March 1st, 2021, 1:39PM / BY Allison Cook
The first cheetah cub born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute celebrated his 10th birthday last year, marking a decade of the facility s successful cheetah breeding program.
Visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo may encounter the Zoo’s three male cheetahs roaming, playing and snoozing on exhibit. However, behind the scenes at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, many more cheetahs live, breed and contribute to the North American cheetah population. Cheetah keepers and scientists also contribute to saving cheetahs through improving breeding efforts with their important scientific studies. Take a look back through some of the milestones that SCBI’s cheetah team has celebrated since the breeding program began.
Zoo ends FONZ partnership - The Washington Post washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
National Zoo to split with longtime partner FONZ Michael Ruane The National Zoo said Thursday that after 63 years it is severing its relationship with its longtime nonprofit partner, Friends of the National Zoo. The action is being taken as the zoo faces an estimated $15 million budget shortfall due to the coronavirus, which has kept the Smithsonian landmark in Washington closed for much of the past year. FONZ, which has also been financially slammed by the virus, will have to vacate its offices at the zoo, on Connecticut Avenue, and its members will be offered memberships in a similar program run by the zoo.
3 months ago
This update was written by Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute bird keeper Wesley Bailey.
Last summer, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, experienced a bird baby boom. If you have followed my fellow keeper Erica Royer’s updates, you already know that our team helped raise four Guam kingfishers a species considered extinct in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. At the same time, we celebrated the hatching of two male brown kiwi chicks a boon to the population of this vulnerable species.
Our first chick, a male, hatched June 14, 2020, to 7-year-old mother Ora and 36-year-old father, Maori. Nearly three months later, the pair’s second chick another male emerged from his shell Sept. 4. Since both are still quite young, it can be difficult to discern their personalities. Compared with other chicks that we have hand-raised in the past, the first chick is a bit mo