ICYMI: Highlights from the week that was Feb. 3 – Feb 9, 2019
No one can keep up with everything, so let us do it for you. We’ll gather the top Smithsonian stories from across the country and around the world each week so you’ll never be at a loss for conversation around the water cooler.
The only things that interested us this week were naked mole rats and a baby gorilla. Who was also naked.
National Zoo says its ‘daredevil’ infant gorilla has a broken leg
The Washington Post, February 4
The National Zoo said its baby gorilla, Moke, born in April, has a broken leg. (National Zoo)
The National Zoo’s infant gorilla has a broken leg, and zoo officials aren’t sure how it happened.
Moke, a western lowland gorilla born April 15, fractured his femur. In a statement, primate curator Meredith Bastian noted that the youngster “can be a bit of a daredevil.”
“We do not know how Moke broke his leg,” Bastian said. “It is entirely possible that he landed the wrong way during one of his many jumps.” Read more from Martin Weill for The Washington Post.
Heedless of government shutdown, zoo’s naked mole-rat pups became bigger
The Washington Post, February 3
The naked mole-rats sleeping in a pile Jan. 30. The pups born in December are about the size of baby carrots and slightly darker in color. (Photo courtesy Smithsonian’s National Zoo)
This story has been updated.
During the government shutdown, much remained the same among the millions of inanimate objects in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. But living creatures were another story, and change came to some of the animals at the National Zoo.
Life in the naked mole-rat colony brimmed with biological milestones, according to an account released Friday by the zoo.
Now 6 weeks old, the four pups have thrived since their birth in December to the queen of the naked mole-rats. Read more from Martin Weill for the Washington Post.
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Posted: 14 February 2019
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