Wild Inside the National Zoo

Bao Bao, the baby panda at Smithsonian's National Zoo, is celebrating her first birthday. Giant pandas are endangered and less than 2,000 remain on Earth, making Bao Bao's very existence special and the act of raising her all the more critical. Track her evolution with her caretakers, from a scrawny 4.5 oz. cub to a playful 40 lb. bear who spends her days scaling trees and devouring sweet potatoes. And learn about the bittersweet transition that Bao Bao will undergo when she leaves her mother's care and grows into independent adulthood.

It's a lion baby boom! Within two months, six new cubs are born at Smithsonian's National Zoo, tripling the size of its pride. In the wild, lion populations have declined nearly 50% over the last 20 years. The zoo's pride is crucial in growing their numbers and teaching scientists how to best protect nature's most-social cats. Join their caretakers, who walk you through the cubs' development and the importance of meatball training. Then learn about the pride's wide-ranging personalities and the challenges of striking the right big-cat balance.

Each summer, Smithsonian's National Zoo is flooded with calls from visitors reporting large, brown birds on the loose. What they don't know is these supposed fugitives, black-crowned night-herons, are visitors just like them. The elusive winged tourists have flocked to the zoo for over 100 years, breeding on its grounds and stealing its food for six months at a time. Then, they vanish. Now, join the zoo's caretakers as they attempt to track the mysterious herons' migratory patterns, a crucial step in better understanding these secretive birds.

When two red panda babies, Henry and Tink, are born in critical condition at Smithsonian's National Zoo, caretakers make the crucial decision to hand-rear them. There are approximately 10,000 red pandas left in the wild, and very little is known about the species, heightening the pressure to save these two cubs' lives. Take a behind-the-scenes look at how their caretakers are raising them and see what incredible, vibrant animals they're becoming as they approach adulthood.

Meet Christine, a young Przewalski's horse at Smithsonian's National Zoo who represents hope for an endangered species once extinct in the wild. These Mongolian animals are the only undomesticated horse breed in existence, and Christine, the first to be born from artificial insemination, is a scientific breakthrough in conservation. Join us as caretakers at the National Zoo walk us through her development. Then learn how their work helps strengthen the population of 500 Przewalski's horses currently thriving in their native Mongolian habitat.

Just because reptiles are cold-blooded animals doesn't mean they're devoid of personalities or feelings. Join caretakers at Smithsonian's National Zoo as they introduce us to the most charismatic creatures in the reptile house... and the very particular pampering they receive daily. We'll see how a 100-year-old tortoise gets a pedicure, meet a picky Grand Cayman iguana who allows only certain caretakers to bathe him, and learn the skin care regimen for the zoo's sole Komodo dragon.