Attendance Skyrockets at National Zoo

Attendance has significantly increased at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, thanks in part to its newest attraction.

Friends of the National Zoo said attendance last month, when the Tai Shan, the zoo's new panda cub was first put on public display, has almost doubled from the number of December visits in 2003 and 2004.

And zoo officials said two sets of cheetah cubs also helped increase visits to the zoo last year, especially during February, when nearly 92-thousand visits were recorded.

The zoo had more than 1.9 million visitors last year, the highest total since 2002.