Bozie the Asian elephant arrived at the National Zoo today on-loan from Baton Rogue. Photo by Pamela Baker-Masson. All photos courtesy of the National Zoo

Welcome to DC, Bozie!

The 37-year-old Asian elephant, whose transfer from Baton Rouge Zoo was announced earlier this month, arrived safe and sound at the National Zoo today after traveling in a truck for more than 1,100 miles.

Baton Rouge decided to loan Bozie to another institution recently after her elephant friend, Judy, died of chronic gastrointestinal irritation from arthritis medication in March. Bozie had lived at the Baton Rouge Zoo since 1998, but had to go because female elephants need companionship to stay happy and healthy, Zoo officials said.

Bozie will join the National Zoo’s other three Asian elephants—Ambika, Kandula and Shanti (who, incidentally, lived with Bozie in Sri Lanka at an elephant orphanage before both were transported to North America)—in their newly-renovated Elephant Trails Habitat after she goes into quarantine for a minimum of 30 days, per standard procedure.

The National Zoo is regarded as a leader in elephant research, particularly on Asian elephants (whose population has dropped at least 50 percent over three generations to around 40,000, according to the IUCN Red List), so Bozie should be in good hands with the Zoo’s elephant keepers, nutritionists and veterinarians. To keep her busy mentally and physically, her caretakers will provide her with a variety of enrichment, including bamboo, boomer balls and puzzle feeders.

“Elephants are equally curious and cautious in meeting a new member of the herd,” says the Zoo elephant manager Marie Galloway. “By watching their behavioral cues, we’ll be able to determine their comfort level and can move as quickly or slowly as they see fit. Our goal is for Bozie, Shanthi and Ambika to bond and live together as a herd.”

Photo by Connor Mallon

Photo by Connor Mallon

Photo by Connor Mallon

Bozie taking a shower at the Baton Rouge Zoo

The National Zoo’s two giant pandas don’t know how to mate with each other. But thanks to artificial insemination Mei Xiang (L) and Tian Tian (R) have produced two cubs, and a third may be on the way. Photo courtesy of the National Zoo

The National Zoo’s two giant pandas have little interest in each other 11 months of the year. Mei Xiang, 15, and Tian Tian, 16, are solitary creatures, happy to spend most of their days chowing down and napping. But March was mating season. For 30 to 45 days, pandas undergo behavioral and physical changes that prepare them for an annual 24- to 72-hour window in which females ovulate, the only time they can conceive.

Just because they are able to mate, though, doesn’t mean they will. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are what David Wildt, head of the Center for Species Survival at the National Zoo, calls “behaviorally incompetent.”

“Tian Tian tries really hard, and is very diligent in his duties,” he says, “but he’s just not able to pull Mei Xiang into the proper mating position.”

The pair is not alone. Of pandas in the United States today, only two, Gao Gao and Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo, have been able to breed naturally. Captive pairs have succeeded elsewhere in the world as well—especially in China, the bears’ native home, where the captive population is much higher—but mating difficulties are still common. Panda’s  total population, captive and wild, is about 2,000, so each failed match is a crucial missed opportunity for repopulation.

The species’ future is brighter than these mating difficulties suggest, though. Wildt is part of an international network of American and Chinese specialists—veterinarians, researchers and zookeepers—who have collaborated for years on improving captive panda breeding practices. In recent years, the team has made huge advances in understanding the bears’ biology and behavior, which has inspired new approaches to care that reduce faulty coupling, or even circumvent it.

Their studies are turning the tide. Today, the bears’ captive population is around 350, almost triple what it was 15 years ago.

When Mei Xiang began to ovulate on the last weekend of March, zookeepers closed the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat to visitors, made sure she and Tian Tian were comfortable, then brought the lustful pair into the same room for the first time since last spring. The two had become rambunctious leading up to the encounter, and spent days staring longingly at one another through the fence that divides their yards. They had hardly touched their bamboo.

Despite the flirtatious fireworks, though—and while it was the seventh year in a row the two had been put together to mate—the two pandas again failed to copulate. As she has in the past, Mei Xiang flopped on her belly like a pancake when she met with Tian Tian—the opposite of good mating posture, which would have her rigid on all fours—and Tian Tian went about his usual routine of stomping around and standing on her, clueless what to do.

After multiple attempts, the keepers ushered the tired pair back to their separate yards.

