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The Armitage Lecture Series, which launched in September of this year, has already become a shining star in Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium’s firmament by bringing world-renowned visionaries and internationally beloved entertainers to the zoo.

One of the greatest gifts of being located in Omaha is that the extraordinary generosity of this city and its people has an impact that’s felt all over the globe. We recently experienced this at the Mulhall’s annual Holiday Gala on November 15, which donated its proceeds this year to support Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium’s plant conservation program, directed by Margaret From. 

‘Tis the season when people are doing a lot of browsing in stores and online for the perfect holiday gifts, but here at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, many of our animals love to browse 365 days a year..

Did you attend Spooktacular this year? If so, chances are you got to tap your toes to the beat of Omaha Street Percussion, bask in the glow of Illumination Alley and get up close and personal with the bats in the Lied Jungle.

Soon visitors to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium will be able to ascend from the grasslands of northern India to the upper reaches of the Himalayas, pass through ancient ruins and misted forests and get up close and personal with some of the world’s most majestic and elusive animals.

Have you ever heard of a rattlesnake without a rattle? The Catalina Island rattlesnake is the only known species of rattlesnake to not have a rattle, and it can only be found in the wild in one place – the tiny Isla Catalina off the coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico.

This year, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium’s annual Dream Night was held on June 8, 2018 and hosted a record-setting 850 people.

By early August, the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership (MBP), which was founded by Dr. Edward E. Louis Jr., Director of the Conservation Genetics Department at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, had planted one tree in Madagascar for each of Nebraska’s 1.92 million residents. By the end of August, the number of trees planted will have reached two million.

Nancy Armitage was once visiting Thailand when a local grifter threw a python around her neck and demanded money to remove it. Nancy, an avid ophiophilist (she had her own snake named Floyd at home, and used to catch venomous snakes for fun), intuited that the snake was relaxed and posed no threat, so she calmly demurred and walked away, leaving the stunned scammer to run after her to get his snake back.

Our newest pygmy hippo, Silas, was born during the spring and can now be seen in the Lied Jungle, under the watchful eye of his mother Chomel.

“They were just little brown toads no one cared about… until we realized they were almost all gone,” says Jessi Krebs, curator of reptiles and amphibians at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.

Dr. Lee G. Simmons (Doc) has been leading safaris for groups from Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium for 35 years, so he generally has a good idea of what animals they can expect to see.