Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution located on a 3200acre campus located just outside the town of Front Royal, Virginia. An extension of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the SCBI has played a leading role in the fields of veterinary medicine, reproductive physiology and conservation biology since its founding in 1974.Previously named the Conservation and Research Center, the CRC became known as the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in 2010 as a symbol of its growing independence from the captive animals associated with the traditional images of zoos.HistoryThe land on which the SCBI lies has a history dating back to 1909, when the United States Army leased some 42 area farms. In the years predating World War I, the land served as a series of U.S. Army Remount Service depots, supplying horses and mules to the military. The federal government ultimately purchased the land in 1911 and began construction on the Ayleshire Quartermaster Remount Depot. Completed in 1916, the Depot consisted of eleven barn and stable facilities, hundreds of miles of split-rail fencing, many miles of access roads, and a rail yard facility for the import and export of animals. The Ayleshire Quartermaster Remount Depot remained in operation throughout both world wars, and was eventually expanded to include a canine training facility and detention barracks for 600 German and Italian prisoners of war.