Panda breeders’ challenge is overcoming unknown variables in the mating process, says Copper Aitken-Palmer, head vet at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. “There may be some developmental things that we are doing differently under human care, versus what they’re learning in the wild,” she says. Cubs often stay with their mothers for two or more years in the wild, for instance, so they might learn how to breed by watching or listening. Adults may need to mate with an experienced partner first to learn what to do. It’s hard to know for sure, Aitken-Palmer explains, because wild pandas are incredibly hard to observe in their bamboo-filled habitat in China’s southwestern mountains.

The zoo feeds Tian Tian up to 100 pounds of bamboo each day. Photo courtesy of the National Zoo

The National Zoo compensates for its lack of other pandas to mimic these conditions by preparing Mei Xiang and Tian Tian year-round for mating, both the act itself and the steps leading up to and following it. Since Mei Xiang arrived, she has been trained to receive injections, get blood drawn, milk and lie peacefully during ultrasounds, all without a fuss. (She even rubs the ultrasound gel over herself for her keepers.) The Zoo is trying to teach her to pancake onto a raised platform instead of the ground to make herself more accessible to Tian Tian, and also gives Tian Tian strengthening exercises so one day he might learn to pull her upright.

In China, zoos and breeding centers with a greater number of pandas use similar techniques to encourage coupling, and have begun to test the theory that pandas learn from observation by having cubs attend breeding sessions. On rare occasions, some Asian breeding centers have gone so far as to show their bears videos of other pandas mating—yep, panda porn. There’s no concrete evidence it works, though.

(Josh Groban has his own panda mating technique, but its success also hasn’t been confirmed.)

More than behavioral changes, the most significant improvements in breeding techniques have come at the chemical level. Researchers have developed increasingly accurate measurements of female pandas’ hormone levels and vaginal cell changes, and now are able to pinpoint the exact ideal time frame for a panda’s egg to be fertilized. This new-found accuracy not only dictates the best window to put two pandas together in the same room, but also dramatically improves the success of the practice that allows pairs who cannot figure out how to mate to have cubs anyways: artificial insemination.

“Because pandas’ reproductive activity is so infrequent, they don’t have many opportunities for sexual experimentation and figuring it out,” Wildt says. A panda in heat in the wild may mate with a number of males all competing for her, but those in America’s zoos are stuck with the one they’ve got, regardless of sexual compatibility. Artificial insemination is key to panda breeding, he explains, because it has allowed scientists to overstep the hurdle of sexual compatibility entirely. The technique, which deposits collected semen into a female while she is anesthetized, was “very rudimentary” in the early 2000s, in his words, but took off about seven years ago when scientists began to develop effective ways to freeze and store semen for multiple years and craft more precise tools, like tiny catheters that sneak through a female panda’s cervix to place sperm directly into her uterus.

So far in America, six panda cubs have been produced by artificial insemination, including two from Mei Xiang. That’s one more than the number of the country’s naturally conceived cubs—and as Wildt points out, those cubs all come from the same super-compatible couple in San Diego. (No exact data is available for China’s natural vs. artificial breeding stats, Wildt says, because its zoos often follow successful natural mating sessions with artificial inseminations the next day to improve the chances of fertilization.)

Artificial insemination is particularly valuable for America’s pandas, along with all others outside of China’s well-populated breeding centers, because it has the potential to increase genetic diversity, which is essential for maintaining the captive population’s health as it expands. Mei Xiang has been artificially inseminated every year she has failed to mate with Tian Tian since 2005. This year, for the first time, she was inseminated with semen from two males, first with a fresh-frozen combination of Tian Tian’s sperm, and 12 hours later with some of Gao Gao’s semen stirred in as well, shipped frozen from San Diego. “Artificial insemination gives us the opportunity to mix things up in the absence of multiple males,” Aitken-Palmer says.

To strengthen Tian Tian for mating, the National Zoo keeps him active by putting treats around his yard for him to find. Photo courtesy of the National Zoo

According to Wildt, the National Zoo will continue to focus on artificial insemination for the foreseeable future. But natural breeding is the ultimate goal for the species, once zoos and breeding centers have large enough panda populations to depend on it, he says. The numbers are headed in the right direction; the bears are back to “self-sustaining,” which means no more giant pandas have to be brought into captivity, and scientists will have them under their care for at least the next 100 years. The Chinese are even beginning to reintroduce pandas into the wild (although with some difficulty).

“It’s really a great success story,” says Aitken-Palmer. “There aren’t many endangered animals we’ve been able to do this with.”

