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National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

The cassowary's helmet-like casque is made of keratin, the same material that makes up our hair and fingernails.

Meet Cassowary Brothers Irwin and Dundee, Descendants of Dinosaurs

A 17-year Brood X cicada.

Will 17-year Cicadas Be a Buffet or Big Disturbance for Birds?

Common yellowthroats, like the one pictured here, spend their winters in coffee growing regions in Latin America.

Birders Want You to Rethink Your Morning Roast

This 17-year Brood X cicada nymph is one step away from adulthood. After emerging from the dirt, cicadas typically crawl up the base of a tree to complete their final molt, expand their wings and fly away.

Cicada Snacks: The Wild (and Tasty) Side of Brood X at the Zoo

A sea lion at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

5 Free Programs Streaming for Earth Week

This leaf-tailed gecko hatchling receives his medication from a syringe, which he laps up with his impressive tongue.

How Do You Give Medicine to Zoo Animals?

Western lowland gorilla Baraka forages in the outdoor gorilla habitat at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. The silverback takes mealtime seriously, say his keepers.

How Do You Help a Gorilla With a Toothache?

A female ruby-throated hummingbird sips nectar from a flower.

How Do You Weigh a Hummingbird?

The first cheetah cub born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute celebrated his 10th birthday last year, marking a decade of the facility's successful cheetah breeding program.

5 Milestones from a Decade of Cheetah Breeding and Conservation

January was a month full of firsts for giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji. The growing bear played with enrichment toys, took his first bites of sweet potato and bamboo, and had his first encounter with snow!

January's Best Giant Panda Moments—In Video

Reptile keepers are warming up to a new monitor lizard this winter, a young Komodo dragon named Onyx.

Caring for Komodo Dragons, the World's Largest Lizards

In the midst of the pandemic, as the story goes, a team set out to bring swift foxes back to a land they had disappeared from more than 50 years ago.

How Tribes and Conservation Partners are Bringing Swift Foxes Back to Their Historic Range

A cheetah cub at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia.

8 Aww-Inspiring Videos of the Year's Best Animal and Conservation Stories

A sanderling, Aldrin, is one of the shorebirds being cared for by the Smithsonian's National Zoo's Bird House team.

Is the Secret to Saving Migratory Birds in the Meal Prep?

Tasi is a 4-year-old Guam rail and a marvel, considering that just a few decades ago his species nearly disappeared.

Meet Tasi, a Little Bird with a Big Purpose

A bison on the Northern Great Plains.

I Spent the Summer Studying a Herd of Bison, And Here’s What I Learned

The Peruvian tern's desert camouflage makes it almost impossible to track, but that’s exactly what our research team set out to do. It would take us four months to survey more than 1,851 acres for the bird, battling sandstorms, stifling heat and impossible landscapes inside Paracas National Reserve — terrain that the tern has mastered.

Searching for the Invisible, Invincible Peruvian Tern

This young Hartmann's mountain zebra colt, born in July 2020, was a first for the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

Our 3-month-old Zebra Colt is Earning His Stripes, One Butterfly and Biscuit at a Time

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The Unexpected Arrival of a Teeny, Tiny (and Critically Endangered) Spider Tortoise

A 28-day-old female Guam kingfisher chick at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

Raising One of the World's Rarest Birds

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