Memorial Day Weekend begins with a cool, rainy day with a high of 64.

To masticate today:

• National Zoo gets new elephant: The Asian elephant Bozie arrived at the National Zoo this week and will join the three other elephants after a 30 day quarantine period. Bozie’s arrival comes after the National Zoo’s $56 million upgrade to its elephant habitation.

What to look out for:

• Forrest Gump, Charity Edition: Arlington runner Frank Fumich ran three marathons in one day and raised $33,000 for victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings. Now, Fumich plans to run 450 miles from the Pentagon all the way to Boston to raise even more money.
  
• Clean slate for two schools: Chancellor Kaya Henderson “reconstituted” the staff at two chronically poor-performing D.C. schools, meaning over 100 teachers and other staff will have to reapply for their jobs. Henderson hopes the change will spur improvement in the schools.

This week in the District, eight tentacled snakes were born at the Smithsonian National Zoo, D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announces an “education crisis” in the number of students with unexcused absences, and a robbery in Dupont Circle led to a car chase.

First tentacled snakes born in years at National Zoo

After four years of difficulty breeding the reptile, zookeepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo were surprised October 21 when eight tentacled snakes were born. The newborns will likely be sent to other zoos, as the National Zoo has four on display and few others in the country host the species, officials said.

This birth is the first time in 11 years that this species at this zoo has given birth to offspring able to survive outside the womb, according to the Washington Post.

“It could be that they were relatively young before,” keeper Matt Evans said to the Washington Post. “Even though they looked like they were pregnant this time, we weren’t expecting anything different.”

The snakes, which look like a cross between a slug and a snake, can grow up to four feet long. They are aquatic ambush hunters, officials said, and when hunting, they hold themselves under water using their tail and sense prey with their tentacles. Their venom is designed to attack prey in different ways but has not effect on humans.

“Within a few hours of being born, the snakes were already acting like adults,” Evans said in a news release. “Instincts took over and they were hunting.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The National Zoo’s panda Tai Shan turns 3 today. China can take him back in a year, so love him while you have him.

Flickr photo from user BrightStar used under a Creative Commons license

The National Zoo is one of only five zoos in the country with giant pandas, but the zoo is a bus ride and a Metro stop away. Normally, people who just want a quick panda fix, or don’t like pretending that they’re interested in gazelles would be out of luck. Fortunately, the National Zoo website has the Panda Cam, a continuous feed of those beasts are up to.

As of lunchtime Monday, Tai Shan was pressing his panda face into a rock, asleep. But then a weird mist floated by for a while. Fortunately, the panda seemed unharmed.

The pandas cost a bundle, so the least we can do is get our money’s worth by monitoring them constantly.

Posted by Will Sommer