Now, everyone is waiting on Mei Xiang to add to the species’ growing numbers. Her first cub, Tai Shan, came in 2005, and the second, born last summer after years of disappointment, died from underdeveloped lungs after just six days. Another successful birth would help to heal the wounds of last year’s tragedy, says Juan Rodriguez, one of the National Zoo’s panda keepers.

It also would give Mei Xiang and Tian Tian’s Chinese owners a good reason to keep the pair together at the zoo instead of considering a different match, which has been an ongoing discussion.

Bandie Smith, the Zoo’s giant panda curator, says not to hold your breath for news on Mei Xiang’s pregnancy anytime soon. The staff might not know if Mei Xiang is pregnant until a cub pops out. Females build nests and cradle objects each year whether they are pregnant or not (the latter is called a “pseudo-pregnancy”), and the fetuses are so small that they often escape detection in ultrasounds. Pandas experience a phenomenon called delayed implantation, too, in which a fertilized egg floats around for a number of weeks—usually between 90 and 160 days—before implanting in the female’s uterus and beginning a short 40- to 50-day gestation period.

All this means that no one has a very exact idea of when a new cub would arrive—somewhere around mid-August, Smith says.

“Breeding pandas is a very protracted process, and it’s never a guarantee. That’s the frustrating part,” says Rodriguez. “The cool part is that you’re among people who are trying to keep a critically endangered species on the planet. If we can ensure their continuous path to recovery, then our great grandchildren could actually experience pandas in their natural habitat. You can’t beat that.”

Mei Xiang plays in the snow! Photo courtesy of the National Zoo

One cub surveys the course ahead. All photos by Leah Binkovitz

Andean bear cubs, Curt and Nicole, played in the rain for the first time in their new outdoor home. Before making their public debut Saturday May 11, the cubs got to know their space on a rainy Tuesday morning. Under the watchful eye of mother Billie Jean, the two cubs, born last December, took to the rocky walls and steep climbs. Staffer Craig Saffoe says this species has a particular fancy for heights and a flair for daring acrobatics that can sometimes leave visitors breathless.

“But I’ve never seen them fall,” says Saffoe. Curt and Nicole both took a few small tumbles as they tried out their mountaineering skills, but they seemed to be in good spirits bounding about the grass, tackling each other. Billie Jean was a bit less enthusiastic but still attentive.

The cubs were a big victory for the Zoo. Since 2005, only three litters of Andean bear cubs have survived longer than a week, two born to Billie Jean, and the mortality rate of Andean bear cubs in their first year is around 40 percent, according to the Zoo.

Saffoe says the cubs will likely come out around 10 each morning to play, but, just like kids at a park, he says, when the cubs start to crash, they’ll head back inside. The cubs first explored the enclosure in March after Billie Jean finally allowed them to leave the den. The Zoo staff then began baby-proofing the yard with extra hay bedding.

The cubs will make their debut just in time for Mother’s Day.

The two siblings had a bit of a competition going to see who could get up the tree first.

Not camera or crowd shy.

Saffoe says this mountain species loves to move.

The perfect paws for playing.

Getting in shape for the weekend rush.

Perfect for climbing and snacking.

Mom was on hand whenever the cubs needed to check in.

Just hanging out.

Family portrait.

Curious cubs.

Log vs. Bear

Home sweet home.

Sibling rivalry.

Out for a climb.

Hand to hand, paw to paw.

Bozie will go into quarantine for a minimum of 30 days upon her arrival at the National Zoo, per standard procedure. An expert team of elephant keepers, nutritionists and veterinarians will care for her. Following quarantine, Zoo staff will begin the process of introducing her to females Ambika and Shanthi and male Kandula. Photo courtesy of the National Zoo

The National Zoo’s three Asian elephants are about to get a new friend. Today, the Zoo announced the pending arrival of Bozie, a 37-year-old female Asian Elephant who will be on-loan from the Baton Rouge Zoo.

Baton Rogue recently decided to find a new home for Bozie after her last elephant companion, Judy, died of chronic gastrointestinal irritation from arthritis medication in March. Female elephants are social animals, so they are happiest and healthiest when living with others.

Judy had been at the Baton Rogue Zoo since 1974. Bozie, who was born in the wild in Sri Lanka, arrived at Baton Rogue in 1998 after living at other zoos.

