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National Museum of Natural History

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Oregon But Not Forgotten: How Sea Otters Once Protected the State's Kelp Forests

For Sea Otter Day, learn how a suite of specimens featured in the museum’s upcoming “From These Lands” exhibition illustrate the intertwined nature of sea otters and giant kelp in the Pacific Northwest

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Here’s How the Smithsonian’s 70-Year-Old Bull Bison Got a Blow-Out

Conservators at the National Museum of Natural History recently spruced up a bison specimen for the new exhibition “Bison: Standing Strong”

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150-Year-Old Frogs Collected by a Founding Smithsonian Naturalist Helped 21st-Century Scientists Track How Pesticides Devastated Amphibian Populations in Illinois

In celebration of the upcoming Save the Frogs Day, learn how scientists used historic cricket frogs to connect hormone-altering industrial chemicals to amphibian declines in the Midwest

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The Smithsonian Curator Who Loved Frogs

As the first female curator of the National Museum of Natural History’s collection of amphibians and reptiles, Doris Cochran shaped herpetology at the museum and beyond

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Meet the Scientist Analyzing Historic Bison DNA to Understand How the Species Rebounded From the Edge of Extinction

Smithsonian researcher Sarah Johnson studies bison specimens to understand how the species’s genetic diversity changed after its decline

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Researchers Discover New Lineage of Critically Endangered Sunda Pangolins Using Scales in the Museum’s Collection

For world pangolin day, learn more about how genetic researchers helped pinpoint a hidden lineage of the critically endangered mammals

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Scientists Discover New Species of Poison Dart Frog with One-of-One Specimen Collected More than Sixty Years Ago

If not for a pair of Smithsonian scientists, the fingernail-size frog from Brazil would have likely gone extinct without ever being described

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A New Pterosaur, Ancient Asteroid Brine and More Discoveries from the National Museum of Natural History in 2025

The year’s most notable findings also include insights into dog and sheep domestication and a new species of manta ray in the museum’s collection

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How Did the Ostrich Cross the Ocean? Its Ancestors Flew There

A remarkable fossil in the National Museum of Natural History’s collection reveals that the ancestors of modern flightless birds were capable of flying long distances

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Ginseng Family Secrets, Super-Flexible Whale Jaw Joints and More in the National Museum of Natural History's Summer Summary

Explore a few exciting discoveries by museum researchers that you may have missed over the past few months

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Red or Black, but Nothing in Between: Multicolored Beaks Are a Big Turn Off for Female Jamaican Hummingbirds

Museum scientist Gary Graves has spent decades investigating why red-billed and black-billed streamertail hummingbirds remain distinct species despite on-going hybridization

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Meet the Scientist Who Discovered a New Genus of Curious Catfish Hiding in Colombia’s Most Endangered River

Museum ichthyologist Cristhian Conde-Saldaña uses evolutionary genetics to study freshwater fishes and document at-risk biodiversity

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To Correct Some Fishy Anatomy, Researchers at the National Museum of Natural History Get Inside the Head of a Coelacanth

The new work adds to the legacy of Dave Johnson, a long-time museum curator famed for his detail-oriented research on fishes

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Meet the Scientist Using Micro-CT Scans to Explore Big Questions About Evolution

Corinthia Black studies the anatomical features of fishes and spiders to understand how life on Earth takes shape

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How a 162-Year-Old Specimen Helped Prove the Existence of an ‘Incredulous’ Lizard Species

A serendipitous find in the National Museum of Natural History’s collections yielded just the second known specimen of a mysterious Cuban anole

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How Do You Clean an 11-Ton Elephant? One Brushstroke at a Time

The National Museum of Natural History recently spruced up its iconic African elephant mount, which has greeted visitors since 1959

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This Invasive Species Awareness Week, Learn How Museum Researchers Track the Rogue Wildlife Infiltrating American Ecosystems

From a beautiful fish that’s eating the Caribbean to a tiny bivalve with a huge impact, North America’s most notorious introduced species have reshaped the continent’s ecosystems

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Top Discoveries at the National Museum of Natural History in 2024

Fungus-farming ants, fossilized footprints and a prehistoric critter named after a Muppet are just a few of the year’s most notable findings

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To Understand How Species Evolve, Scientists Flock to Where Charismatic Birds Intermingle

For decades, researchers have explored a region in Panama that serves as a “manakin melting pot”

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Scientists at the National Museum of Natural History Discover Two Squirrel Species Long Obscured by Mistaken Identities

Using a variety of techniques, the researchers realized that two subspecies of squirrels from Southeast Asia were actually unique species in their own right

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