Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Judge Throws Out WTU Suit Over Teacher Layoffs
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
Morning Roundup: Rain Won't Go Away Edition
This is what a baby Asian elephant looks like. Wouldn't you like to have some of this out of control adorableness? The Associated Press reports that if all goes well, the National Zoo could be getting one of its very own late next year.
The zoo conducted two artificial insemination procedures on Shanthi the elephant this week. They'll be monitoring her hormones for the next ten weeks to see if it worked, with the hopes that 20 to 22 months from now (the typical elephant gestation period), a face like this will greet animal cam obsessives and, eventually, zoo visitors.
We're trying not to get our hopes up too high, as the zoo tried unsuccessfully to impregnate Shanthi in April. Still, it'll be hard to not daydream about the possibility all day, and harder still not to jinx the entire business by thinking up names for a theoretical baby elephant. The last Asian elephant birth at the zoo was of Kandula in 2001.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Terrible idea. I love the National Zoo but is in no way a proper facility for Elephants. Their large African mammal facility is one of the most depressing sites and look like it's from the 1800s. Elephants need way more room than a small urban zoo can provide.
If the National Zoo's Director, John Barry, has his way, there will be a major restructuring of the zoo to host an entire herd of Asian elephants. How is this possible in a relatively small urban zoo? Good question. Several species are being considered to be moved off of exhibit to make room for his dreamed of "Elephant Trail" (see the National Zoo's documentation on Future Plans on their site).
No worries for the panda fans- those guys make too much money for the zoo to be threatened by this plan. However, a whole host of species including most primates (gorillas, orangutans, etc.) are being considered for removal to make room. It seems the African species are at most risk (giraffes, hippos, gorillas, etc.). The giraffes are already gone. Happy the Hippo will likely be removed. It's very sad to think our proudly diverse city will have a zoo lacking any such diversity (leaving it very heavily biased towards Asian species with Asia Trail and the possible herd of Asian elephants).
What does John Barry have against African species? And really, even if they made the entire Rock Creek Park into an "Elephant Trail", it would still be but a fraction of the area that a herd of Asian elephants would wander in the wild during migration.
That's one happy-looking elephant.
But I agree with Lionel and dcist reader, this zoo doesn't have a good track record of providing the right habitat for elephants - with two deaths in the last eight years. If they expand their territory first and then get Shanthi pregnant, fine, but why not just move away from the elephants instead and go with something more appropriate for the limited confines - like turtles and sloths. People won't want to see unhappy elephants.
i don't think people are going to *want* to see turtles and sloths --at least not enough to make a special trip there...
Does anyone else think that baby elephant is kind of creepy looking? Not nearly as cute as the baby elephants in cartoons.
Although baby elephants are ADOREABLE, I agree with the previous posters. The elephant exhibit right now is depressing as hell.
I had to leave the "elephant" house my first trip to the zoo because the poor things were just crammed in there. I agree with everyone else, you shouldn't house animals if you cannot provide enough space for them.
I would however take a special trip to see a sloth, but I am not a big fan of the 2-toed sloths, not as cute as the 3-toed ones.
Artificially inseminating an animal in captivity strikes me as unnecessarily increasing the net suffering of the world. Hell, going to Asia and stealing some poor mother elephant's newborn would be less cruel.
Oh yeah, that makes sense. Elephants roam, on average, 30 miles in their territory. The National Zoo ain't that big for EVERY acre in it's "hope to be, next to build, tram accessable, wanna be theme park".
Elephants need a natural refuge, not a zoo.
Barry is a media-hound suck-up and needs to remember the true heroes of all zoos. The animals who are trapped in unnatural settings.