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National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

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To Restore Montana’s Prairie Streams, Smithsonian Researchers Are Thinking Like Beavers

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New DNA Monitoring Tool Enables Scientists to Identify Specific Animals by Their Feces

Horned lark chicks camouflaged in their nest on the ground in the Northern Great Plains

A Rare Look Inside the Nests of Declining Prairie Songbirds

Bobcat caught on camera trap walking through brush and scrub on Montana's grasslands

How I Study Elusive Prairie Bobcats

Swift fox pups huddled together at dusk on Montana's grasslands

Why Researchers Are Scouring Montana's Grasslands for Swift Fox Scat

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 bison on the Northern Great Plains.

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

A black-tailed prairie dog stands near its burrow.

Ecologists Dig Prairie Dogs, And You Should Too

Long-billed curlews are the largest shorebirds in North America, but they are only found along coasts during the winter. They spend their summers breeding in the grasslands of Montana.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Tracking the Long-billed Curlew

A bison crosses a coulee (a landform shaped by water drainage) during a freezing spring morning.

Studying Animals in Extreme Landscapes

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