in the beginning of fiscal year 1996. Think Tank encourages 

 visitors to consider three facets of thinking: tool use, lan- 

 guage, and society. Visitors are challenged with the question: 

 Do the complex behaviors of different animals indicate think- 

 ing? One innovative Think Tank project, the Orangutan Lan- 

 guage Project, attempts to teach these great apes language 

 skills through the use of interactive computers — all in view of 

 visitors who can pose questions to working scientists. 



The National Zoo established a highly rated Internet web 

 site. Visitors to the electronic site can read articles, explore 

 the photo gallery, visit exhibits, view slide lectures and films 

 of animals — all from the comfort of their homes or schools. In 

 addition, a joint National Zoo/Ralston Purina Co. project con- 

 nected the computer-using public with cameras covering the 

 final days of the pregnancy of an Asian rhino. The on-line 

 coverage is designed to raise awareness not only of the two 

 partners' Web sites (http://www.purina.com, 

 http://www.si.edu/narzoo) but also of the Zoo's efforts in 

 breeding endangered species. 



The Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) initiated its first 

 annual ZooFari for Kids — the children's version of FONZ's 

 annual fund-raising gala. The adult ZooFari and ZooFari for 

 Kids together brought in $250,000 for Zoo education, exhibi- 

 tion, research and conservation programs. In total, FONZ sup- 

 ported the Zoo with more than $1.5 million and over 

 100,000 hours of volunteer service. In addition, the new 

 ADOPT program is expected to become a significant fund- 

 raiser in 1997. 



In May 1996, in what has become a rite of spring at Nation- 

 al Zoo, a pair of golden lion tamarin monkeys were moved 

 from a enclosure to an open, unfenced release site in a wooded 

 tract on Zoo grounds. This year makes the 10th anniversary of 

 Zoo staff using this "controlled release" technique as part of 

 conditioning strategy preparing zoo-raised tarnarins for 

 reintroduction to the wild. Their natural home is in a reserve 

 in the Atlantic coastal forest of Brazil. Since 1984, 169 zoo- 

 born and their offspring have joined the remnant wild popula- 

 tion of tarnarins — all as a result of the National Zoo's work to 

 help save the species from extinction. 



The public symposium. Elephants on the Brink: Smithsonian 

 Research and Efforts to Conserve the Giant Species, highlighted the 

 work of Smithsonian scientists to conserve Asian elephants in 

 the wild and at the Zoo. Special presentations were devoced to 

 veterinary and pathological detective work on a lethal virus 

 that kills young elephants. Another presentation focused on 

 collaborative efforts with a visiting scientist from Germany in 

 the use of state-of-the-art ultrasound techniques as an aid in 

 the Zoo's efforts to develop Asian elephant artificial insemina- 

 tion procedures. 



International conservation research proiects focusing on 

 critical habitat for migratory birds and endangered species is 

 being conducted by CRC scientists and collaborators in 

 Burma, Egypt, Honduras, Mexico, and many other parts of 

 the world. Focal species include the Burmese brow-antlered 

 deer, golden cheeked warbler, wood thrush, scarlet tanager, 



and Asian elephant. Artificial insemination techniques were 

 used for the first time with highly endangered black-footed 

 ferrets. This breakthrough technology resulted in five females 

 producing fifteen live young. The genetic contribution of 

 these parents is critical to preserving a healthy gene pool of 

 chis extremely rare species, which has survived over the last 

 decade only in protected facilities like zoos. 



A team of consulting physicians — who normally treat 

 humans — and National Zoo veterinarians conducted state-of- 

 the-art cardiovascular examinations of the National Zoo's 

 gorillas and orangutans. This collaborative medical project 

 was undertaken as an adjunct to yearly physical exams of the 

 Zoo's apes. There is little cardiovascular data on great apes in 

 zoos, and gorillas, especially, are known to have a relatively 

 high incidence of heart disease. These exams will provide a 

 baseline of data to which equivalent exams at other zoos can 

 be compared. 



Celebrating the Smithsonian's 150th birthday, the Zoo's 

 pavilion on the Mall featured special presentations on animals 

 and behind-the-scenes work at the Zoo. Welders, plasterers, 

 carpenters, locksmiths, finishers, horticultural experts, 

 geneticists, zoologists, nutritionists, veterinary pathologists, 

 reproductive physiologists, wildlife ecologists, and, of course, 

 animal keepers explained their tasks and accomplishments to 

 the delight of thousands of pavilion visitors. 



The Zoo produced two notable books in 1996, including a 

 history of zoos entitled New Worlds, New Animals: From 

 Menagerie to Zoological Park in the Nineteenth Century (Johns 

 Hopkins University Press) and the authoritative Wild Mam- 

 mals m Captivity (Chicago University Press), the first modern 

 handbook of its kind. 



Smithsonian Astropkysical Observatory 



Irwin I. Shapiro, Director 



The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is based in 

 Cambridge, Massachusetts, where ic is |Oined with the Har- 

 vard College Observatory (HCO) to form the Harvard-Smith- 

 sonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) under a single director 

 to pursue studies of the basic physical processes that deter- 

 mine the nature and evolution of the universe. 



Observational data are gathered in part at two field 

 facilities: the Fred L. Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in 

 Arizona and at the Oak Ridge Observatory in Massachusetts. 

 The Whipple Observatory includes both 10-m and n-m 

 gamma-ray reflectors, a 1.2-m imaging telescope, and a 1.5-m 

 spectroscopic telescope, as well as a number of smaller auto- 

 matic photometric telescopes (APTs) and Pro|ecc IOTA, an op- 

 tical and infrared interferometer built in collaboration with 

 the universities of Massachusetts and Wyoming and MIT's 

 Lincoln Laboratory. FLWO is also the site of the Multiple Mir- 



" 



