Animals

The Melbourne Zoo welcomed three baby snow leopard cubs in February.

Celebrate Mother's Day With Nine Baby Animal Livestreams

This Sunday, celebrate the moms of the animal kingdom with kittens, polar bear cubs, eaglets and more

Male pug-nosed tree frogs confuse predators by overlapping their mating calls with those their neighbors.

Illusionist Frog Attracts Mates Without Unwanted Attention From Predators

The simultaneous mating calls of the male pug-nosed tree frog confuses bats but not female frogs

A Labrador retriever, but you probably knew that already, given that this pooch is America's most popular breed

Labrador Tops Most Popular Dog Breed List for 29th Year in a Row

The rankings stay much the same from year to year, but in 2019, Pembroke Welsh corgis broke the top ten for the first time

Through the Manta Trust's adoption program, donors can choose to adopt any one of a number of frequently sighted manta rays in the Maldives.

Ten Animals and Plants Around the World That You Can (Virtually) Adopt

While COVID-19 stymies travel, help conserve those things—from cacti to manta rays—that will beckon you later

Emily Simpson's character in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" shows off a diving beetle in front of the virtual museum.

Join a Smithsonian Entomologist and the Monterey Bay Aquarium for This Beetle-Centric 'Animal Crossing' Livestream

Airing on the aquarium's Twitch channel at 4 p.m. EST today, the two-hour session will focus on the video game's diverse insect population

Naked mole-rats pile on top of each other in large groups to sleep inside their nest. This behavior may help keep carbon dioxide levels high, lowering the animals' risk of seizure.

Naked Mole-Rats Bathe Their Bodies in Carbon Dioxide to Prevent Seizures

Expelled by animals as a waste product, the gas appears to play a crucial role in keeping these bizarre, burrowing rodents safe

A mule deer walks down the road in Yosemite Valley

With Humans Away, Animals in National Parks Are Having a Ball

Coyotes, bears and more are enjoying areas usually reserved for crowds of human visitors

Archaeologists say this inscription of an ibex may be up to 5,000 years old.

See Ancient Cave Art Found in Egypt's Sinai Desert

The carvings, which depict animals including camels, leopards, cows and mules, may date back to 3000 B.C.

A virtual tour isn't the same as an in-person experience, but it can still afford some great views.

Nostalgic for the North? Take a Virtual Dogsled Ride in Fairbanks, Alaska

Armchair travelers can also enjoy 360-degree views of the city's famed Northern Lights

Chincoteague ponies take a moment to graze after swimming across the Assateague Channel in 2015.

New Vaccine Offers Hope in Chincoteague Ponies' Battle Against Swamp Cancer

Over the past three years, the disease has claimed the lives of seven of the famously resilient ponies

Featured insects include the Picasso moth, the violin beetle, the green milkweed grasshopper and the cuckoo wasp.

The World's Most Interesting Insects

A new title from Smithsonian Books highlights the diversity of Earth's 10 to 100 million insect species

An artist's rendering of a fossil frog found on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Paleontologists Find Antarctica’s First Frog Fossil

The find could help pin down when the South Pole turned icy

Despite Their Differences, Dogs and Horses Find Common Ground in Play

Canine-equid pairs can mimic each other’s facial expressions during play, which has never been seen between animals of different species

Young leatherback sea turtles.

COVID-19 Restrictions May Boost Leatherback Sea Turtle Nesting

Beaches in Florida and Thailand have tentatively reported increases in nests, due to decreased human presence. But the trend won’t necessarily persist

Prickles, a barefaced merino sheep who went unshorn for seven years after fleeing her home in Tasmania during a spate of 2013 bushfires

Prickles the Sheep Returns Home After Seven Years on the Lam(b)

After missing years of shears, the voluminous creature had ballooned to about five times the size of a typical sheep

Some rough-skinned newts host bacteria on their skin that produce the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin to keep predators at bay.

Toxic Newts Use Bacteria to Become Deadly Prey

Scientists discover neurotoxin-producing bacteria living on the skin of rough-skinned newts

The list covers findings in biology, justice and human rights, the environment, and more.

Fifty Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since the First Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, Americans pledged environmental action for the planet. Here’s what scientists and we, the global community, have done since

Bald Eagles Found Nesting in Arizona Saguaro Cactus for First Time in Decades

The prickly perch is an exciting sign of success for the birds, which came off the endangered species list in 2007

7,000-year-old dog feces from China's Anhui province

Artificial Intelligence Gives Researchers the Scoop on Ancient Poop

The computer program can identify canine versus human feces based on DNA sequences in samples

A male lemur with clearly visible scent glands on its wrists.

For Male Lemurs, Love Stinks—and Scientists Now Know Why

A newly identified trio of chemicals may help the primates find a mate

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