Bonnie (orangutan)
Bonnie (born about 1978) is a female orangutan living at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. She began spontaneously whistling, mimicking an animal caretaker making the sound. The importance is that whistling is a sound that is in a human’s—but not an orangutan’s—repertoire. While some lower primates have been shown to make non-standard sounds for their species, it has always been the result of intense training, whereas Bonnie just picked up the new sound mechanism. Another interesting aspect is that she seems to whistle just because she likes the sound as opposed to producing this behavior in response to a potential food reward. Bonnie's whistling was documented in Primates by Dr. Serge Wich and his co-authors: Great Ape Trust scientists Dr. Karyl Swartz and Dr. Rob Shumaker; Madeleine E. Hardus and Adriano R. Lameira, doctoral candidates at the Utrecht University in The Netherlands assigned to the Ketambe Research Center in Sumatra, where Wich is research co-manager; and Erin Stromberg, an animal caretaker at the National Zoo. The National Zoological Park, commonly known as the National Zoo, is one of the oldest zoos in the United States, and as part of the Smithsonian Institution, does not charge admission. Founded in 1889, its mission is to provide leadership in animal care, science, education, sustainability, and visitor experience. The National Zoo has two campuses. The first is a 163-acre (66 ha) urban park located in nor
hwest Washington, D.C. that is 20 minutes from the National Mall by Metro to the Woodley Park station, or downhill walk from the Cleveland Park station. The other campus is the 3,200-acre (1,300 ha) Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI; formerly known as the Conservation and Research Center) in Front Royal, Virginia. SCBI is a non-public facility devoted to training wildlife professionals in conservation biology and to propagating rare species through natural means and assisted reproduction. The National Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Altogether, the two facilities contain 2,000 animals of 400 different species. About one-fifth of them are endangered or threatened. Most species are on exhibit at the Zoo's Rock Creek Park campus. The best known residents are the giant pandas, but the Zoo is also home to birds, great apes, big cats, asian elephants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, aquatic animals, small mammals and many more. The SCBI facility houses between 30 and 40 endangered species at any given time depending on research needs and recommendations from the Zoo and the conservation community. The National Zoo, as part of the Smithsonian Institution, receives federal appropriations for operating expenses. A new master plan for the park was introduced in 2008 to upgrade the park's exhibits and layout. The National Zoo is open every day of the year except December 25 (Christmas Day).