Smithsonian.com

Head out to the National Zoo in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day! Detail of Class learning about the Sahara Desert, Washington, D.C. (1957) by the Scurlock Studio.

Friday, November 5:

Sorry kids, no special evening events happening at the Smithsonian tonight.

Saturday, November 6: Teacher Appreciation Day

After spending a week at school, teachers need a day of fun just like the kids they have to put up with, er, nurture for seven hours a day five days a week. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, the National Zoo has put together a special lineup of programs especially for educators, including animal demonstrations and exhibit programs that will hopefully inspire classroom activities. You will also have an opportunity to take a peek at the new exhibit Amazonian Science on a Sphere, view the documentary The Monarch Effect and much more. Go to this website for a full list of events. Teachers will also receive discounts for the day, such as a $10 flat rate for parking, a 15 percent discount in National Zoo stores and 30 percent discount at the Mane Restaurant. Free, but registration is required. Call 202-633-3059 or send an email for more information. And don’t forget to bring your school ID! National Zoo, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM

Sunday, November 7: Experiments in 19th-Century Color Photography

Cameras are everywhere nowadays so it’s easy to take for granted the technology we have at our fingertips. As far as photography has come along, it’s not always easy to look back and figure out the processes shutterbug pioneers used to create their images. Case in point, the development of color photography. It wasn’t always a matter of course, which makes some modern scholars wonder: how’d they do that? (Smithsonian contributor Robert Poole wrote “In Living Color,” a piece on an early, obscure color photography process that employed potatoes.) In this scholarly symposium, come listen to a collective of international specialists and learn how color photography came about. Speakers will include: Michelle Delaney, curator, Photographic History Collection, National Museum of American History; Dr. Susan Stulik, senior scientist, The Getty Conservation Institute; Grant Romer,senior conservator, The International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House; Kelly Wright, adjunct professor and doctoral candidate, University of Cincinnati and Francois Brunet, professor of art history and literature, University of Paris. This event is part of Fotoweek DC.

And don’t forget, Smithsonian magazine’s 7th annual photo contest that is coming to a close on December 1, 2009. Time is running out to enter your photos! Free. American History Museum, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.

For more information on events and exhibitions at the Smithsonian museums, check our companion website, goSmithsonian.com, the official visitor’s guide to the Smithsonian.

Merlin, the National Zoo's 27-year-old sloth bear, died this morning. Photo courtesy of the Zoo.

It’s a sad day at the National Zoo. Merlin, the National Zoo’s 27-year-old sloth bear, died this morning after a 48-hour illness. Merlin was born at the Zoo in 1981, and helped to introduce millions of visitors to this fascinating, but unfamiliar, bear species.

On Monday morning, Merlin underwent a routine physical examination. The examination went well, but Merlin did not fully recover from the anesthetic by the afternoon. Veterinarians also noticed that he had vomited some fluid with blood in it. Because of his medical history—he suffered a gastric volvulus, “twisted stomach” in 1994—staff members evaluated him again on Monday.

Veterinarians did blood work, ultrasounds and radiographs and decided that he needed surgery to correct a partially twisted spleen. After the procedure, Merlin seemed to be getting better, but further blood work revealed possible circulatory shock and renal failure. Staff stayed with Merlin 24 hours a day for two days until he passed away this morning.

Merlin fathered seven cubs, the youngest of which—3-year-old Balawat—left the National Zoo earlier this year to join a female cub at the Akron Zoo in Ohio. Balawat and Merlin bonded last fall after Hana, Balawat’s mother, was not receptive to mating with Merlin. Zookeepers introduced the two males last October. It took a month or so, but the pair eventually hit it off. Staff found them playing together for the first time in November. After playing, the keepers reported, the two sloth bears curled up together and took a nap.

Sloth bears, who use their curved claws to pick up ants and termites, are native to the Indian sub-continent. They use their long snout and lips to create a vacuum-like seal to suck up the insects. Sloth bears are the only bears to carry young on their backs. National Zoo scientists, engaged in sloth bear conservation efforts since the 1970s, estimate that about 6,000 to 11,000 sloth bears remain in the wild. The animals face critical loss of habitat and as a result, the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species categorizes sloth bears as vulnerable.

Merlin’s death at age 27 —the oldest sloth bear in captivity died at 29—will be reviewed. A necropsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of Merlin’s death, but results won’t be available for a few weeks. Two female sloth bears, Hana and Khali, remain on exhibit.

