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• Asia Trail

• Animal Habitats
• Giant Pandas
• Sloth Bears
• Clouded Leopards
• Fishing Cats
• Giant Salamanders
• Red Pandas
• Small-clawed Otters
• Asia Trail Conservation and Science
• Asian Species Facts
• Photo Gallery
• Asia Trail Animal Cams
• Asia Trail for Kids

Asia Trail, a series of exhibits that opened in 2006, is home to seven Asian species: sloth bears, fishing cats, red pandas, a Japanese giant salamander, clouded leopards, Asian small-clawed otters, and giant pandas, who enjoy the new Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat. The Japanese giant salamander is currently not on exhibit.

See a map of Asia Trail, read about the new animal habitats, and learn about Asia Trail's green elements.

Experience Asia Trail with an online and downloadable audio tour, narrated by Dakota Fanning, from Fujifilm.

Asia Trail's small-clawed otters are the subject of a study. Find out more in the Diary of a Zoo Leader in Training

Female Sloth Bear Debuts at the Zoo

Visitors exploring Asia Trail can now see Khali, a nine-year-old female sloth bear who is a non-breeding companion for 26-year-old male sloth bear Merlin.

She arrived from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle late last year, but has only recently joined Merlin on exhibit following gradual introductions between the pair. In addition to Khali and Merlin, the Zoo is also home to two other sloth bears, 13-year-old Hana, and her two-year-old cub, Balawat. He is about the age when sloth bear cubs become independent of their mothers and is currently exhibited separately from his mother.

In the wild, sloth bears are found in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. They have a slightly longer snout than other species of bear, and they use it along with their lips to create a vacuum-like seal to suck up insects from holes, cracks and crevices.

Two Red Pandas Arrive at Asia Trail

Two red pandas—female Shama and male Wicket—recently moved into their renovated exhibit yard on Asia Trail. This brother-and-sister pair was born at the Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, last July.

Although they are not related to giant pandas, they also evolved special paws to help them grip bamboo—one of their diet staples. Listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union, the species is threatened by habitat loss in the Himalayas and China. It is estimated that fewer than 2,500 adult red pandas exist in the wild. Learn more.

Asia Trail Photo Gallery | Help with cam

Can’t see any animals?
The animal in this exhibit may have moved out of view. FONZ volunteers operate some cams, but most of our cams show a fixed view.

Watching Sloth Bears: Four sloth bears live at the Zoo. A mother and her male cub, born in January 2006, live together, and the cub’s father lives with another adult female. You may see the bears climbing, foraging for insects, or sleeping. Native to India, Sri Lanka, and southern Nepal, sloth bears are the only bears to carry young on their backs.
Sloth Bear Facts

Asia Trail features two species that have not been at the Zoo in decades: clouded leopards, which Zoo scientists breed at our Conservation and Research Center and study in Thailand; and a Japanese giant salamander, a five-foot-long cousin of the diminutive salamanders found in the United States.

Asia Trail provides so much for so many:

• state-of-the-art exhibits with a stimulating environment,
• a comprehensive education program for visitors, students, and teachers, and
• the expertise for in-depth research and training that aims to conserve these species in the wild.

Many Asian species can be found at the Zoo:

• Sumatran tigers at Great Cats
• Orangutans at the Great Ape House
• Przewalski's horses in the yard next to the Small Mammal House
• White-cheeked gibbons and siamangs at Gibbon Ridge
• Asian elephants at the Elephant House
• Cranes outside the Bird House
• A Komodo dragon and a gharial at the Reptile Discovery Center

Check out the Zoo map and plot your own "Asia Trail" through the Zoo. Or take a virtual world tour.