Views from the Zoo

Bao Bao the giant panda cub recently beat the Star Spangled Banner flag and Woody Guthrie's original recording of "This Land is Your Land" in the Smithsonian's "Summer Showdown" online public popularity contest. She is ridiculously cute:

…and famous:

Great view of elephants on my way home from work every evening:

Batang traveling from the Great Ape House to the Think Tank via the O-Line (8 towers connecting about 500 ft of cable 50 ft in the air - pretty impressive and all but one of the orangutans choose to travel across it on a daily basis):

 

…and Kiko traveling across the O-line:

With some of my keepers:

Helping out weighing some lion cubs:

There are a lot of very big hills at the Zoo. My favorite one is just over a trail running through Rock Creek Park and leading up to the veterinary and research facilities. Here is a view from above while walking down the hill back to the main grounds of the Zoo:

A young hawk near Elephant Outpost:

View from the browse farm out at the SCBI campus in Front Royal, VA: