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National Museum of Natural History

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How Leafcutter Ants and Other Culinary Creatures Prepare a Feast

Celebrate Thanksgiving with some of the animal kingdom’s greatest cooks, including marshmallow-roasting apes and salt-sprinkling monkeys

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Four Reasons Why There Is More to the Hummingbird Than Meets the Eye

This National Hummingbird Day, learn the buzz about these bizarre and beautiful birds

A black-and-orange orchard oriole perches on a bright red flower and uses its beak to peck at the petals.

A Bird in the Hand: How a Smithsonian Zoologist Spent the Pandemic Tracking Nectar-Robbing Orioles

During the pandemic shutdown, Gary Graves discovered his next research project in his own backyard

A flower with bright pink petals and a yellow interior blooms on the surface of a water near several green and brown lily pads.

New Smithsonian Exhibition Explores the Intersection of People and Nature

See the historic giant hornet ‘nest zero’ and explore how communities near and far interact with nature in ‘Our Places’

Several grey, white and orange king penguins perch on top of their eggs, which are snuggly sheltered under a flap of their flabby skin between their feet.

Get To Know the Natural World’s Most Devoted Dads

Celebrate Father’s Day with pudgy penguins, karate-kicking frogs and other dependable animal dads

Baby turtles emerge and scatter from a small hole in the sand

Meet Some of the Animal World’s Marvelous Moms

Celebrate Mother’s Day by exploring how five species look after their little ones

A gray and white bird perches among leafy branches

Celebrate Black Birders Week and More Natural History Programs This May

Tune into programs about ancient mummies, resilient coral and the evolution of skin tone

A small bonfire burns in the foreground with a sunset in the background.

Explore How Fire Shaped Human Evolution and More Natural History Programs This March

Tune in to programs on the future of biodiversity, how to talk about climate change and more through the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

A humpback whale breaches the surface of the ocean on a sunny day as three birds fly overhead.

10 Popular Scientific Discoveries From 2021

Read about the year's most attention-grabbing findings by scientists at the National Museum of Natural History

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 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.

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.

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.

Tens of millions of years of bird evolution guided some of the most important elements of human-powered flight. (Pixabay)

How We Lifted Flight from Bird Evolution

The path to flight in modern birds was full of forks, twists and dead ends.

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.

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.

Scientists use a California condor specimen from 1835 — part of the Smithsonian’s very first collection of items — to study the critically endangered species. Pictured: a young California condor in Pinnacles National Park. (Gavin Emmons)

How Scientists Still Use the Smithsonian’s First Collections, 175 Years Later

Historic museum specimens help us learn more about what a species once was like and what it could be like in the future.

The spectacled flowerpecker has been spotted eating mistletoe, a parasitic plant that grows high in Borneo’s forest canopy. The distinctive white markings around the eyes earned these birds their common name. (John Anderton)

Scientists Describe New Bird Species 10 Years After First Reported Sighting

In an article published today in the journal <i>Zootaxa</i>, Smithsonian researchers described the spectacled flowerpecker after a decade of only scattered sightings and photographs of the small gray birds.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History houses countless artifacts and specimens related to the American Presidency, like this meteorite which was presented to President Ulysses S. Grant by the Mexican government. (Paul Fetters for the Smithsonian)

Check Out These Unexpected Connections in Natural and Presidential History

To celebrate President’s Day, here are some of my favorite natural history artifacts and specimens that not only form the foundation for scientific discovery, but also reveal a piece of the American story.

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