The National Zoo has plenty of room to accommodate Bozie, now that the final major phase of its seven-year, $56 million renovation project of its Elephant Trails Habitat was completed in March. The Zoo is regarded as a leader in elephant research, particularly on Asian elephants, which are both less studied and far more endangered than their African relatives. (Around 30,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants are alive today, compared to around 400,000 African ones.)

“One of our major goals is to create an environment where elephants can live as a more natural social unit,” Marie Galloway, elephant manager at the National Zoo, said when the renovations were completed.

We look forward to welcoming Bozie when she arrives, date TBA.

Bozie paints a picture! Photo courtesy of the National Zoo

This little guy needs a name. Can you help? Photo by Mindy Babitz

UPDATE: The results are in. The Zoo’s new adorable sloth bear is now officially named Hank, a combination of his parents’ names—Hana and Francois. Voted most favorite on the Zoo’s Facebook page, winning 830 votes, the name Hank beat out the other two options Ravi (615 votes) and Bandar (219).

Born on December 19, 2012 and busy bonding with his mom ever since, the Zoo’s sloth bear cub is need of a name. The Zoo opened up its Facebook poll to fans May 1 to allow everyone to weigh in before noon on May 3. So, does the little cutie look like a Ravi, a Bandar or a Hank? You decide.

Because the cub was born in December just before the winter solstice, maybe Ravi, which means sun in the Hindi language, fits the furry creature. Or perhaps his adventurous spirit and mad climbing skills have earned him the name Bandar, the Hindi word for monkey. Or, in the tradition of Brangelina and Bennifer, perhaps a combo-name to honor his parents Hana and Francois is in order, hence, Hank.

We offer up these photos to help you make your selection.

What’s in a name, wonders this nameless cub. Photo by Barb Statas

What about Fluffy McFluffster? Photo by Mindy Babitz

If we name him after a monkey, will his mom get confused? Photo by Mindy Babitz

What’s your vote? Photo by Jen Zoon

He even eats cute. Photo by Jen Zoon

Secretary G. Wayne Clough testified before Congress today about the effects of sequestration on the institution. Photo by Ken Rahalm, courtesy of the Smithsonian

On April 16, Smithsonian Institution Secretary G. Wayne Clough testified before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about the impending effects of sequestration. Though the Obama administration had sought a $59 million budget increase for the Institution in fiscal 2014, this year Clough has to contend with a $41 million budget reduction due to sequestration. Gallery closings, fewer exhibitions, reduced educational offerings, loss of funding for research and cuts to the planning process of the under-construction National Museum of African American History and Culture were listed among the impacts of the sequestration.

Clough began his testimony: “Each year millions of our fellow citizens come to Washington to visit—for free—our great museums and galleries and the National Zoo, all of which are open every day of the year but one. Our visitors come with high aspirations to learn and be inspired by our exhibitions and programs.”

“It is my hope,” Clough told the committee, “that our spring visitors will not notice the impact of the sequestration.” Perhaps most noticeable would be the gallery closures, which, while they would not close entire museums, would restrict access to certain floors or spaces in the museums, unable to pay for sufficient security. Those changes would begin May 1, according to Clough.

Clough warned, however, that while these short-term measures will save in the near future, they might also entail long-term consequences. Unforeseen costs may arise in the form of diminished maintenance capabilities, for example. “Any delays in revitalization or construction projects will certainly result in higher future operating and repair costs,” Clough said.

This also threatens the Institution’s role as steward of thousands of historic and valuable artifacts–”Morse’s telegraph; Edison’s light bulb; the Salk vaccine; the 1865 telescope designed by Maria Mitchell, America’s first woman astronomer who discovered a comet; the Wright Flyer; Amelia Earhart’s plane; Louis Armstrong’s trumpet; the jacket of labor leader Cesar Chavez,” to name a few.

Around the Mall will keep the issue updated and tweet significant closures.

Last week, National Zoo officials spotted several black-crowned night herons roaming the property. Within two weeks, they expect to see hundreds more because the birds are the one species that come and go as they please at the Zoo. The black and white birds have been nesting there since 1889, before the Zoo was founded, and every year around mid-March, they fly in and visit until around mid-September.

Though the population is doing fine worldwide, in the mid-Atlantic region the status of the birds is threatened due to habitat loss. According to biologist Sara Hallager, the big draw that keeps the birds coming back to the Zoo year after year might be the plentiful free food and lush grounds.

