Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Science / Wildlife

Upon discovering Mr. Saddlebags, Aharoni gave them the name, oger. We know them, in English, as the Syrian hamster or, because it is now the most common hamster in the world, simply the hamster.

The Untold Story of the Hamster, a.k.a Mr. Saddlebags

The hamster may be ubiquitous now, but it was a pioneering scientist who brought the rodent into labs and homes across the world

Using motion-activated camera-traps, Smithsonian WILD captured unsuspecting animals, such as this snow leopard in China, from all over the world.

The Secret Lives of Animals Caught on Camera

Photographs shot by camera traps set around the world are capturing wildlife behavior never before seen by humans

None

Migrating Moths Can Travel As Fast As Songbirds

Birds beat moths in short sprints, but long distance is a different story

None

Quagga: The Lost Zebra

In South Africa, quaggas were hunted to extinction in the late 1800s

None

Wild Things: Giant Pandas, an Ancient Ibis and More…

Panda-friendly forests, one bizarre bird and foxes on junk food

The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is part of a rare African open wild land. The environment is so harsh that zebras have to cover a lot of ground to survive.

Nothing Can Stop the Zebra

A 150-mile fence in the Kalahari Desert appeared to threaten Africa’s zebras, but now researchers can breathe a sigh of relief

None

Biology’s Ten Worst Love Stories

Animal sex can get pretty weird

None

Wild Things: Great Whites, Tree Snakes, Drongos and More

These animals redefine life as we know it

Seldom-seen rulers of their wintry domain, lynx may face new threats.

Tracking the Elusive Lynx

Rare and maddeningly elusive, the “ghost cat” tries to give scientists the slip high in the mountains of Montana

Ferrets raised in captivity are getting a taste of what it takes to go wild.

Survival Training, Ferret Style

Before the captive animals can go free, they have to hone their killer instinct at a conservation center in Colorado

Page 114 of 143