Scientists have warned that 28% of animal species are currently under extinction threat. But for the last 50 years, scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute have worked to change that.

Front Royal

At the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, scientists are dedicated to preserving endangered and threatened species. The institute manages breeding programs for animals such as the Przewalski's horse, clouded leopards, red pandas, maned wolves, cheetahs, and the black-footed ferret, which has made a comeback after being thought extinct. 

The facility also employs advanced research techniques, including reproductive medicine and cryopreservation, to maintain genetic diversity and support species survival. By banking reproductive cells and tissues from over 125 species, the institute aims to halt the biological clock and enable future restoration efforts as technology advances.

Smithsonian scientists working to preserve endangered species

Tucked into the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and sprawled across 3200 acres lives a collection of animals connected by a shared threat, extinction. I always say it takes a village to save a species. Part of that village exists here at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, where conservation biologists like Mel Songer are working with endangered and threatened species. What are you doing looking at the kid? Like the Chalvoskis or Peahorse, which essentially disappeared from the wild at the end of the 1960s with just a small number left at zoos and breeding facilities back then. The work that's going on on the horses here is really working on their reproduction, how to build healthy populations here. Foals like this one are helping to restore the wild horse. Work that's also being done here with clouded leopards, red pandas, maned wolves, cheetahs, and more. The campus also grows bamboo for the zoo's pandas, a bear no longer on the endangered list thanks to conservation efforts, but still vulnerable. We're seeing species disappearing at 100 to 1,000 times the normal background rate. And so we think, okay, well, we're losing the species here and there. There's a lot of other species. But the thing is that when we lose one species, it has cascading effects. That's why the campus is also one of the breeding facilities in North America for the black-footed ferret, now making a comeback after thought to be completely extinct a few decades ago. Why is it important to make sure that there's enough ferrets in the wild population? Every animal in the ecosystem is important for that ecosystem. They all have a really important role to play. In this case, ferrets are a mix of predator and prey for other larger carnivores. So anytime you take a species completely out of the ecosystem, you cause imbalance in that ecosystem. Upper and lower. Adrienne Crozier and her team are now caring for around 60 baby kits, nurtured and examined here until their release into the Colorado wild in the fall. Whenever we have offspring born, I feel like we did our job. Research, reproductive medicine, and cryopreservation help make that possible inside the Institute's lab. You are in the biorepository space, room. Nuchorin Songsisen, head of the Center for Species Survival, says these tanks hold samples from over 125 species, with over 1,000 individual animals represented. By banking reproductive cells and tissues, that we stop biological clock. By the time the technology can catch up, and then we can use them. Using science to preserve these precious creatures for future generations. For CBS Saturday Morning, Natalie Brand, Front Royal, Virginia.

Lyle Menendez was denied parole late Friday night following a day-long hearing in California, just one day after his brother Erik's parole appeal was also rejected. The brothers have been in prison since 1996 for killing their parents in what they say was an act of self-defense.

Los Angeles

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Pembroke

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Bethesda

FBI raids former Trump adviser John Bolton's home, office

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Washington

FBI raids former Trump adviser John Bolton's home, D.C. office

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Nashville

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Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

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Tel Aviv-Yafo

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California

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New York

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Global Tariffs

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Jerusalem

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Austin

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Moscow

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Texas

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Brussels

NATO chiefs meet virtually about potential Ukraine security guarantees

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North Carolina

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met China’s top diplomat on Tuesday and hailed the “steady progress” made in improving the bilateral relationship after a yearslong standoff between the nuclear-armed Asian powers.

Breakdown