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Off the beaten path at the National Zoo: The reptiles and beyond

Kristi King | kking@wtop.com
Kelley Vlahos | kvlahos@WTOP.com

July 15, 2016, 5:00 AM

Here’s WTOP’s Kristi King in an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the Reptile Discovery Center at the National Zoo. In this video, she is with assistant curator Matt Evans and an endangered spider tortoise.
Matt Evans, assistant curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center, breaks down the reptile menu in a behind-the-scenes interview with WTOP. (WTOP/Kristi King)
While it may not be the Ritz, the National Zoo serves up some great salads for its turtles. (WTOP/Kristi King)
Tortoise salads consist of different kinds of leafy greens with added hay. Depending on what a creature eats in the wild, salads also might include mushrooms and/or worms. “It’s a big mixture of a lot of different things that are very nutritious for them,” Evans noted.
(WTOP/Kristi King)
WTOP/Kristi King

The D.C. area has one of the most diverse populations of salamanders on the planet.  “They’re as American as apple pie,” said Evans. (WTOP/Kelley Vlahos) (WTOP/Kristi King)

The Green Salamander is just one of the reptiles found in the zoo's Jewels of Appalachia exhibit in the Reptile Discovery Center (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
The green salamander is just one of the amphibians found in the zoo’s Jewels of Appalachia exhibit in the Reptile Discovery Center. (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
Courtesy of the National Zoo
Evans says the venomous Taylor’s Cantil — a snake of Central America in the case he’s examining — has beautiful red splotches similar to Copperhead snakes in the eastern U.S. (WTOP/Kristi King)
WTOP/Kristi King
In addition to the personal experience of seeing creatures up close, zoos try to educate people by giving them fun facts, context and perspective on wildlife they're observing. (National Zoo)
In addition to providing the personal experience of seeing creatures up close, zoos try to educate people by giving them fun facts, context and perspective on wildlife they’re observing. (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
Courtesy of the National Zoo
incubation are adjusted in the wine cooler to mimic winter. (WTOP/Kristi King)
The National Zoo keeps a wine cooler on hand to help hatch spider tortoise eggs. In the wild, the eggs incubate over multiple seasons. In captivity, incremental temperature fluctuations during incubation are adjusted in the wine cooler to mimic winter. (WTOP/Kristi King)
WTOP/Kristi King
Krista and Avery Gollehon are visiting the Smithsonian National Zoo from Chilhowie, Virginia – a small town along Interstate 81 near the North Carolina border. “I wanna see another one,” little Avery exclaimed to her mother after watching a multi-foot long snake rise up, pressed against the glass to follow Krista’s teasing finger. (WTOP/Kristi King)
WTOP/Kristi King
The Cuban Crocodile is one of the most critically endangered crocodiles in the world. "They live in freshwater swamps, so they've got a very specific niche - a very specific habitat," Evans said. (WTOP/Kristi King)
The Cuban crocodile is one of the most critically endangered crocodiles in the world. “They live in freshwater swamps, so they’ve got a very specific niche — a very specific habitat,” Evans said. (WTOP/Kristi King)
WTOP/Kristi King
“They’re one of the more aggressive species of crocodilians,” Evans said about the Cuban crocodile. (WTOP/Kristi King) (WTOP/Kristi King)
Don’t tap on the glass, says Smithsonian National Zoological Park Communications Specialist Jen Zoon, responding to some teens who were trying to get the reptiles’ attention that way earlier. “You could actually end up scaring the animal.” Here, Krista and Avery Gollehon are merely pointing on their visit to the Reptile Discovery Center. (WTOP/Kristi King)
WTOP goes behind the scenes in the frog room at the Reptile Discovery Center. The last time a Panamanian golden frog was spotted in the wild was 2009. “We believe them to be functionally extinct,” Matt Evans told WTOP. “There might be one or two out there, but not enough to keep the population going.” (WTOP/Kristi King) (WTOP/Kristi King)
The Panamanian Golden Frog is just one of the endangered amphibians in the Reptile Discovery Center (WTOP/Kristi King)
The Panamanian golden frog is actually a toad. The species is functionally extinct, and the National Zoo is one of dozens of zoos breeding the creatures as part of a “species survival plan.” (WTOP/Kristi King)
WTOP/Kristi King
TIGHT SECURITY: "The safety of our animal care staff, animals, and visitors is top priority at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo," said Zoon. "Part of ensuring that safety includes having a series of locks so that our animal enclosures, food preparation areas, and animal care staff offices are secured." (WTOP/ Kristi King)
“The safety of our animal care staff, animals and visitors is top priority at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo,” said Zoon. “Part of ensuring that safety includes having a series of locks so that our animal enclosures, food preparation areas and animal care staff offices are secured.” (WTOP/ Kristi King)
WTOP/ Kristi King
Eight-week-old Allen's swamp monkey Zawadi is on the move. Over the past few weeks, biologist Becky Malinsky has watched the baby—whose name means "gift" in Swahili—become more independent. Zawadi has splashed in the water, sampled mom's food, and she's even hitched a ride on one of the Schmidt's red-tailed monkeys. (Courtesy of National Zoo)
Eight-week-old Allen’s swamp monkey Zawadi is on the move at the National Zoo. Over the past few weeks, biologist Becky Malinsky has watched the baby — whose name means “gift” in Swahili — become more independent. Zawadi has splashed in the water, sampled mom’s food and even hitched a ride on one of the Schmidt’s red-tailed monkeys. (Courtesy of National Zoo)
Courtesy of National Zoo
The fennec fox is the smallest fox in the world, weighing 2 to 3 pounds and the length is its body ranging from 9 to 16 inches. They have thick fur which keeps them warm during frigid cold nights in the desert as well as protects them from the heat of the day. (Courtesy of National Zoo)