At first, the breeding birds competed with the Zoo’s own collection of animals at the Bird House,  she says. But then staff began feeding the herons separately. Now, with daily 2 p.m. feedings, the visiting animals have actually become a bit of an attraction when they get their handouts out behind the Bird House.

These heron are much shorter than related species. Courtesy of the Zoo

Catch daily feedings at 2 p.m. behind the Bird House. Courtesy of the Zoo

The first scouts typically arrive in mid-March, returning with the group two weeks later. Around the Bird House, they can be seen building nests for the next generation. One month later, the chicks are born. The group stays through mid-September and disappear suddenly just before the chill in the Fall. They are believed to winter in southeastern states or even the Caribbean.

Other than the occasional false alarm when a visitor thinks that that perhaps one of the Zoo’s birds has escaped, the annual visit is a welcomed sight–the Zoo’s very own sign of spring on its way.

Shanti the elephant has been having the time of her life. In 2010, the National Zoo opened the first phase of Elephant Trails, a major renovation of its elephant habitat, and zookeepers allowed her to be the first to play in her home’s expanded yards. She was ecstatic. Now, the Zoo is set to open a new Elephant Community Center on Saturday, March 23, and Shanti again got a sneak preview.

“Shanti just loved every single moment of it,” says elephant manager Marie Galloway. “She came in and she explored every single nook and cranny.”

Shanti takes a drink! The Elephant Community Center has a wading pool with a shower that the elephants can activate.

The Elephant Community Center is the last major addition to the Zoo’s seven-year, $56 million renovation project, which vastly expands the roaming space, and also adds a barn and an exercise and research outpost for the Zoo’s three Asian elephants. (The exhibit now spans 8,943 square meters.) Inside the community center, elephants socialize and are cared for with state-of-the-art facilities, including a heated, sand-covered floor and a wading pool with a shower that can be activated by the elephants themselves. Interactive exhibits in the center showcase the Zoo’s research and explain the elephant’s physical traits, cognitive abilities and behaviors.

“One of our major goals of this project is to create an environment where elephants can live as a more natural social unit,” Galloway explains. “That means creating a multi-generational related herd of elephants, and comfortable space for more independent males to live here as well. We want to grow a family, not just open up an exhibit and fill it with elephants.”

Versatility is key to encouraging this socialization, Galloway says. The new environment is customizable and varied, with doors that open and close to modify spaces and exits to outdoor areas from every indoor facility. The design aims to provide elephants with as many options as possible to meet their social needs; they can get out of each other’s sight, be in sight of each other, but not in each other’s space, or cuddle up close if they are elephant best friends.

“You have to treat every single one of them as an individual. We want to be able to make everybody comfortable no matter what their social preferences are,” Galloway says.

Ultimately, she hopes that more comfortable elephants will give Zoo visitors a better elephant-watching experience. Visitors will need to spend more time tracking down the elephants in their expanded environment, but Galloway thinks what they find will be worth the extra effort. “If the elephants are enjoying themselves, the people are enjoying themselves,” she says.

Shanti plays in the sand! The Elephant Community Center has heated floors covered in 1.2 meters of sand.

Enjoyment, though, she stresses, is not the exhibit’s only end. The National Zoo is regarded as a leader in elephant research, particularly on Asian elephants, which are both less studied and far more endangered than their African relatives. (Around 30,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants are alive today, compared to around 400,000 African ones.) Elephant Trails carries a strong message about the problems elephants face and what visitors can do to protect them. While the Zoo’s staff has always made an effort to convey this message, Galloway says, the new community center uses its displays to call visitors to action: “You can get that message without seeing a single person or elephant.”

But don’t miss seeing the elephants! Here are more pictures of them:

One of the elephants on the “Elephant Trek” exercise trail.

Shanti’s son Kandula hanging out in one of the yards.

Elephant games!

Shanti the Asian elephant plays with a tire in the National Zoo’s new Elephant Community Center, which opens on Saturday, March 23. All photos courtesy of the National Zoo

Smithsonian in snow, circa 1977. Photo by Smithsonian Institution

Looking for something to do today, while the snowy weather conditions persist? The Smithsonian museums will be open for business today. But the National Zoo will be closed Wednesday, March 6, 2013.

Plan your visit, using our convenient Tours app, a free download is available here.

With their numbers in the wild endangered and dwindling, two healthy Andean bear cubs are a welcome addition to the species. Photo by Beth Branneu, courtesy of the National Zoo

The National Zoo‘s pair of eight-week-old Andean bear cubs received a clean bill of health yesterday, February 20, after a thorough physical exam. The cubs had already marked a significant milestone for the species when they made it to seven days–something only one other captive litter in the country had achieved since 2005 and that was the National Zoo’s own 2010 litter, Chaska and Bernardo.