This little brown bat, found in a New York cave in October 2008, exhibits the telling sign of the white-nose syndrome: white fungus around the nose. Photo by Ryan von Linden/New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

A mysterious disease that presents with a white fungal growth around the nose has been killing bats in the Northeastern United States. It’s been estimated that more than one million bats have already died and the The United States Department of the Interior has declared the illness an “unprecedented wildlife crisis.”

At a press conference last week at the National Zoo, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced $800,000 in grants to combat the white-nose syndrome.

The National Zoo’s Conservation Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, received a grant to create the first ever captive population of the endangered Virginia big-eared bat. The illness is so serious among this species of bat that it could entirely wipe these creatures entirely in the wild. Currently, fewer than 15,000 Virginia big-eared bats remain in selected caves in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky and white-nose syndrome has taken its toll in those caves.

“We have been calling [the captive-bat population] an insurance population in the same way that when I have car insurance, I’m hoping I never have a car accident and have to use it,” says Luis Padilla, an associate veterinarian at the Zoo. “But if I do get into a car accident, it will rescue me. While we hope that Virginia big-eared bats do not go extinct in the wild, we’re establishing this captive population because we’re being realistic that there is a very significant, very devastating threat out there.”

Padilla says they will collect a “founder population” of 20 healthy bats starting this week. Because the Virginia big-eared bat has never been kept or bred in captivity, the Zoo’s staff will take extra precautions to ensure the bats remain healthy. The biggest challenge, Padilla says, will be providing them with an adequate diet. After all, bats can eat up to 1,000 mosquitos a day.

White-nose syndrome was detected just three years ago near Albany, New York, when a caver photographed hibernating bats that had the strange white powder-like substance around their noses. He also saw many dead bats lining the floor of the cave. That next year, biologists from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation saw more bats with white noses and even some bats flying around during daylight hours, a time when they normally should have been hibernating. The biologists noted this behavior in five sites in the state of New York that winter.

Fast forward to 2009, when 81 sites in nine Northeastern states are affected. Mortality in some of these caves has reached 90 percent.  Researchers from more than 50 organizations are on the case trying to figure out what causes the fungus and how to stop it. “At this point, we have a lot more questions than answers,” said Jeremy Coleman, who is spearheading the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s effort.

The service also gave grants to organizations that will analyze the susceptibility of the Indiana bat (a common bat in the region), identify ways to stop white-nose syndrome fungal growth, compare immunity and body composition of affected bats to healthy bats, develop a rapid white-nose syndrome field test and establish a way to genetically predict at-risk populations.

Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler (1893) by John Singer Sargent. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Monday, November 2: National Family Literacy Day

Knowledge is power (I know, it’s an overused phrase—but it’s true) and today is a great day to encourage the people in your family to pursue a lifetime full of reading. Enjoy storytelling sessions as well as theatrical performances that tie in to permanent museum exhibits like the Star Spangled Banner and the Greensboro lunch counter. Hopefully the day will inspire you to go home and do some reading on your own—and encourage you to talk about the things that grab your interest with those near and dear to you. Even if you aren’t in the DC area for this event, visit the website of the National Center for Family Literacy—who is co-sponsoring this event—to find programs in your area. Free. American History Museum, 10:00 AM-3:00 PM

Tuesday, November 3: FONZ Photo Club

If you’re a shutterbug with a penchant for snapping shots of critters, come on out to the National Zoo and participate in the FONZ (that’s Friends Of the National Zoo for those of you who think Henry Winkler when they see the word, FONZ) photo club’s monthly meeting. Share your photos, hear from speakers and learn about new techniques that may help you capture that picture perfect moment. You must already be a FONZ member to participate. For more information on the FONZ photo club and how to participate, check out their website. National Zoo, 7:00 PM

Wednesday, November 4: Portrait of Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler

John Singer Sargent had a knack for painting socialites and caused a perfectly marvelous scandal when he unveiled his Madame X in 1884. (The uproar over the painting was so great that it prompted him to move from Paris to London.) In tonight’s gallery talk led by deputy director emeritus Charles Robertson, come take a look at another work of Sargent’s: an 1893 portrait of Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler, heiress to the Astor fortune. Free. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 6:00 PM

