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Science / Wildlife

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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Picture of the Week—Baby Gorilla

Did you hear? A western lowland gorilla named Mandara gave birth last Saturday at Smithsonian’s National Zoo

A US Air Force Boeing 707 disturbs a colony of sooty terns during takeoff.

The Perils of Bird-Plane Collisions

When airlines want to investigate dangerous bird strikes against planes, they turn to the head of the Smithsonian’s Feather Identification Lab

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George the Lobster Should Stay in Maine Waters

A couple of weeks ago, fishermen off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, pulled up a 20-pound lobster

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What Happens When You Remove the Cats From a Rabbit-Laden Island?

Australians of European descent might be forgiven for thinking they could turn the continent into another Europe

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Picture of the Week—Pink Iguana

If Charles Darwin had wandered up the side of the Volcan Wolf volcano in 1835, he might have spotted what is now known as the rosada (or pink) iguana

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Three New Marine Monuments in the Pacific

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Picture of the Week—Great Barrier Reef

When I visited friends in Australia earlier this year, I made visiting the Great Barrier Reef a priority

Foxes ate so many Aleutian cackling geese that by 1940, the birds were thought to be extinct.

Wild Goose Chase

How one man’s obsession saved an “extinct” species

A study shows that cabbage white butterflies with their hindwings removed could fly as far and as high as before.

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Butterflies, clicking antelopes, creatures of the deep and more

Biologist Eric Forsman was delighted that a breeding pair of wild spotted owls he has studied for years did it again (their 3-week-old hatchlings on a hemlock in Oregon this past May).

The Spotted Owl’s New Nemesis

An battle between environmentalists and loggers left much of the owl’s habitat protected. Now the spotted owl faces a new threat

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