WASHINGTON (AP) — Hungry pandas don't particularly care whether there's a partial government shutdown.
The Washington National Zoological Park's most famous residents still need to be fed, as do thousands of other animals, even as the facility closed its gates Wednesday.
The zoo is part of the Smithsonian network of museums, and all stayed open through New Year's Day using pre-existing funds. That money has now been exhausted.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Along the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, ospreys build nests with just about anything: tree branches, stuffed animals, flip flops — even an opossum skull.
The abundance of nests is proof of the bird's surging population in recent decades after the insecticide DDT nearly wiped them out last century.