Check Out Adorable Animal Snaps From The Smithsonian Zoo!

There are many adorable animals at the Smithsonian Zoo, but not everyone has time to head to the zoo or the ability to travel to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, located in Washington, D.C.

Fortunately, there are dozens upon dozens of adorable animal photos on the zoo’s official Instagram page. Just take a look at some of the adorable animal photos below!

In the caption, the zoo wrote, “☀️🚿🧊 If you have visited the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in the late spring and summer, then you know it can get hot, muggy and buggy here in Washington, D.C.!”

The zoo engages in enrichment activities to help the tigers stay cool in the heat, especially as the east coast gets hit with a heat wave.

Even the elephants like splashing themselves to stay cool in the summer!

Earlier this week, the zoo reportedly that they welcomed a female white-named crane chick that hatched early last month.

They revealed that the young chick is the fifth offspring of her mother, Brenda, who is 17 years old! Her father, Eddie, is 23 years old. If that wasn’t impressive enough, this is the 49th chick to hatch at the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Conservation Biology Institute!

The zoo explained that they were able to confirm the chick’s sex by using DNA samples taken from inside the egg before she hatched. They also explained that “Keepers placed the egg with surrogate parents—a 26-year-old male named Ray and a 11-year-old unnamed female—to give them parental experience, since the pair’s own egg was infertile. Keepers report the chick is doing well under its surrogate parents’ care.”

They added, “Native to Asia, the white-naped crane is vulnerable due to habitat loss, nest disturbance and pollution. An estimated 5,000 white-naped cranes remain in the wild.”

And those aren’t the only babies being born at the Smithsonian National Zoo! They recently welcomed black-footed ferret kits. The first litter was born on April 20 and two additional litters have been born since. That makes 12 that have survived in all!

The zoo shared a few snaps of Bay Breeze’s kits, which were born on May 12. In the second and third photo, the zoo shared Roguebud’s kits, which were born on April 20.

They explained that black-footed ferrets are “North America’s only native ferret species and are currently considered endangered. They were thought to be extinct until a small population of 18 ferrets was discovered in 1981. The Smithsonian was the first to receive offspring from those 18 and breed black-footed ferrets outside of Wyoming.”

If that wasn’t enough, the zoo also showed off another adorable animal: an Aldabra tortoise from the Reptile Discovery Center. They showed one of the trainers, Matt Neff, training the tortoise, Rulon, by asking him to follow a bright red target to a scale.

On May 25, Rulon weighed a whopping 519 pounds!

Although the tortoises don’t have to step on the scale if they don’t want to, they know that there’s a food reward in it for them if they do. They explained, “As Rulon follows the target and touches his nose to it, Matt offers him a bite of lettuce. Tortoises don’t have teeth; rather they have a serrated beak that shears vegetation. With each bite, the tortoises pause, grind up their meal, then swallow before stepping toward the moving target.”

They added, “Building a relationship with the tortoises and earning their trust helps ensure that their encounters with keepers are stress-free for everyone involved.”