Visit to The Smithsonian Zoological Park

Earlier today, I made a quick trip to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington DC. As readers may have guessed already, my purpose was to catch sight of the giant pandas that are the main attraction at this fine zoo.

The photo to the right of this blog post shows the phone camera image of one of the giant pandas resting outside the shelter.  Granted, the picture is a manifestation of my lack of skills in photography together with use of a phone without an attached zooming lens but I am still proud of it because it was my first sight of this highly regarded mammal from China.

If as stated, the government of the People's Republic of China cautiously gives the panda partly to strengthen diplomatic skills links, then my cursory assessment is that it is an unqualified success.

First, while I am not an American citizen, it became clear to me that the families and groups visiting the zoo considered sighting of the panda as the highlight of the visit. In addition, the children who were here were excited at encountering animals generally but the AsiaTrail, that culminates with a sighting of the giant pandas was the busiest of them all. Panda diplomacy is very smart politics. oOne hopes that this will help these animals to survive for many more generations.

The curious thing was that entry to the the Smithsonian National Zoological Park does not require payment. Instead, there are notices all around stating that the park is maintained through private donations and coupled with evidence of bequests from corporations and families. A second source of funding is the sale of the map of the park and items in the shops. This presents an interesting model because one would consider that the rarity of the panda would almost make it very lucrative to charge for entry. The economics of pricing for entry to this zoo is helped by the panda and the bequest that supported the establishment of the park to begin with.