Smithsonian's National Zoo

After witnessing the near extinction of bison in 1886, scientist William Hornaday worked with the Smithsonian to create a national zoo, and in 1889 President Grover Cleveland signed a bill establishing the National Zoo to save animals from extinction. The zoo officially opened to the public in 1891, and its first permanent building was completed in 1892, later becoming the Lion House. A new Elephant House opened in 1937 and, after a full update in 2013, became the Elephant Community Center. In 1939, as World War II broke out in Europe, the zoo turned 50 and keepers and other employees went to war. In 1950, Smokey Bear, rescued from a blaze, came to live at the zoo as a living symbol of the United States' campaign to prevent forest fires. Concerned Washingtonians formed Friends of the National Zoo in 1958 to raise funds for needed repairs. In 1972, the zoo pioneered a program to breed golden lion tamarins and reintroduced them to Brazil's rainforests, and First Lady Pat Nixon formally welcomed giant pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, gifts from the People's Republic of China. In 1973, the zoo acquired 3,200 acres in Virginia to save rare species, a site known today as the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. The zoo helped black-footed ferrets rebound from near extinction in 1988, and today more than 1,000 live in the wild. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center opened in 1991 and gained international prominence for research and conservation work. In 1992, Komodo dragons hatched there for the first time outside Indonesia. In 1999, zoo researchers spearheaded efforts to combat chytrid, a deadly fungus threatening one-third of amphibian species. Kandula, a male Asian elephant, was born in 2001, reflecting scientists' growing understanding of elephant reproduction. Tai Shan was born in 2005 and became the first giant panda cub in the zoo's history to live into adulthood. In 2012, the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, a partnership with George Mason University, opened to its first class of students, and in 2013 Bao Bao was born as the zoo's second healthy giant panda cub.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States