Weighing in at 10.1 and 9.2 pounds, the two cubs will stay with their mother Billie Jean until their public debut later this spring, likely in early May. In the meantime, they got a full examination as well as some routine vaccinations. Though it’s still difficult to ascertain the sex of each at this point, caretakers think it’s a brother and sister duo.

Great cats and bear keeper Craig Saffoe was part of the 14-person team that helped with the checkup. Even though the cubs are small, he says, they can still be a handful, squirming and sqwuaking. “It was insanely loud in there,” says Saffoe, “one of our vets was wearing earplugs.”

“They’ve seen their mother and each other and that’s it, so it kind of reminds me of what it must be like for people who say that they’ve been abducted by aliens,” says Saffoe. Nonetheless, the checkup went smoothly.

It appears a medical checkup has never been so much fun. Photo by Beth Branneu, courtesy of the National Zoo

Animal Keeper Karen Abbott holds one of the 8-week-old cubs during its first veterinary exam. Photo by Beth Branneu, courtesy of the National Zoo

And the cub seems to be practicing some dance moves. Photo by Beth Branneu, courtesy of the National Zoo

And posing for closeups. Photo by Beth Branneu, courtesy of the National Zoo

Staff (and the world) will continue to watch the cubs interact with their mother via the Cub Cam, gathering useful breeding information for other facilities hoping to replicate the Zoo’s success.

Though the two cubs have yet to be named (a process that falls to the Zoo’s director to oversee), Saffoe says he’s taken to referring to them as “broken mask” and “full mask” for their distinct facial markings. “Their father [Nikki] was, of course, euthanized last year due to cancer so there’s a bit of a hope we’ll be able to commemorate him,” he adds.

As for the cub cuteness competition pitting pandas against Andean cubs, Saffoe says it isn’t even close. “I’m biased, man. I think there is no bear on the planet cuter than an Andean bear, especially when you get to see them face to face.” He says, “they’ve got the perfect little face, they’ve got these neat little markings.” But Saffoe concedes the point that, “there aren’t too many cubs that aren’t cute.”

Scenes from the den show quality family time hanging out with mom. Appearing here is “full mask.”

Not a bad way to travel if you can swing it. This time, “broken mask,” so nicknamed because the white fur above the eyes is briefly interrupted by black fur, gets a ride.

Valentine’s Day–it’s not just for humans. Courtesy of the National Zoo

This Valentine’s Day, take a cue from our furry friends and bond with the best of them. The National Zoo is spreading the love this year with their very own “Critter Cupids,” custom cards  whose proceeds go to the wonderful animals that inspired them.

We got the inside scoop from caretakers and Zoo officials about all the many ways animals say, Happy Valentine’s Day.

Animal puns are the most romantic gift you can give, according to nine out of ten Zoo creatures. Courtesy of the National Zoo

Sea lions, Rebecca Miller: “Our sea lions often greet each other by touching noses or blowing on each other. They greet us this way too sometimes when we go out to feed or train.”

“They are also very playful with each other and will play tag or tug of war with objects that we give them. They have no real concept of personal space, often piling on top of each other when they sleep and using each other’s bodies as pillows.”

“Our two older unrelated females, Summer and Calli, were rescued as pups within a few days of each other and were raised together. They used to suck on each other’s ear flaps when they were younger–not so much anymore.”

“And they always prefer to be together. They’ll get antsy and easily stressed if separated from each other for long amounts of time.”

Take a tip from the National Zoo’s giant pandas, a hug can go a long way. Photo by Mehgan Murphy, courtesy of the National Zoo

Giant pandas, Juan Rodriguez: “That shot of Tian Tian and Mei Xiang is the initial stages of the mating season. It usually ends with them rolling around and then their uncoordinated mating attempt (LOL).”

Great cats, Craig Saffoe: “Big cats (and small ones too) will head-rub with each other.  To us it looks like “awwww, they’re in love,” in reality it is likely a way to express hormones as they have scent glands above their eyes.  Looks cute though.”

Otters, Devin Murphy, Zoo communications team: “Our otters are very playful and they do everything together. When they run around their habitat it looks like one giant moving ball of fur. You can also hear them vocalize if you listen closely.”