Thursday, November 5: Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits

Photographer Dorothea Lange will perhaps be forever known for one photograph—a portrait of Florence Owens Thompson popularly known as Migrant Mother, which has become an iconic image of the Great Depression. Come listen to Linda Gordon, author of Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, discuss the life and times of this famous photographer. A book signing will follow the lecture. Free. American Art Museum, 7:00 PM

Friday, November 6: Sounds of Africa

Modern music has a fair share of roots firmly planted in Africa, and today, Ugandan musician Daniel Ssuuna will teach you about African instruments as well as polyrhythms and syncopation. Visitors will also have the opportunity to play instruments. Ideal for visitors aged 6 and older. Free. African Art Museum, 10:30 AM. This event will repeat on November 20 at the same time and venue.

For more information on events and exhibitions at the Smithsonian museums, check our companion website, goSmithsonian.com, the official visitor’s guide to the Smithsonian.

Still Life with Pumpkin, Book and Sweet Potato (ca. 1855) by an anonymous photographer. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Monday, October 19: A Stitch in Time: Block-by-Block Quilting Series

Ideal for persons aged 8 and older, this workshop will introduce you to the basics of quilting. That’s right, you too can gain the skill set required to make a piece suitable to keep you warm or to hang on the wall as a part of your eye-catching home decor. In this session, learn how to design and sew quilt squares together—and how to jazz up your work with appliqué designs. Cosponsored with the Daughters of Dorcas and Sons quilting organization. Sewing skills are not required. Free, but reservations are required. Call 202-633-4844 to reserve your spot and materials today. This series continues on selected Mondays: Nov. 16, Feb. 8, March 15, April 19, May 17, June 21. Anacostia Museum, 10:00 AM-12:00 PM

Tuesday, October 20: Gallery Talk with Joann Moser

In school, you learn your alphabet and how to read sentences just fine, but no one really takes the time to teach you how to read images. (And if you’re toddling around an art museum, the latter is a helpful skill to have.) Come on out to the American Art Museum and enjoy a tour of the exhibit What’s It All Mean: William T. Wiley in Retrospect led by senior curator Joann Moser, who will help you understand the symbols and allusions the artist uses in his work. Free. American Art Museum, 6:00 PM

Wednesday, October 21: The Problem of Frames

When you need to frame a piece of artwork for your home, it’s easy to take it to the nearest craft store or order the pieces you need online. What you get is rarely anything too fancy, so it’s easy to forget that frame making is an art unto itself and that there was a time when the frame used to house a painting was a presentation piece and part of the overall aesthetic experience. (Some of you may be familiar with the recent story of how the Metropolitan Museum of art is re-creating the elaborate frame that set off the iconic Washington Crossing the Delaware.) Come enjoy a tour led by American Art Museum frames conservator Martin Kotler who will discuss the art, craft and history of American frame making, as well as the challenges that museums face when it comes to framing pieces. You won’t be able to look at these home “accents” in the same way again. Free, Renwick Gallery, 12:00 PM

Thursday, October 22: Faces of the Frontier – Domingo Ghirardelli: Face-to-Face Portrait Talk

Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it in dew, cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two? Answer: Domingo Ghirardelli. (Yeah, yeah, the word “candyman” is a little more rhythmic. So sue me.) You may not know Domingo, but you’re more likely to be familiar with the chocolate that bears his surname. Setting up shop in San Francisco in 1852, his wares have been sating the American sweet tooth for generations. With Halloween on the horizon, there’s no better time to come on out to the Portrait Gallery and learn more about the man behind the candy than tonight, which features a gallery talk led by curator of photographs Ann Shumard. Free. Portrait Gallery, 6:00-6:30 PM

Friday, October 23: Boo at the Zoo

Perfect for persons ages two to 12, Boo at the Zoo provides families with a safe, fun and educational way to celebrate the Halloween holiday. Dress up and step on out to haunt the National Zoo where there will be 40 treat stations featuring an assortment of candy and snacks in addition to animal encounters and keeper talks. Tickets are required. Rates are: $15 for members, $25 for nonmembers, free admission for children under two. Tickets may be purchased online or at the Zoo’s Visitor Center. National Zoo, 5:30 PM-8:30 PM.

For more information on events and exhibitions at the Smithsonian museums, check our companion website, goSmithsonian.com, the official visitor’s guide to the Smithsonian.

The newest member of the Zoo's roster, a female dama gazelle, was born October 2. Photo by Mehgan Murphy.

