Our planet is amazingly rich and abundant with life. We share
its land, water, and sky with a magnificent diversity of
wildlife. We have a responsibility to conserve species and their
habitats, so that we leave our children and grandchildren a
world that is even richer and more abundant. At the
Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, we seek to inspire,
train, and empower successive generations to care for the
world’s biological diversity. Our tools are our exhibits,
science, outreach, and education programs. Ultimately,
everything we do must be oriented toward protecting wildlife and
other forms of biological diversity so that we, and future
societies, continue to enjoy the incalculable benefits of our
natural world. Today, thousands of species—some of them in the
care of the National Zoo—are facing extinction, and many fragile
ecosystems critical to the well-being of societies around the
world are under great strain from human activities. As the
challenges of safeguarding the Earth’s living heritage grow, s