Wildlife

Baby tree saplings, cloned from giant redwoods in California, chill out in the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive's propagation area.

Age of Humans

The Race to Save the World's Great Trees By Cloning Them

A nonprofit dedicated to preserving old, iconic trees is cloning them in hopes of preserving them for the future

A young chimpanzee sets out for a stroll in Tanzania's Mahale Mountains National Park.

New Research

Walking Chimps Move in Surprisingly Similar Ways to Humans

Motion-sensor studies showing how chimpanzees walk upright could help scientists better understand the evolution of bipedalism

You Do Not Want to Get Tased by This Eel

The electric eel generates electric shocks of up to 1,000 volts, 80 times the electric voltage of a car battery. Watch a caiman learn this the hard way

The flat-tail horned lizard's desert habitats in the American West are changing rapidly, thanks to us humans.

Age of Humans

Even Desert Lizards Are Feeling the Heat Due to Climate Change

But Smithsonian scientists are probing the flat-tail horned lizard's DNA to save the rare species

The Kirtland's warbler needs humans to cut and replant the trees it nests in. Without this work, the species' painstaking recovery from less than 1,000 males to over 2,000 could be erased.

Age of Humans

This Bird Didn’t Start the Fires, But It May Need Them to Survive

An endangered bird once threatened by humans now relies on us for its survival

Setting up sound monitors in Papua New Guinea.

Scientists Are Recording 24-Hour Soundtracks of Rainforests

The bioacoustic data gives Nature Conservancy researchers clues about the health of an ecosystem

An adult tammar wallaby on Kangaroo Island, Australia.

New Research

Mother Wallabies Are Delaying Births Due to Bright Lights

Marsupials exposed to artificial light had their babies a month later than those that spent nights solely lit by the stars and moon

Queen bumblebee, Bombus balteatus, foraging for nectar on the alpine wildflower Polemonium viscosum.

New Research

Bee Tongues Are Getting Shorter as Temperatures Warm

In Colorado, alpine bumblebee tongues are shrinking in response to shifting wildflower populations

South Dakota’s Buffalo Roundup Is Pure Americana Spectacle

Watch wranglers bring in a free-roaming herd of 1,300 bison. Just be sure to get out of the way.

This Bee Works 50 Times Harder Than the Honey Bee

Using blue orchard bees to pollinate crops is an idea with a lot of promise. For one thing, they visit 50 times more flowers than honey bees

Age of Humans

Electric Fishing Puts a Rare Dolphin-Human Partnership at Risk

Illegal fishing practices are threatening traditional cooperation between humans and river dolphins in Burma

Two gray wolves—Jesse and her partner, Shilo—play in the evening sun.

PHOTOS: A Sanctuary for Wolves

The Washington State refuge presents an arresting lesson in survival and what it means to be wild

Great apes, like us, react to a good scare.

New Research

Horror Films for Apes Are Teaching Scientists About Long-Term Memory

Eye tracking during scary shows helped scientists reveal that great apes can access memories of single significant events

Can Cypress Trees Help Suppress Wildfires?

Researchers in Italy and Spain suspect that cypress tree barriers could diffuse forest fires

It's OK, buddy. We're here to help.

New Research

Domestication Seems to Have Made Dogs a Bit Dim

Thanks to their relationship with us, dogs are less adept at solving tricky puzzles than their wolf relatives

Milk is udderly fascinating.

Seven of the Most Extreme Milks in the Animal Kingdom

A lactation expert breaks down why rhinos, rabbits and even pigeons produce their own special blends for babies

A mother hummingbird in Arizona incubates her eggs under the indirect protection of her neighborhood hawk.

New Research

Hawks Act as Unwitting Muscle for Hummingbirds

In Arizona, hummingbirds seem to deliberately seek out bodyguard hawks to shield them from nest-robbing jays

Why Puerto Rico's Killer Bees Stopped Killing

Upon their arrival in Puerto Rico, killer bees caused one human death a year. But something strange began to happen...they became gentler

The Andean cock-of-the-rock display is known for its unique mating behavior and is a favorite of birders.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

Why Birdwatchers Flock to Ecuador

Home to the highest density of bird species per acre on Earth, the country is a birder's paradise

The fossils, encased in rock and sediment, were collected from marine rocks that date to around six million years ago before the Isthmus of Panama formed and a seaway connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

New Species of Ancient Dolphin Shows How the Animals Moved From Seas to Rivers

The newly discovered fossil gives scientists a fresh glimpse into the evolution of ocean life

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