1980, RTP has developed into a highly competitive program, 

 awarding stipends to approximately 25 of 500 applicants 

 each summer. Funding for the program has come from the 

 Smithsonian Institution and from various external sources, 

 including the National Science Foundation and The Pew 

 Charitable Trusts. In 1995, Motorola, a supporter of the 

 Museum's "Ocean Planet" exhibition, donated funds to 

 support an intern in 1995 and 1996. One of the recipients, 

 Glenn Almany, a student of marine biology at San Fran- 

 cisco State University, began work this year with Dts. G. 

 David Johnson and Carole Baldwin, Department of Verte- 

 brate Zoology. 



The Museum's Naturalist Center closed temporarily 

 on April 2, 1995, while NMNH undergoes extensive 

 renovation. In cooperation with Loudoun County, Vir- 

 ginia, the Center reopened in September on the campus 

 of the Xerox Document University near Leesburg. 

 The Naturalist Center will return to the Museum in 

 1998. Magda Schremp, Head of the Docent Program at 

 NMNH, was successfully involved in recruiting docents 

 for the relocated Center. Due to excellent press in the 

 Loudoun County newspapers, a number of very qualified 

 volunteers will work with county teachers and museum 

 staff. 



NMNH Docent Anne Marie LaPorte gave a highlight tour 

 of the Museum for the creative staff of Lancit Media, who are 

 working to develop a weekly Smithsonian TV program for 

 children between 8-12 years of age. 



The Museum's Fossil Preparation Laboratory reopened dur- 

 ing the summer and is once again staffed with preparators. 

 Visitors to the Laboratory can see how remains of dinosaurs 

 and other ancient creatures are extracted from surrounding 

 rock and preserved for study and display. 



"Bug Fest 1995, a day-long Museum presentation 

 dedicated solely to insects, was held in late September. 

 Various display tables were set up throughout the build- 

 ing, including: insects as food, insect identification tables, 

 collecting and preserving tables, canopy collecting, 

 scientific illustration demonstrations, and fossil insects. 

 Curators, technicians, illustrators, and educators from the 

 Museum, the Department of Agriculture, and the Depart- 

 ment of the Army shared their knowledge of arthropods 

 with hundreds of visitors of all ages. 



NMNH Department of Education staff participated in the 

 Ocean Planet Teacher's Night at the Museum, an event organ- 

 ized by the Si's Office of Environmental Awareness. Approxi- 

 mately 150 teachers participated. 



In April, the Museum hosted its first Open House 

 "Expedition" for members of Congress and the Admin- 

 istration and their families. This successful event was 

 organized by the NMNH's Office of Development and 

 Public Affairs with the cooperation of its Senate of 

 Scientist. A major objective was to make a direct link 

 between the research staff at the Museum and the con- 

 gressional community. 



National Zoological Park 



Michael H. Robinson, Director 



The National Zoological Park (NZP) continues its transforma- 

 tion into a biological park that emphasizes the diversity and 

 interdependence of plants and animals. New exhibits on its 

 163-acre Rock Creek facility in Washington, D.C., such as 

 Amazonia, Invertebrate Exhibit, Wetlands, and Cheetah Con- 

 servation Station, do away with the unnatural separation of 

 plants and animals that charactetize most zoos. These exhibits 

 broaden appreciation for the ecological relationships among 

 living organisms. 



Scientific studies conducted at Rock Creek, the 3,150-acre 

 Conservation & Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, and 

 at various locations nationally and overseas, furthered both the 

 NZP's effort to advance the understanding of biological and 

 veterinary science and its effort to pteserve disappearing spe- 

 cies and habitats worldwide. 



Jomu, a history-making cheetah, became a part of the Na- 

 tional Zoo's Cheetah Conservation Station. The twenty-one 

 month old female was one of the world's first cheetahs pro- 

 duced by artificial insemination. Jomu was a product of new 

 research in assisted reproduction of endangered cats conducted 

 at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas, by staff from the NZP's 

 New Opportunities in Animal Health Sciences (NOAHS) 

 Center. 



Griff, The National Zoo's 13-year-old Masai giraffe, gave 

 birth to a 114 pound female calf on June 5, 1995. The 510" tall 

 calf was Griff's fourth and 16-year old Lionel's ninth. The 

 baby giraffe dropped to the ground at 2:26 p.m., amid cheers 

 from onlookers. The newborn stood and took its first stum- 

 bling steps in just 28 minutes. Masai giraffes, although not en- 

 dangered, are not common in North American zoos. 



Kuman, the National Zoo's female elephant calf, collapsed 

 and died on April 26, 1995. She was 16 months old. Kuman 

 was the first elephant born at the Zoo. She died of a type of 

 herpes virus that is not found in humans. The Zoo's pathology 

 department has launched a full scale investigation into the ori- 

 gin and prevalence of this pathogen. The pathologists are 

 studying the possible negative impact of this virus on the 

 breeding of elephants in zoos. Efforts to increase zoo elephant 

 populations are critical since their numbers in the wild are 

 declining. 



The Department of Zoological Research established a 

 BioVisualization Laboratory. Orchestrated by Dr. Alfred 

 Rosenberger, this state-of-the art computerized system incor- 

 porates digitized 3-D imaging and animation. These tools 

 will allow biological and cultural artifacts, such as animal 

 skulls, to be rendered as three dimensional digital specimens. 

 Objects available in a digital catalog can be studied in virtual 

 reality. The accuracy is so great that scientific research will be 

 conducted on the images, which are digitized using a laser 

 beam input device. 



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