illustrations. J. Daniel Rogers and Jane M. Walsh of the De- 

 partment of Anthropology headed the review panel for the 

 book. Along with other museum experts, they wrote all of the 

 sections on North, Central, and South America. The 

 museum's vast collections provided virtually all of the objects 

 representing the Americas. Douglas Erwin of the museum's 

 Department of Paleobiology coauthored The Fossils of the Bur- 

 gess Shale, the most comprehensive look to date at the intri- 

 guing creatures that represent one of this century's most 

 important fossil finds. Beth Norden of the Department of En- 

 tomology published a book called Magnification, which was se- 

 lected as one of the Children's Choices for 1994. The award is 

 sponsored by che Children's Book Council and the Inter- 

 national Reading Association. Ronald J. McGinley, also of the 

 Department of Entomology, coauthored The Bee Genera of 

 North and Central America, destined to be the standard refer- 

 ence for bee researchers in North America. The book offers an 

 unprecedented compendium for entomologists and other sci- 

 entists involved with bees and pollination research. Finally, Ta- 

 mara Bray and Thomas Killion of the Repatriation Office 

 edited Reckoning with the Dead: The Larsen Bay Repatriation and 

 the Smithsonian Institution, available in September through the 

 Smithsonian Institution Press. 



Three NMNH staffers received distinguished awards last 

 year. Charles Overton Handley, Jr., Curator of Mammals in 

 the Department of Vertebrate Zoology, was presented with 

 the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Contributions to 

 Natural Science by the Virginia Museum of Natural History 

 Foundation. Storrs Olson, also of the Department of Verte- 

 brate Zoology, received an award for "lifetime achievement in 

 ornithological research" at a ]Oint meeting of the three ma|or 

 American birding societies in Montana in June 1994. Ellen 

 Farr of the Department of Botany was a recipient of the 1993 

 Smithsonian Institution Award for Excellence in information 

 Resource Management. 



The staff, in its own distinctive ways, takes seriously the basic 

 mandate of the Institution to increase and diffuse knowledge. We 

 adapt this mandate to the unique traditions of the National Mu- 

 seum of Natural History in the context of our own mission to 

 understand the natural world and our place in it. 



National Zoological Park 



Michael H. Robinson. Director 



Building on its historic mandate, the primary mission of the 

 National Zoological Park (NZP) is the advancement of sci- 

 ence, biological conservation, education and recreation of the 

 people. To fulfill this mission, the Zoo has moved beyond 

 being a zoological park concerned only with animals to be- 

 coming a biological park with a scope that extends to the 

 whole living world and exhibits that increasingly emphasize 



interactions and holism. In pursuit of its mission, NZP exhib- 

 its a range of living plants and animals on its 163-acre facility 

 in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., and maintains the 

 Conservation and Research Center on 3,150 acres in Front 

 Royal, Virginia, as a major animal breeding, conservation and 

 research center. Scientists from the Zoo pursue research 

 around the world, advancing biological understanding and 

 the conservation of life on Earth. 



The Zoo's first elephant calf, a female, was born on Decem- 

 ber 14, after a 22-month gestation period. The infant Asian ele- 

 phant, named Kumari, weighed 264 pounds at birth. Kurnari 

 means "princess" in one of the principal languages of Sri 

 Lanka. Her mother, Shanthi ("peace"), was a gift to the people 

 of the United States from Sri Lanka in 1976. Kumari's birth 

 represents another milestone in the Zoo's efforts to conserve 

 endangered species. Other significant births or hatchings of 

 threatened species included a female gorilla (the third lowland 

 gorilla born in three years), a white-cheeked gibbon, black- 

 footed ferrets. Eld's deer, flamingos and Komodo dragons. 



The Great Outdoor Flight Exhibit reopened to the public 

 in August after being closed for renovation for a long period. 

 The exhibit, 90 feet high and 120 feet in diameter, is one of 

 the ten largest outdoor aviaries in North America. The refur- 

 bished exhibit features North and South American birds such 

 as the scarlet ibis, roseate spoonbill, Inca tern, blue heron, and 

 white-faced ibis. Another highlight of this avian habitat is a 

 collection of state birds of the U.S. New shrubs complement 

 the rock faces and waterfall, and a redesigned pathway ensures 

 access to handicapped people. 



By September 1994, the National Zoo had initiated several 

 new educational programs involving inner city children. The 

 Zoo's NOAHS (New Opportunities in Animal Health Sci- 

 ences) "Scientists in the Classroom" pro)ect, funded by a 

 Hughes Foundation grant, the LiFE (Learning is a Family Ex- 

 perience) program (pioneered at NASM, now located at the 

 Zoo), and the Concerned Black Men's program, now bring 

 children of all ages from highly diverse communities into con- 

 tact with Zoo staff members. The children, and in some cases 

 parents as well, learn about animals and the daily work at the 

 Zoo from the perspective of keepers, curators, scientists and 

 exhibit designers. 



The Zoo's Office of Public Affairs organized a symposium 

 entitled "Is Conservation Going Extinct'" The program was 

 held on April 22 as a part of the Zoo's Earth Day activities. 

 Participants included: SI Assistant Secretary Thomas Lovejoy; 

 Philadelphia Inquirer environmental reporter Mark Jaffe; 

 World Wildlife Fund human population expert Dounia 

 Loudiyi; and Smithsonian conservation biologist Elizabeth 

 Lossos. The program explored several issues central to conser- 

 vation today, such as habitat fragmentation and human popu- 

 lation factors involved in the extinction process; the 

 convergence of ecology, international development and anthro- 

 pology into the new discipline of conservation biology; and 

 the differences between media and public perceptions of con- 

 servation problems. 



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