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National Museum of Natural History

Headshot of a person under a canopy wearing a headlamp and holding a bat in gloved hands near their face

Get to Know the Biologist Who Identifies Bats by the Color of Their Poop

Melissa Ingala studies how the bacteria living in bat guts help them stay healthy

Red xray of a fish on black background.jpg

Meet the Expert Studying Fishes That Spit Water to Hunt

Smithsonian Ichthyologist Matt Girard talks about how and why he studies archerfishes.

Male acorn woodpeckers, like the one on the left, have more offspring over their lives when they’re polygamous, according to new research. (Vivek Khanzode)

Study Finds Polygamy Helps Male Acorn Woodpeckers Thrive

The findings could help scientists learn more about how social behaviors evolved in other animals

The vast diversity of anole lizards found throughout the Americas helps scientists understand what factors drive the evolution of life. (goatling, CC BY 2.0)

Say Hello to the Scientist Using Lizard Limbs to Unlock Evolution's Secrets

For this month's Meet a SI-entist, we caught up with Kevin de Queiroz to talk about the evolution of lizard legs and the joys of unplanned discoveries

Climate change is causing oceans to warm, which in turn affects fish and fishers. Now, scientists are turning towards management strategies to protect species and the industry. (Claudio Contreras-Koob/International League of Conservation Photographers)

Why Fishes are the Catch of the Day for Climate Research

Fishery management systems can teach scientists how fish can be raised sustainably in wild fisheries.

Researchers study burial sites like the Falcon Necropolis at Quesna to learn more about ancient Egyptian culture and biodiversity. The site is protected by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. (Joanne Rowland)

Mummified Shrew Discovery Unearths Ancient Egypt’s Wetter Climate

A mummified shrew found at Quesna suggests that ancient Egypt's environment was once more wet than it is now.

The National Museum of Natural History’s 146 million objects and specimens are studied by researchers worldwide who are looking to understand all aspects of the natural world. (Chip Clark, Smithsonian)

How Museum Collections Advance Knowledge of Human Health

The National Museum of Natural History's collections are important sources of information for scientific research on health and medicine.

Sylvester Musembi Musyoka, a Kenyan colleague and field crew leader, recording a large mammal fossil bone during a virtual field project to collect fossils in Kenyan excavation sites that were in danger of being damaged by severe weather. (Nzioki Mativo/Smithsonian)

How the Pandemic Changed Scientific Exploration

How seven Smithsonian scientists continued to discover the secrets of the natural world safely during the pandemic

Scientists described a new species of Bryde’s-like whale using the skeleton of a whale that washed ashore in the Florida Everglades in 2019 and is now part of the Smithsonian’s marine mammals collection. (NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC Permit No. 779-1633-0)

Scientists Describe New Species of Rare Bryde’s Whale

The study shows that the oceans still harbor many secrets that we might not realize we’re losing.

The broad-tailed hummingbird uses its fiery throat feathers, called a gorget, to attract a mate. (Kati Fleming, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Eight of Nature’s Wildest Mating Rituals

From aerial acrobatics to sexual deception and physical battles, some species have developed more unusual rituals to show off their prowess as a potential mate.

The Tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, is a unique reptile found in New Zealand. New research suggests the species has two mitochondrial genomes. (Robert Sprackland)

Intern Helps Find First Vertebrate With Two “Powerhouse” Genomes

The research could help zoologists understand what makes tuataras so genetically different from all other reptiles.

The Volta’s electric eel, Electrophorus voltai, emits the strongest shocks of any animal on Earth. Although these eels were thought to be loners, the species was recently seen hunting in a group. (L. Sousa)

Shocking Study Finds Electric Eels Hunt Together

The study challenges what researchers know about eels’ supposed loner behavior.

By studying recent mass extinctions on islands like Hawaii, Dr. Helen James is painting a picture of bird biodiversity today. Her research involves digging up fossils in caves to study bygone species, like the Kioea. (Johnny Gibbons)

Meet One of the Curators Behind the Smithsonian’s 640,000 Birds

Dr. Helen James' work on avian extinction helps scientists understand how bird species today respond to threats like human encroachment and environmental change.

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History sequenced the genomes of 363 bird species in 2020. (Brian Schmidt, Smithsonian)

10 Popular Scientific Discoveries from 2020

Here are some of 2020’s most popular discoveries involving scientists from the National Museum of Natural History.

Plants and animals around the globe use a wide variety of evolutionary strategies to survive harsh winters.

How Seven of Nature’s Coolest Species Weather the Cold

Check out these unexpected adaptations to extreme cold.

Scientists discovered a new species of odd-scaled burrowing snakes in northern Vietnam. (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists)

Rare Iridescent Snake Discovered in Vietnam

The discovery could help scientists piece together new information about snake evolution.

The Smithsonian’s Division of Birds provided about 40% of the tissue samples for the new bird genomes in a landmark study. (James Di Loreto, Smithsonian)

Landmark Study Shares Smithsonian Bird DNA Collected Over Three Decades

A new study in Nature published the genomes — the complete DNA sequences — of 363 species of birds, opening the door for hundreds of new studies.

From leaf-engineering to complex social circles, there’s more to bats than flying and echolocation. (Charles J Sharp)

Five Reasons to Love Bats

For Bat Week this year, we rounded up five reasons to love and conserve these misunderstood mammals.

While digging through decaying carcasses, vultures expose themselves to dangerous pathogens. Gary Graves studies the unique microorganisms in the guts of these birds that help them resist infections. (Joyce Cory)

Meet the Scientist Studying Vulture Guts for Clues to Disease Immunity

We caught up with the Smithsonian's curator of birds for “Meet a SI-entist” to talk about what makes vultures lovable, curating the National Bird Collection and co-organizing ornithology’s most ambitious project.

Smithsonian anthropologists hold up the world’s longest beard after it was donated to the National Museum of Natural History in 1967. (Smithsonian)

Five of Nature’s Best Beards for World Beard Day

Humans aren’t the only bearded beasts. In the sea, the sky and the land between, organisms sport bristles, fuzz and fur of all styles. Instead of splitting hairs over what type of beard is best, here are five of nature’s finest.

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