The Zoo added another adorable critter to its roster: a baby dama gazelle. The calf was born Friday, Oct. 2 and weighed 11 pounds. Her parents are 2-year-old female Adara and 2-year-old male Rajih.

The healthy baby is currently off-display and acclimating herself to the new world with her mother and 1-year-old sister, Fahima. The proud father, however, can be seen at the Zoo with the scimitar-horned oryx. Zoo staffers have seen the calf nurse, groom and run around with her mom and sister. These are all signs of good health, they say.

Although this darling dame is tiny, the dama gazelle is actually the largest of the gazelles and can weigh up to 190 pounds and measure up to 42 inches at the shoulder. In their native habitat, gazelles feast on desert shrubs and acacia; and, during times of drought, rough desert grasses.

The dama gazelle is a critically endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Threatened Species. Experts estimate that fewer than 500 dama gazelles currently live in the wild, and those that do are threatened by hunting and poaching. The gazelle’s range, which used to encompass most of the Saharan region of Africa, has shrunk to contain only a few spots in Mali, Niger and Chad.

But, conservation efforts are helping. The Species Survival, a program started by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, manages 120 dama gazelles in the United States.

To see more pictures of the baby dama gazelle, visit the National Zoo’s Flickr album.

Poster by Gillian Roark, age 7, daughter of Smithsonian magazine's associate editor Lyn Garrity.

If you’re between the ages of 8 and 14, pick up your crayons, paint, pencils, photos or markers and design a poster for the National Zoo’s Poster Contest. If you win, you receive six tickets to opening night of ZooLights, as well as a National Zoo-themed gift basket. The poster will be displayed at the National Zoo and sent to libraries and schools in the Washington, D.C. region, and it will be featured on the Zoo’s website and in Smithsonian Zoogoer magazine.

The rules are simple, design a poster that shows the animals and plants found at the zoo; but also emphasize in either picture or poetry that the zoo is free to all guests, all the time.

To jump-start your ideas, we asked two “celebrity” artists, the children of fellow  magazine

Poster by Colleen Salazar, age 12, daughter of Smithsonian magazine's director of web development, Michelle McMahon

staffers to put crayon to paper and come up with their best ideas. Unfortunately, Gillian Roark, age 7, (”Free Fun with the Seals,” above) is ineligible as she is one year shy of the age requirement for entering the contest. But Colleen Salazar, age 12, is off to a running start.

The contest runs from now until November 12, so kids, get drawing. To see the full rules and submission guidelines, visit the contest’s official site.

Come on out to the National Zoo's annual Autumn Conservation Festival where you will have the chance to see one of the baby clouded leopard cubs born this past spring. Photography by Mehgan Murphy, courtesy of the National Zoo.

Friday, October 2:

Sorry kids, no special afternoon or evening events happening at the Smithsonian today. But be sure to check out this site for a listing of regularly-scheduled happenings around the Institution.

Saturday, October 3: The Lives of Chinese Scripts and Calligraphy – Gallery Talk and Workshop

Come listen to associate curator of Chinese art Joseph Chang discuss calligraphy—an art form that has developed over the course of three millennia. After a gallery tour where you can see how calligraphy has evolved—and how modern artists draw on the aesthetic sensibilities of their predecessors—meet artist John Wang who will conduct a workshop where you can learn basic writing techniques. Free, but registration is required for the workshop. For reservation information, email pecorjo@si.edu or call 202.633.0465. Freer, 1:00 PM

Sunday, October 4: Autumn Conservation Festival

Once a year, the National Zoo’s Conservation Research Center (CRC), tucked away in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, opens its doors the public. So come take this opportunity to chat with scientists, tour the veterinary hospital and see the menagerie of endangered species living at the facility—including an adorable pair of clouded leopard cubs born this past spring. There will also be a meet and greet with a kiwi (the bird, not the fruit). Other entertainments will include live music, wagon rides and cavalry maneuvers. Food and drinks will be available for purchase. Festival occurs on October 3 and 4. Admission is free; however, non-CRC members must purchase a car pass. For more information about the festival and to purchase car passes, please see the festival’s main website. Free. National Zoo, 10:00 AM-3:00 PM

For more information on events and exhibitions at the Smithsonian museums, check our companion website, goSmithsonian.com, the official visitor’s guide to the Smithsonian.