Animals

An inlaid alabaster unguent jar in the form of an ibex, with one natural horn, was found in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Egypt’s Mammal Extinctions Tracked Through 6,000 Years of Art

Tomb goods and historical texts show how a drying climate and an expanding human population took their toll on the region’s wildlife

Cockatoos Learn to Use Tools by Watching Each Other

With a teacher, Goffin cockatoo learn to use new tools more quickly

The oaten pipes hydroid (Tubularia indivisa) is a small colonial predator native to the North Atlantic.

College Students Studied These Mail-Order Sea Creatures in the Late 1800s

Restored glass models of marine invertebrates, made by artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, are on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

A wild boar mama in Germany.

Radioactive Boars Are Roaming Around Germany

The boar's meat is too contaminated from Chernobyl's radiation to be fit for human consumption

RIP Sexy Space Geckos

The five geckos sent to space have all died

Whale-Watching Can Actually Be Harmful To Whales

Ecotourism can give people a closer look at wildlife, but in the case of whales, it could also harm the wildlife they're looking at

A wolf yawning in the snow near Hesse, Germany.

Yawning Spreads Like a Plague in Wolves

Evidence of contagious yawning in chimps, dogs and now wolves suggests that the behavior is linked to a mammalian sense of empathy

For the first time in more than a decade, bison will roam at the National Zoo.

The Historic Return of the American Bison

A National Zoo exhibition featuring the animal, long tied to Smithsonian history, opens Saturday

Shrek the sheep (seen here in 2004) held the record for wooliest sheep

Tasmanian Sheep May Be Wooliest In World

Shaun the sheep might beat out the previous champ, Shrek, as the world's wooliest sheep

How Does Bao Bao Celebrate Her Birthday? With Cake, Bamboo and Hundreds of Fans

The National Zoo hosted a traditional Chinese ceremony for the giant panda’s first birthday

Oregon Animals Now Have Some Basic Rights Formerly Reserved for Humans

Crimes against animals can't be lumped all together—each animal victim has to be recognized individually

Elephant Poachers Also Targeting Vultures

Vultures are being targeted by elephant poachers in Africa

Geckos Can Control the Movement of Their Toe Hairs

Geckos take advantage of van der Waals forces to run across ceilings, but a simple shift allows them to drop to the ground

Some Zoo Grass Is Electrified

Some zoo landscaping is designed to keep the animals within their cages, not for them to interact with

Changila, a male elephant who was later killed by poachers near Samburu National Reserve in Kenya.

Surprise! Science Shows That Elephant Poaching Is Unsustainable

For the first time, scientists have made a comprehensive tally of illegal killing rates across Africa

David Graham, rear, with John Tee-Van, front, with one of the young pandas.

How an American Missionary Helped Capture the First Panda Given to the U.S.

"Missionaries sometimes have to tackle strange and unusual jobs," David Graham wrote.

An artist's interpretation of what Hallucigenia sparsa looked like.

This Weird, 500 Million-Year-Old Spiky Worm With Legs Actually Has a Descendant

Modern-day velvet worms' jaws are repurposed former claws

How to Charm Worms Out of the Ground

The art of worm grunting

An olinguito in Tandayapa, Ecuador

One Year After Discovery, Crowdsourcing the Olinguito

A year ago, researchers discovered a rare new species. That was just the beginning

A mountain lion kitten in Malibu Creek State Park.

The Real Cougars of Malibu Have Lives Full of Murder, Bad Sex and Poison

But a simple bridge over the freeway could help save the charismatic big cats

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