Red pandas, Stacey Tabellario: “Red panda breeding season in the northern hemisphere is right around Valentine’s day. In fact, in 2011 we saw breeding ON Valentine’s day that produced two female cubs who are now grown and living at other zoos.”

“During breeding season, we see an increase in play and hear a vocalization called twittering. These red panda wrestling matches and soft high pitched sounds are how the red pandas find each other and pair up for breeding.”

Let your horse sleep in today. Smithsonian museums don’t open until noon due to weather. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian museums in the Washington, D.C. area as well as the National Zoo will open at noon Monday, due to inclement weather.

An early morning round of freezing rain left roads slick with ice as federal workers and schools around the area got off to a slow start. Canada would like to remind us, via Huffington Post, that cold weather has some perks too, eh? Like making it more difficult for some viruses and bacteria to live. Plus you can effectively “wash” your bed linens by hanging them out in the cold. We’d recommend waiting for the rain to stop, though, before you give that a try.

The Apps for Apes program introduces a new kind of Sistine Chapel moment, as orangutans reach to play with iPads. Photo by Elliott Fabrizio, National Zoo

A new program at the National Zoo that got its start at several other zoos introduces great apes to the many wonders of digital play on Apple iPads. The program began last year after one team member’s family donated an iPad and has since grown to include ten different apps that allow the six orangutans to play music, draw and practice cognitive games, according to the Zoo.

The apps are purely for the animals’ enjoyment, says the great ape keeper Becky Malinsky. “It’s just another form of enrichment for them.” She says it didn’t take much for the orangutans to transition to the touchscreen technology since they had been involved in cognitive studies in the past that utilized the same principles.

In addition to the music and drawing apps, they also have the option to use a mirror application that shows them a reflection of themselves or watch digital fish swim around a koi pond. “Some of them seem mesmerized just sitting there and watching that one,” says Malinsky.

Once each animal is done, the keeper moves on to the next one. One female in particular, says Malinsky, “likes the interaction with the keeper,” pushing the iPad back toward the individual “suggesting it’s their turn to play now.”

“With the iPad, we’re hoping to tap less into the critical thinking outlet and more into a creative outlet,” says animal keeper Erin Stromberg. “If they’re engaged in an app, we’ll keep going. If not, they have the choice to walk away.”

Malinsky hopes to, when wireless capabilities allow, use the FaceTime application to allow the orangutans to communicate with animals in other zoos or even with keepers they used to know but who have moved to new institutions. She says the animals’ interactions with technology show just how similar to humans they can be and further strengthens the case and cause of orangutan conservation worldwide.

Photo by Elliott Fabrizio, National Zoo

Richard Zimmerman of Orangutan Outreach joins National Zoo keeper Erin Stromberg to watch orangutans Bonnie (L) and Batang (R) use Apps for Apes. Photo by Jen Zoon, National Zoo

Everybody wants to play. Photo by Jen Zoon, National Zoo

Today, President Barack Obama will take the oath of office for his second term. Courtesy of the White House, 2009

Inauguration day, it’s finally here, along with millions of visitors looking to take in some uniquely D.C.-culture. While our special presidents tour from our visitors guide app will keep you exploring in your spare-time, this post is all about the when, where and how of January 21. Plus, a few select events happening around the Smithsonian, you know, in between the whole inauguration thing.

Hours

On Inauguration Day, January 21, Smithsonian museums on the National Mall are open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. A few museums will open early—the Castle opens at 7:30 a.m., Sackler Gallery, Freer Gallery, Hirshhorn and African Art open at 8 a.m. Mall entrances on the south side will be closed. Visitors will be asked to use the Independence Ave. entrances.

The American Indian Museum and the Renwick Gallery are closed January 21.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery are open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Luce Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Lunder Conservation Center will be closed Sunday, January 20.

Street Closings

Most streets around the National Mall—including Independence and Constitution avenues and Jefferson and Madison drives—will be closed Monday, January 21.

Metro

The Archives, Smithsonian and Mt. Vernon Square stations will be closed Sunday, January 20 to Monday, January 21, midnight to 5:30 p.m. All other stations will open Monday, January 21 at 4 a.m.

Parking

No Parking on the National Mall after 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 20.

Restrooms

All museums, open to the public during designated hours, have accessible restrooms

Read more.

