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Science / Wildlife

In a span of ten years, more than 1,000 species were discovered in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region.

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Mosquitoes, New Zealand flightless birds, pink lizards and more

They may not be beautiful, but geoducks fetch a pretty price.

Geoducks: Happy as Clams

In the Pacific Northwest, fishermen are cashing in on the growing yen for geoducks, a funny-looking mollusk turned worldwide delicacy

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The National Zoo Diet

Six-o-clock in the morning is when the action begins at the National Zoo. Think you’re grumpy without breakfast?

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Meerkats and Ground Squirrels Live Together, Respond to Threat Differently

Charles Darwin

Emotional Expression in Apes Going Ape

One of the big themes of this year’s AAAS meeting was—you guessed it— Charles Darwin

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Dispatch from AAAS—Big Fish and other Award-Winning Stories

This weekend, fellow blogger Sarah and I are writing from the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. It’s basically a greatest hits of science conference.

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Dispatch from AAAS—Origami and Objects that Cannot Exist

This weekend, blog overseer Laura and I are writing from the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. The press briefing began with four scientists gazing upwards

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Dispatch from AAAS—Naming the 1000th Steve

This weekend, blog overseer Laura and I are writing from the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago

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Dispatch from AAAS—The Greater Sage Grouse Fembot

This weekend, blog overseer Laura and I are writing from the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago

Soldier beetles mate on a bed of flowers.

The Curious Do’s and Don’ts of Insect Dating Behavior

Bugs tap, dance and buzz to attract their mates—and some get eaten

Black jaguars, like the cub on the left, have a mutation that causes them to produce more of the pigment melanin than spotted jaguars do.

Evolution in Black and White

The alternative color forms of some animals are providing new insights into how animals adapt and evolve

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Honeyeater birds, sea slugs, tree frogs, and more

"Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history," Darwin (c.1880) said of a future in which his hard-won findings would be tested.

What Darwin Didn’t Know

Today’s scientists marvel that the 19th-century naturalist’s grand vision of evolution is still the key to life

Once loathed as a "beast of waste," the gray wolf (in Yellowstone) is beloved by some as a symbol of unadulterated nature.

Wolves and the Balance of Nature in the Rockies

After years as an endangered species, the wolves are thriving again in the West, but they’re also reigniting a fierce controversy

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Picture of the Week — Emperor Penguins

Can cuteness save the Emperor penguin?

Domestic cats are the most popular pet in America, numbering some 80 million.

Cats as Pets and Predators

Jake Page explores the evolution and enigmatic ways of the most popular pet in America — the house cat

The Galapagos is no place for a mammal. But it's a great place to be a reptile. Land animals had to make the trip here via rafts of vegetation that broke loose from the mainland, which isn't so bad if you have scaly skin, are cold-blooded and can go for a long time without fresh water. A few rodents managed to colonize the islands, and there are some native bats, but reptiles rule. One of the weirdest reptiles is the marine iguana, the world's only seagoing lizard. It basks on lava rocks to warm up in the morning, then swims around in the surf eating seaweed. They get to be four feet long or more and look for all the world like Godzilla. Like other Galapagos creatures, they aren't particularly bothered by humans gawking at them.

A Naturalist’s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos

Smithsonian’s Laura Helmuth vacationed in the Galapagos Islands and returned with even more respect for Charles Darwin

After coming within 50 feet of several wolves, Frank Clifford understands why 100,000 people say they come to Yellowstone just to see wolves.

Frank Clifford on “Howling Success”

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How Many Ugandan Mountain Gorillas?

Mountain gorillas are rare and endangered, and they have the misfortune to live in a part of the world wracked by human violence

Wallace saw signs of evolution by natural selection in Malaysian butterflies.

Out of Darwin’s Shadow

Alfred Russel Wallace arrived at the theory of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin and nearly outscooped Darwin’s The Origin of Species

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