The Latest Breaking News from the National Zoo

Panda diplomacy: Xi announces 2 giant pandas for Atlanta zoo in US

Chinese President Xi Jinping brought a softer touch to his meeting with US President Donald Trump and other White House officials on Thursday, announcing that two giant pandas would soon head to Atlanta as an “envoy of friendship”.

The Times of India · Sep 24

Panda Diplomacy: A Mayor’s Quest To Bring Pandas From China To Hawaiʻi

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi is working to bring pandas to the Honolulu Zoo

The Independent UK · Aug 31

Why Animal Play Is Survival Training: The Biology Behind How Species Learn Through Fun

What Biologists Actually Mean by PlayThe word gets used loosely, so the science tightened it. Gordon Burghardt, a biologist at the University of Tennessee, spent years building a precise five-criteria definition: play must be voluntary, pleasurable, structurally similar to serious behavior but exaggerated or incomplete, initiated by the animal itself,…

Times Life · Jul 22

‘HELP!!!!’: Lawyer’s to-the-point filing gets her client released from jail and prompts judge to slam DC officials

A D.C. judge responded to the plea for help with a scathing filing slamming local and federal officials

The Independent UK · Aug 28, 2025

Pallas's cat: One of the world's oldest felines that stands on its bushy tail to keep its paws warm

Pallas's cat is a small wild cat native to Central Asia with short legs and dense fur, making it look bigger than it really is — but the yelps it makes in stressful situations betray its size.

LiveScience · Aug 23, 2025

Pandas and politics − from World War II to the Cold War, zoos have always been ideological

President Donald Trump’s sweeping range of more than 130 executive orders and other decisions aim to upend everything from long-standing immigration policy to the control of a performing arts center.

The Conversation · May 1, 2025

Trump Targets Smithsonian Institute in 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' Executive Order

President Donald Trump has taken aim at the Smithsonian Institution in his latest executive order, titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History."

Latin Times · Mar 30, 2025

Trump Order Targets 'Improper Ideology' At Famed US Museums

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to remove "improper ideology" from the famed Smithsonian Museums -- and the National Zoo -- expanding his conservative clampdown on cultural institutions.

International Business Times · Mar 28, 2025

Trump breaks with 175 years of Smithsonian tradition and pushes for more control to rid it of ‘anti-American ideology’

Trump to overhaul the world’s largest museum, education and research complex to ‘restore truth and sanity to American history’

The Independent UK · Mar 27, 2025

‘Pandamonium’ as giant pandas from China make debut at DC’s National Zoo

Three-year-old bears Qing Bao and Bao Li can be seen on the zoo’s ‘giant panda cam’ after arriving in US in October

The Guardian - US · Jan 24, 2025