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Science / Wildlife

Luna in Vancouver Island's Nootka Sound

Whale of a Tale

When Luna, a people-loving orca, chose Vancouver Island’s Nootka Sound for his home, he set in motion a drama of leviathan proportions

Fighting For Foxes

A disastrous chain of events nearly wiped out California’s diminutive island fox. Scientists hope it’s not too late to undo the damage

California Condor at San Diego Zoo

Becoming a Full-Fledged Condor

The California condor learns from people, other condors and the school of hard knocks

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Pizza Park

Sure, the new Kids’ Farm at the National Zoo will be educational, but a giant rubber pizza and a “caring corral” will make it also a place for fun

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Saving the Raja’s Horse

British horsewoman Francesca Kelly brings India’s fiery Marwari to the United States in hopes of reviving the breed

Situated on the Atlantic migratory route, New Jersey ranks among the nation's top birding states. More than 450 species have been documented there, including, the marsh wren (above).

Birds of a Feather

Scores of teams battle for fame and glory in the no-holds-barred World Series of Birding

Some boaters complain of too many manatees. But biologists (such as Cathy Beck, with some of the 100,000 manatee photos in the U.S.G.S.'s archive) say there may be too few.

Fury Over a Gentle Giant

Floridians raise a ruckus over manatees as biologists weigh prospects for the endangered species’ survival

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Sleepless in Hawaii

Insomniac islanders are hopping mad over a tiny frog from that threatens their fragile ecosystem

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To Catch A Thief

When biologists study food theft among endangered roseate terns, they find that crime most definitely pays

The hall combines natural history with state-of-the-art technology.

New Hall on the Mall

A dazzling exhibition space celebrates mammalian diversity through re-creations of habitats on four continents

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Ouch!

A new finding that fish feel pain has set off a tortured debate about the ethics of angling

Terrestrial creatures (a forest crab in a defensive pose) were not easily confined for photographing.

Portraits in the Wild

In an unexplored region of Africa’s Atlantic coast, an innovative photographer captures Gabon’s bountiful wildlife

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Talking to Horses

Stanford Addison uses intuition, compassion and persistence to “break” wild horses

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True or False? Extinction Is Forever

Researchers’ efforts to clone the vanished Tasmanian tiger highlight the quandary of reviving long-gone creatures

Kandula frolicking with mother Shanthi at the National Zoo at 8 months.

Great Expectations

Elephant researchers believe they can boost captive-animal reproduction rates and reverse a potential population crash in zoos

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Mystery Bumps

Scientists knew that alligators’ jaws are covered in bumps but it took biologist Daphne Soares to figure out why

MODIS image of the Arctic

Exotic Climes

Going the extra mile for bears and bats

Bringing Up Baby

Scientists zero in on the caring and cunning ways of a seldom-seen waterbird

Having stopped a mother bear with a tranquilizer dart shot from the helicopter, Derocher (with Andersen, left, and Instanes, on Spitsbergen Island) tethers the cubs and takes tissue samples to gauge the mother's exposure to industrial chemicals like PCBs.

Bear Trouble

Only hundreds of miles from the North Pole, industrial chemicals threaten the Arctic’s greatest predator

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To the Rescue

Las Vegas showman Jonathan Kraft went from riches to rags to turn a patch of Arizona desert into a refuge for abused and abandoned exotic animals

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