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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

Smithsonian researcher Maya Rayle is studying whether artificial beaver dams can revive the stream valleys of the Great Plains.

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To Help Save Wildlife, Ecologists Learn A.I. Skills at the National Zoo’s Science Campus

In a unique class hosted at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, early-career ecologists learned to apply emerging technologies to power conservation breakthroughs.

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Small Stories, Big Science: 2025 in Review at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute

A collection of short highlights from our year in conservation science work.

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The Animal Care Stories That Shaped 2025 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

We’ve gift-wrapped a few short highlights that capture the spirit of the year in animal care.

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

Scientists from the Smithsonian have successfully used swift fox droppings to identify individual animals and collect other data vital to monitoring a reintroduced population in Montana.

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A New Leap in the Fight to Save Frogs

Scientists identify best practices for reintroduction of endangered and extinct amphibians in a new publication.

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After An Insect Detox, Can Once-Poisonous Frogs Get Their Spice Back?

Poison frogs living in human care aren’t poisonous, thanks to a “detox” diet of mild insects, like crickets and fruit flies. Can adding alkaloids to a frog’s diet help it regain its toxins and get its “spice” back?

Cheetah mother and cubs huddled together in the grass

Meet the Small but Mighty Microbiomes

Trillions of microscopic bacteria play an important role in keeping animals healthy

A male Guam kingfisher bird wearing a transmitter on its back is held gently in an animal keeper's gloved hand

Scientists Are Using 3-D-Printing Technology to Ready Guam Kingfishers for Reintroduction to the Wild

'Test flights' using replica transmitters will help scientists select the best option for siheks

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

It can take hours to find the well-hidden nests of migratory birds on the Northern Great Plains

Close-up of a Kirtland's warbler songbird

A Day in the Life of a Conservation Biologist in Search of a Rare Songbird’s Nest

In Michigan’s jack pine forests, researchers spend hours on the lookout for Kirtland's warblers

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

How I Study Elusive Prairie Bobcats

Camera traps reveal how bobcats navigate the Northern Great Plains

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

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

Scientists can learn a lot from what an animal leaves behind

Long-billed curlew in flight

GPS Tracking Technology Allows Scientists to Fly With Curlews on Their Epic Migrations

Researchers are unraveling the mystery of how migratory birds achieve their amazing flights

A bison on the Northern Great Plains.

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

From May to August, I spent most days observing a herd of about 300 bison in Montana.

researcher Tremie Gregory climbs high up a tree in Peruvian Amazon rainforest to set up a camera trap

How Scientists Are Uncovering the Secrets of Life in the Rainforest Canopy

Camera trap photos show arboreal animals living hundreds of feet above the ground

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