Dozens of New Arrivals at National Zoo (Photos)

It appears many of the National Zoo’s animals have been busy recently. In a press release, the zoo says it has seen the birth of 31 new specimens between the main campus in Rock Creek Park and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia.

Among the recent arrivals:

• short-eared elephant shrew
• fishing cat
• leaf-tailed gecko
• three loggerhead shrike chicks
• scimitar-horned oryx
• 24 black-footed ferrets
• two red panda cubs

Red panda cubs, though not Rusty’s. 

There was some initial excitement that the red panda cubs, born in Front Royal, were fathered by Rusty, the red panda who became an internet star last year when he escaped from the National Zoo and turned up the next morning in Adams Morgan. Not so, says National Zoo spokeswoman Devin Murphy. The cubs announced today were produced by a different set of adult red pandas. Rusty remains in Front Royal to mate with a female red panda. (They couldn’t do it at the zoo because the hordes of tourists who visit to see giant panda cub Bao Bao are too distracting.) See more photos of the newborn animals below and on the zoo’s Flickr page.

Elephant shrew.

Black-footed ferret kits.

A newly hatched leaf-tailed gecko.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.