This is Civics 101. I'm Hannah McCarthy.

So this is where all the magic happens.

Yeah, we're kind of the heartbeat of the operation.

Last month, our show's team went to Washington, D.C.

A producer from NHPR's other weekly podcast, Outside In, joined us there.

That producer is Felix Poon.

And he got a tour of a food prep facility

that's in many ways, like any other industrial kitchen.

Large refrigeration units, all the prep tables, we have six different stations where people will work.

But in some other ways, this kitchen was a bit different.

For instance, they make special cakes. So frozen ice cakes, we can

make them out of blood and meat. And they're conscious about protein. Those are pinky mice.

Wow, so they're like... Those are pinky mice.

Wow, so they're like little mice the size of my thumb, smaller than my thumb. Like the pinky tip.

You've probably guessed it by now.

Felix is behind the scenes in the food prep at the zoo.

Your zoo, to be exact,

if you happen to be a resident of the United States.

This is the Smithsonian National Zoological Park,

the only one in the country created by an act of Congress.

We have taken those animals in and bred them

and reintroduced them back into the native environment.

...