keeping up with the Lesser Kudu

 

What happened to the dama gazelles and scimitar-horned oryx? The website says they are not currently on exhibit.

 

I have no clue. All I know is the gazelles were gone first, and the last time I saw the oryx was back in May.

 

The two remaining gazelles joined a female from Maryland at the okc zoo. No idea about the oryx though.

 

A female persian onager was born in late July.

Meet Our Sweet and Rambunctious Persian Onager Filly

Article about the new snakehead.

Meet the Snakehead: A Fish That Can “Walk” On Land

Article about the new collared lemurs.


Meet Bentley and Beemer, Our Collared Lemur Brothers

 

According to the zoos website, there is only one titi monkey left in Amazonia. I thought there were two, what happened to the other one?

Any plan with the sloth breeding? Vlad is quite old and not that valuable for breeding with a young female. If they want to breed the sloths they should pair Athena with Howie instead. I remember when Athena arrived they said they would try to breed her with Vlad, but I don’t think that’s going to happen given Vlad’s age.

And how many red river hogs does the zoo currently have? The website shows three but I’ve only ever seen two.

 

The oryx was a very recent change since someone on here saw them in May. I’m also not sure but they might have gone to SCBI.

 

The zoo has 3 red river hogs however they can not be housed together. They tend to rotate in the exhibit with two being the max you will see at a time.

 

The zoos 6 lions and 3 tigers have tested positive for covid. For now all are doing ok.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/09/17/animals-national-zoo-covid/

 

A litter of three cheetah cubs were born at SCBI on the 16th, unfortunately two of the cubs were stillborn. The mother did nurse the surviving cub but by the next morning she began to ignore it. Because of this keepers will be hand-rearing the cub for several weeks until he can be sent to another zoo to live with a foster mom.

Animal Care Staff Are Hand-rearing Cheetah Cub at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

 

Noticed today that the zoo has a new Cheetah. Looks to be a female, she wasn't there during my last visit a week ago. Will be looking for an announcement in the coming days because I would love to know where she came from.

 

It would be awesome if they began a breeding program at the zoo. With so few public breeding facilities it would be amazing for the public.

 

She would have come from SCBI... they don't usually announce when they rotate cheetahs.

Smithsonian has one of the biggest cheetah breeding programs in the country.

 

The project started a little over a week ago, but the gorillas are getting a new climbing structure in their outdoor yard. They will not be allowed outside until it is completed (2-3 weeks, according to the FB page I found this info on).


Also the new cheetahs name is Sarah

 

This gorila news is amazing.
Also, can I ask where you learned about Sarah, and if any more info was released?

 

The same FB page where I learned that the zoo had started work on the new gorilla climbing structure.

 

What page?

 

It's called "DC Zoo Walks"