Animals

Toystory the Bull Fathered 500,000 Cows Before He Died

Toystory, a Wisconsin “dream bull,” had more than half a million offspring at last count and is the stuff of legend.

One Orangutan Has Learned to Sound Just Like Us

This defies scientists’ former assumption that great apes just couldn’t learn new calls

The Academy's live Lexias pardais with gynandromorphism

A Museum’s Butterfly Emerged Half Male, Half Female

The rarity is like a natural experiment that tells scientists how genes and hormones interact to produce different sexes

Monkeys Can Learn to Recognize Themselves in the Mirror

Generations of monkeys had tried and failed a classic test of intelligence, but the fault may have been in the way humans thought of the test

Fossils Show How Flying Fish Started to Glide

In the quest to avoid being eaten, some fish took a leap into the open air

The world's six known punked out snail species, which have mohawk-like spikes, acidic-dyed psychedelic colors and hardcore shells that are falling apart.

New Deep-Sea Snails Are Nature’s Own Punk Rockers

The spikes on one hardcore species inspired scientists to name it after Joe Strummer of the Clash, who was also an ardent environmentalist

L. larvaepartus (male, left, and female) from Indonesia is the only frog ever discovered to birth live tadpoles.

This Exotic Frog Skips the Eggs, Gives Birth to Live Tadpoles

The species is one of just a handful of frogs that use internal fertilization, and the only one found that births tadpoles

Where the Buffalo Roam: Illinois

American bison are back in Illinois for the first time in 200 years

Dumpling squid don't let danger stop them from mating.

Threat of Being Eaten Doesn’t Deter Dumpling Squid From Sex

The adorable cephalopods seem to rate mating higher on their list of priorities than survival

Our Answers to the Most Burning Questions of 2014

Here are the ten most popular installments of "Ask Smithsonian" this year

Arachnophobia, coral reefs, artificial cells and strange amphibians starred in some of this year's science finds you might have missed.

Ten Cool Science Stories You May Have Missed in 2014

ICYMI, there's a newfound coral reef in Iraq, the smallest force has been detected and more in this year's surprising science

Ants Usually Turn Left While Exploring

It's a sinister version of human's tendency towards right-handedness

Get a good look at Sinea incognita, a newly recognized species of assassin bug.

Meet the Stealthiest Assassin Bug in the United States

The unique and secretive species has been living among us unrecognized for a century

A Persian leopard cub at Zoo Augsburg in Germany

By Keeping Poachers Out, Mine Fields Give Endangered Animals Somewhere to Hide

The heavily-mined Iran-Iraq border is a sanctuary for the Persian leopard

Sandra, covered with a blanket, gestures inside its cage at Buenos Aires' Zoo, December 8, 2010.

Argentinian Orangutan Is "Non-Human Person," Says Court

Being in the zoo impinges on her freedom

Why a Tanzanian Village Chased Six Elephants Off a Cliff

Not all animal killings are linked to the illegal wildlife trade

Aspidoscelis neavesi, a species unlike any other.

This New Lizard Species Evolved in a Lab

The novel reptile shows that hybrids can indeed lead to viable species, but not by the normal reproductive route

At 26,700 Feet, This Is the Deepest-Swimming Fish Known

Researchers found a new fish in the depths of the Mariana Trench

Eurasian lynx playing in the snow in Germany.

Europe Is a Great Place to Be a Large Meat-Eater

In a rare success story for wildlife, bears, lynx, wolverine and wolves are increasing in numbers across the continent

How to Create a Virtual Organism

Through OpenWorm, scientists are hoping to allow anyone with a computer to unlock the secrets of animal behavior

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