National Zoo

(Newser) - The National Zoo is adding a new elephant sanctuary, reports the Washington Post, and the move is putting its sole Nile hippopotamus, Happy, out on the street in a year or so. The zoo will hold onto its pygmy hippos, but is more committed to Asian elephant programs. "You...

(Newser) - The National Zoo in DC says panda mother Mei Xiang is showing a spike in hormone levels, a sign that she might be pregnant again. Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated in March with semen from Tian Tian, the zoo's male giant panda. Hormone test results indicate Mei Xiang will either...

(Newser) - Actors Bo Derek, Harrison Ford, and Robert Duvall helped the World Bank kick off a tiger-preservation campaign yesterday in Washington, CNN reports, with efforts to save the endangered species' habitats atop the list. Derek, who works with the US State Department to fight trafficking, says the tiger initiative should stem...

(Newser) - With heart disease nearly epidemic among America’s captive gorilla population, zookeepers are trying to train the great apes to submit to the human medical procedures that could save their lives. But getting a gorilla to sit still for a blood test is a taxing problem, one the National Zoo...