You know how it goes: Now that you’ve been sworn in, what are you going to do? I’m going to the Smithsonian! Courtesy of Wikimedia

Select Events

Live broadcast of the swearing-in ceremony in Flag Hall in American History Museum, beginning at 11:30 a.m. A live broadcast will also begin at 11:30 a.m. at the African Art Museum.

Inaugural theme walk-in tours, Monday, January 21, 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the American Art Museum.

For “Super Sonic Weekend: Sounds and Songs of the American Presidency” (all day Monday), Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is streaming audio recordings related to the American presidency, from a 1757 campaign song used by George Washington in his first race for the Virginia House of Burgesses, to presidential speeches and much more.

Tour America’s Presidents at the National Portrait Gallery at 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Select Exhibits

At the National Portrait Gallery: ”Portrait of President Barack Obama” The original artwork, a hand-finished collage by artist Shepard Fairey, from President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign is on view January 19 – 22. The work is joined by two larger-than-life tapestry portraits of the president by artist Chuck Close.

At the American Indian Museum: ”A Century Ago: They Came as Sovereign Leaders” This photo exhibition focuses on President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1905 inaugural parade and the six great chiefs who participated in the parade arriving with their own purposes in mind and representing the needs of their people.

At the National Museum of African American History and Culture Gallery in the American History Museum: Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863, and the March on Washington, 1963″ In 2013 the country will commemorate two events that changed the course of the nation-the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 March on Washington. Standing as milestone moments in the grand sweep of American history, these achievements were the culmination of decades of struggles by individuals – both famous and unknown – who believed in the American promise that this nation was dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.”

For a step-by-step guide to the greatest presidential hits in the collections, download the FREE app for your smartphone.

Be in the know with our free visitors app, specially made for the inauguration.

The votes have been cast and counted, the campaign offices have been packed up. But things are just getting started in D.C. as the city prepares for a rush of excitement for Barack Obama’s second inauguration, January 21. More than a million people sought a spot near the Capitol to witness his first inauguration in 2009. For his second, Obama is sure to bring out the crowds again and all of D.C. is gearing up for inauguration day, from hotels to restaurants, including Ben’s Chili, which expects to serve 1,000 gallons of its famous chili the week of Obama’s swearing in, according to NBC.

You might not be running for office any time soon, but you can still win big this weekend with the help of our editors.

Conveniently situated around the Mall, the Smithsonian offers a wealth of presidential pomp and history to help get you up to speed for the big day, from Bill Clinton’s saxophone to Thomas Jefferson’s desk. Since this is the land of the free after all, we’ll be offering our custom inauguration-themed app for most smartphones for free with step-by-step tours to the best of the collections and exhibits. The tour includes stately highlights at the American History Museum, Natural History Museum, American Indian Museum, National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum. From the gowns of inaugural balls past to the hall of presidential portraits, the tour will get you geared up for the festivities.

Info, tours and artifacts, all at your fingertips.

Try on some truly presidential duds with our digital postcard featuring George Washington’s uniform.

Museum by museum, step by step, you can’t take a wrong turn here.

A must-see stop on the tour: Shepard Fairey’s iconic portrait of Barack Obama at the National Portrait Gallery.

On Jan. 21, all Smithsonian museums will operate on their normal schedules, with the following exceptions:
•             The Renwick will be closed.
•             The National Museum of the American Indian will be closed because of its proximity to the swearing-in ceremony.
•             The Castle will open at 7:30 a.m.
•             The Hirshhorn, the Ripley Center, the National Museum of African Art, and the Freer and Sackler Galleries will open at 8 a.m.

The museums on the south side of the National Mall will be accessible from Independence Avenue only. The museums on the north side of the National Mall will be accessible from both Madison Drive and Constitution Avenue.

More good news, the bathrooms will be available. And if you’re feeling peckish, you can get food at the Air and Space Museum (McDonald’s McCafe, Boston Market and Donato’s Pizza), Natural History Museum (Atrium Cafe, Cafe Natural and Fossil Cafe), American History (Stars and Stripes Cafe and Constitution Cafe) and the Smithsonian Castle’s Cafe and Coffee Bar.

For more information on the when, where and how to get there, view our inauguration at the Smithsonian page.

And if the inauguration tour leaves you curious about what else the Smithsonian has to offer, upgrade to our full visitors guide for just 99 cents. The app includes interactive postcards (starring you wearing the Hope Diamond or Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers, or other fun items from the collections) as well as custom tours for history buffs, art lovers and even a three-hour tour for the brave of heart and swift of feet. One of our own former interns tried to conquer the tall task: