WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the federal government suspends all non-essential programs, some effects leave people scratching their heads or surprised they are funded by the federal government.

What are the strangest services being suspended — or not?

Panda Cam

The National Zoo’s popular panda cam lets fuzzy animal enthusiasts view the giant panda Mei Xiang and her panda baby.

While the panda cam may be the most popular of the National Zoo’s feed, the lion, the octopus and orangutang have also been deemed non-essential federal government employees.

Space Tweets

If you follow NASA on Twitter, you may have been disappointed to read that their daily tweets about the federally funded program have been stopped on the program’s 55th anniversary. Throughout the shutdown, nobody will respond to your questions about science and space if you tweet @NASA or any of its other handles.

“Sorry, but we won't be tweeting/responding to replies during the government shutdown. Be back as soon as possible,” NASA tweeted at 6:24 a.m. MDT. The link following the tweet led to a page reading, “Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.”

Related:

Veterinarians: National Zoo panda cub is healthy

The National Zoo's giant panda cub has been given a clean bill of health after its first veterinary exam.

Mission control for Mike Hopkins and Karen Nyberg, two NASA astronauts on the International Space Station, remains in effect, as do life-sustaining operations for them.

All other non-essential federal government social media accounts have also been suspended.

Athletics

Saturday’s Naval Academy and Air Force rivalry game may be cancelled if the shutdown persists through the weekend. The decision to cancel or hold the sold-out game will be made Thursday at noon ET, USA Today reported.

The Department of Defense has already cancelled the Tuesday night Navy-Howard soccer game.

Internal Revenue Service

While taxes are still due across the country, the IRS will not be available for questions or audits.

Those being audited may heave a sigh of relief but those who are navigating confusing tax code will have to seek help outside of the IRS, as its call center has been shuttered during the shutdown.

Patent Office and Electronic Copyright Office

Inventors and content creators need not worry: the offices that register patents and copyrights are still open for business.

The Electronic Copyright Office will remain open, despite its brick-and-mortar counterpart, the U.S. Copyright Office, ceasing operations.

Meantime, the Patent Office has enough funding to stay open for the next four weeks’ worth of new patent applications.

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