Wildlife

A hammerhead caught on a longline.

Is It Too Late to Save Red Sea Sharks?

With anti-fishing laws virtually unenforced, sharks off the coast of Saudi Arabia are being fished to death

Researchers fear that these normal monk seal encounters could soon grow deadly.

Why Rare Hawaiian Monk Seals Are Lining Up to Get Their Shots

Fearing devastating disease, researchers are vaccinating a wild marine mammal for the first time

Timelapse Footage of a Giant Caterpillar Weaving Its Cocoon

For six weeks, luna moth caterpillars gorge themselves on the leaves of the marula tree. Then, when they're ready, they instinctively weave giant cocoons

The lowly urban rat deserves our attention.

In Defense of Studying City Rats

By placing a taboo on researching these “disease sponges,” we leave ourselves at their mercy

Why Do Giraffes Have Patches?

The dark patches on a giraffe's body hide an intricate network of blood vessels and glands. These allow blood to flow through them, releasing heat

After just moments in the air, flight 1549 collided with a flock of geese.

Smithsonian Expert Fills in the Missing Science Behind the Movie “Sully”

Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove shares her story of analyzing the bird remains or “snarge” scraped from the engines of flight 1549

Cameras Capture a Hornet Hatching Up-Close

After two weeks of encasement, it's time for the larvae, now adult hornets, to leave their silk cocoons. Get an intimate look at the moment one hatches

Like humans, captive Komodo dragons tend to impose their microbes upon their environments.

Captive Komodo Dragons Share Their Teeming Microbiome with Their Environment, Just Like Us

Komodos could be the perfect model for studying host-microbe interactions

Dennis Wiist inspects an eagle's foot at the National Eagle Repository in Commerce City, Colorado.

Inside a Remarkable Repository that Supplies Eagle Parts to Native Americans and Science

The repository, which has long provided feathers to tribes for traditional uses, also helps bird conservation researchers

Two Giant Killer Hornet Colonies Battle to the Death

A giant killer hornet war is waged between two colonies, and the resources, territories, and survival of a new generation are at stake

These glow-in-the-dark roaches have the goods.

I Am Officially in Love With Cockroaches

And after you read this, you will be too

The Dog Aging Project Wants to Help Your Pet Live Longer

Biologists at the University of Washington are launching a long-term study that involves testing medications that could enhance dogs' life spans

Incredible: Five Lions Take Down a Giraffe

Free from their mother's care, five young lions must fend for, and feed, themselves. Their first challenge: a giant giraffe who refuses to be caught

In the past few weeks, thousands of fish have gone belly-up.

The Massive Yellowstone Fish Die-Off: A Glimpse Into Our Climate Future?

This unprecedented kill reveals why we need to keep rivers resilient

Bei Bei visits the vet.

A Beary Happy First Birthday to Bei Bei. Unbearably Cute Celebrations Are in Store

America's sweetheart celebrates his birthday this weekend at the National Zoo

Canada

This 400-mile Trail Between the U.S. and Canada Was Planned by a Moose

The new trail will stretch from the Adirondacks in New York to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario

Just a handful of key animals—mostly charismatic megafauna and a few economically important species—make up the bulk of conservation research efforts.

Scientists Know They Should Really Study Important Bugs but OMG a Baby Cheetah

In conservation science, the cutest animals still get all the attention

Ostrich Feather Hat, 1910-1912

100 Years Later, the First International Treaty to Protect Birds Has Grown Wings

The U.S. and Canada celebrate the centennial of an agreement recognizing that birds see no borders

A nesting male with a female in his nest.

New Research

Give it Up, Sneaky Males: These Lady Fish Have You Outwitted

Female ocellated wrasses have developed a surprising trick to control who fathers their offspring

The fossil Arktocara yakataga (resting on an 1875 ethnographic map of Alaska) belonged to a dolphin that swam in subarctic marine waters around 25 million years ago.

Smithsonian Researchers Uncover Extinct, Ancient River Dolphin Fossil Hiding in Their Own Collections

Sometimes, paleontologists don’t have to go into the field to discover a tantalizing new species

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