Farewell Giant Pandas

11/08/23 • 29 min

4 Listeners

All three Giant Pandas are leaving the Smithsonian's National Zoo for China by the end of the year. What's up with that?! We sat down with the director of the Zoo, Brandie Smith, to find out why the pandas are leaving, and whether China plans to send more. This might truly be the end of a beara ... we mean era!

Guests:

Brandie Smith, John and Adrienne Mars Director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Stephen Powers, panda fan

Guests:

Brandie Smith, John and Adrienne Mars Director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Stephen Powers, panda fan

Previous Episode

Resurrected: Spooked at the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian Institution was founded on principles of reason and scientific inquiry. So why is the Smithsonian home to countless tales of unexplained phenomena and—dare we say—ghost sightings? Inspired by an apparition at the National Museum of American History, we creak across museum attic floorboards, sneak into an old house in the woods, and even travel back in time to bring you a collection of spooky stories that can only be found at the Smithsonian.

Guests:

Molly Horrocks, Collections Manager, Division of Political and Military History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

Pamela Henson, Institutional Historian at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Cpl. Ronald Howlin, Security Officer at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Deborah Hull-Walski, Collections Manager, Education Collections at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

Melissa Johnson, daughter of Deb Hull-Walski and former skeptical teenager

Kim Dixon, former volunteer at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Next Episode

Wrinkled Radicals

When Maggie Kuhn was forced to retire from the job she loved at age 65, her colleagues gave her a sewing machine as a parting gift. Outraged, she shut the sewing machine in a closet and, instead, stitched together the first-ever movement against ageism in the U.S. The Gray Panthers would galvanize gray haired citizenry and youth alike to challenge the way Americans think about aging.

Guests:
Katherine Ott, curator and historian in the Division of Medicine and Science at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Emily Krichbaum, founding director for the Center for Girls' and Young Women's Leadership at Columbus School for Girls and scholar of women’s history

Paul Nathanson, founder and former executive director of Justice in Aging (formerly the National Senior Citizens Law Center), a national advocacy group for the elderly poor

Jack Kupferman, president of Gray Panthers NYC