The Smithsonian's National Zoo Breaks Ground on New Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat

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The Smithsonian's National Zoo Breaks Ground on New Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat

New Exhibit Will Offer a One-of-a-Kind Visitor Experience; Up Close and Personal with Two of the World's Most Treasured Creatures

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Apr. 28 -/E-Wire/Business Wire/-- Executives from Fujifilm joined with officials from the Smithsonian Institution and the National Zoo today to officially break ground on a new home for the Zoo's giant pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian. The renovation of the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat will nearly double the outdoor space of the Zoo's current 17,500-square-foot exhibit, providing closer visitor contact with the pandas. The new habitat is a first-of-its-kind exhibit that will give visitors a sense of how pandas live and interact in the Asian wildlife and with humans who share their native habitats. Completion of the new habitat is scheduled for the first quarter of 2006.

A $7.8 million grant from Fujifilm, the largest donation the Friends of the National Zoo has ever received, will help pay for the future home of the giant pandas - the principal undertaking in the first phase of its 10-year renewal plan. The Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat will support efforts in the United States and China to save giant pandas from extinction.

"Funding construction of the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat underscores Fujifilm's commitment to preserving the earth's biodiversity," said Lawrence M. Small, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. "They are terrific partners!"

The expanded habitat will be custom designed for Mei Xiang and Tian Tian and is based upon behavioral preference data collected since they arrived at the National Zoo in December of 2000. The new expanded habitat will include a slide for the pandas to roll down, cool rocks both for pandas and for visitors, and foggers that will create a cooler area more natural to the giant panda's native habitat. The expansion of the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat will anchor the first phase of Asia Trail, a new section of the Zoo highlighting animals native to the Asian continent.

"As part of our worldwide commitment to environmentally friendly practices, Fujifilm is proud to be a partner in conservation with the National Zoo," said Stanley Freimuth, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. "The Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat is a symbol of our collective pledge to improving our world - one person, one classroom, and one species at a time -- while helping to maintain the status of the National Zoo as one of the world's great zoos."

Fujifilm's support of the National Zoo has helped fulfill its mission to "celebrate, study and protect" wildlife and habitats throughout the world by:

-- Helping fund the 10-year loan of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian -- making the National Zoo one of only four zoos in the United States to have giant pandas.

-- Working with the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) - the nonprofit fundraising arm of the National Zoo -- to develop education programs and materials, ranging from an interactive panda video album CD-ROM to a distance learning program viewed by more than 12,000 schools representing an estimated 7 million students.

-- Distributing more than 500,000 copies of the Fujifilm Giant Panda Activity Book to Zoo visitors.

-- Creating an award-winning online education program titled Conservation Central (www.fonz.org/conservationcentral) that is expected to reach millions of young people.

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. is a subsidiary of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. and delivers technology solutions to meet the imaging and information needs of retailers, consumers, professionals and business customers. As a global leader in digital imaging, Fujifilm pioneered the development of digital X-ray systems, and today is the leader in digital minilab systems. The company was ranked in the top ten for U.S. patents granted during the last decade, employs 72,500 people worldwide and in the year ending March 31, 2003, had global revenues of more than $20 billion.

In the U.S., Fujifilm employs over 10,000 people. The company is a leader in delivering high quality, easy-to-use imaging and information solutions in the following categories: Digital Imaging Systems, Recording/Storage Media, Film and Imaging Systems, Motion Picture Film, Graphic Arts and Printing Systems and Medical Imaging and Diagnostics Systems. Fujifilm is committed to being an environmentally friendly, humane enterprise and an exemplary corporate citizen.

For more information on Fujifilm products, consumers can call 800-800-FUJI or access the Fujifilm USA Web site at www.fujifilm.com.

About Friends of the National Zoo

Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the mission of the Smithsonian's National Zoo to celebrate, study, and protect the diversity of animals and their habitats. Since 1958, FONZ has supported the Zoo through education, membership, and volunteer programs, special events, and fundraising for Zoo projects, and by providing guest services and grants for Zoo staff. For more information about FONZ, go to http://www.fonz.org.

About the National Zoo

Located in the nation's capital and part of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Zoological Park is the "nation's zoo." The Zoo's mission is to celebrate, study and protect wildlife and habitats throughout the world. For more information, visit www.nationalzoo.si.edu.

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=4627665

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc.

Thomas H. Shay, 914/789-8145, [REDACTED-EMAIL]

http://www.nationalzoo.si.edu

http://www.fujifilm.com

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