The Big Feed

Meet three Giant Pandas: Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and one-year-old cub Bao Bao. The nutritional needs of this panda family pose a unique challenge for zoo staff. But can Bao Bao’s first birthday be celebrated with cake?

Follow a day at the Smithsonian National Zoo as staff feed a rambunctious group of teenage lions, plan the diet for an blind elderly sea lion with health challenges, and contemplate the task of raising a healthy red panda cub.

Go behind the scenes of North America’s largest zoo kitchen at the Smithsonian National Zoo. How are diets prepared for carnivorous komodo dragons, prey-devouring grey wolves, and 200 pound vegetarian orangutans?

Explore the labour-intensive agricultural operations at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Acres of hay and bamboo are grown to help meet the needs of big eaters like the gorillas and bison, while also providing enrichment to a trio of lemurs.

Providing enrichment often goes beyond providing food. See how staff at the Smithsonian National Zoo enhance the lives of otters, siamang gibbons, and sumatran tigers through presenting opportunities to play with puzzles, hunt for prey, and forage for food items.

Watch as zoo staff must focus their energy on two herds of asian elephants after one of the herds arrives from another zoo. Can food help these elephant families bond?