Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

On a recent field trip to Patuxent River Park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, undergraduate students from George Mason University’s Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation got to view secretive marsh birds up close, including Virginia and sora rail birds.

A 1992 Mason Gazette story about the hatching of the very first Komodo dragons born in captivity outside of Indonesia.

In September 2009, Smithsonian-Mason Semester students took a during a behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Mason senior Eva Noroski spent a month assisting alumna and Elephant Trails keeper Ashley Fortner at the National Zoo, researching elephant sleep patterns.

Saving an endangered species is possible, but it takes a village. Conservationists, including three George Mason University alumni working at the Smithsonian and a current student, are part of the team at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) working to ensure red pandas move off the endangered list.