The fennec fox is the smallest fox in the world, weighing 2 to 3 pounds and its body ranging from 9 to 16 inches. They have thick fur which keeps them warm during frigid cold nights in the desert and protects them from the heat of the day. (Courtesy of National Zoo)
Courtesy of National Zoo
The arapaima is found in the Amazon and Orinoco river drainage of South America, and you can see them at the National Zoo. Individual arapaima are typically 6 to 7 feet long, but can reach 8 feet or more. It is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. (Courtesy of National Zoo)
Courtesy of National Zoo
Two-year-old Stanley crane Alice seems to enjoy participating in daily demonstrations with keepers and zoo visitors.
Her situation is a unique one. Her sibling hatched first, and their parents devoted all of their attention to her sibling. Keepers placed the abandoned egg in an incubator, and Alice hatched July 7, 2014. Her parents would reject her if she was put in their enclosure, so hand-raising Alice was her only chance for survival. (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
Courtesy of the National Zoo
About 35 years ago, a naval researcher traveled to Iceland to look for seals. He arrived at a pool with seal pups in it, put on his rain suit, got on his belly and approached them. Most of the seals stayed away, but a few came up to him. These curious pups were, he thought, more likely to cooperate with the training he had in mind. Two of those pups, just six months old at the time, were later to become the Smithsonian National Zoo’s gray seals. This one is “Selkie,” a female who the zoo describes as “great at retrieving items in her pool—but she’s not always eager to please … If sea lions are like dogs, then seals are more like cats. They do their own thing.” (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
Courtesy of the National Zoo
The zoo houses two bald eagles in American Trail. Their daily diet? Dead rats and chicks sprinkled with a vitamin and mineral supplement. (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
Courtesy of the National Zoo
Our survival depends directly upon the health of our global ecosystems. Coral covers only about 0.2 percent of the Earth’s surface, yet coral reefs support 25 percent of all marine life with more density of life in reefs than any in other ocean habitat.
Our survival depends directly upon the health of our global ecosystems. Coral covers only about 0.2 percent of the Earth’s surface, yet coral reefs support 25 percent of all marine life, with more density of life in reefs than any in other ocean habitat. (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
Courtesy of the National Zoo
(1/22)
While it may not be the Ritz, the National Zoo serves up some great salads for its turtles. (WTOP/Kristi King)
The Green Salamander is just one of the reptiles found in the zoo's Jewels of Appalachia exhibit in the Reptile Discovery Center (Courtesy of the National Zoo)
In addition to the personal experience of seeing creatures up close, zoos try to educate people by giving them fun facts, context and perspective on wildlife they're observing. (National Zoo)
incubation are adjusted in the wine cooler to mimic winter. (WTOP/Kristi King)
The Cuban Crocodile is one of the most critically endangered crocodiles in the world. "They live in freshwater swamps, so they've got a very specific niche - a very specific habitat," Evans said. (WTOP/Kristi King)
The Panamanian Golden Frog is just one of the endangered amphibians in the Reptile Discovery Center (WTOP/Kristi King)
TIGHT SECURITY: "The safety of our animal care staff, animals, and visitors is top priority at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo," said Zoon. "Part of ensuring that safety includes having a series of locks so that our animal enclosures, food preparation areas, and animal care staff offices are secured." (WTOP/ Kristi King)
Eight-week-old Allen's swamp monkey Zawadi is on the move. Over the past few weeks, biologist Becky Malinsky has watched the baby—whose name means "gift" in Swahili—become more independent. Zawadi has splashed in the water, sampled mom's food, and she's even hitched a ride on one of the Schmidt's red-tailed monkeys. (Courtesy of National Zoo)
The fennec fox is the smallest fox in the world, weighing 2 to 3 pounds and the length is its body ranging from 9 to 16 inches. They have thick fur which keeps them warm during frigid cold nights in the desert as well as protects them from the heat of the day. (Courtesy of National Zoo)
Our survival depends directly upon the health of our global ecosystems. Coral covers only about 0.2 percent of the Earth’s surface, yet coral reefs support 25 percent of all marine life with more density of life in reefs than any in other ocean habitat.

WASHINGTON — There’s more going on at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo than giant pandas and lions. WTOP visited the zoo to give you a behind-the-scenes look at creatures off the beaten path.

Many of the animals born and bred at the zoo are genetically valuable for the preservation of their species. “Every species is important. As we lose more species, it’s got a cascading effect,” said biologist Matt Evans, assistant curator of reptiles and amphibians at National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center. “It affects how the ecosystem works.”

The zoo is working to address numerous global conservation challenges. There’s a fungus-borne illness, for example, called amphibian chytrid that has devastated nearly 100 frog species worldwide. “We are doing a lot of research with the fungus, trying to figure out how frogs might be able to build up an immune response and resistance to it,” Evans said.

Worldwide, one-third to one-half of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction.

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November 22, 2024 | What leads to a job playing with crocs and snakes? The National Zoo’s Matt Evans explains. (Teta Alim)

Kristi King

Kristi King is a veteran reporter who has been working in the WTOP newsroom since 1990. She covers everything from breaking news to consumer concerns and the latest medical developments.

kking@wtop.com

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