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Science / Wildlife

Blood-sucking kissing bugs carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease, a malady that plagues some 9 million people in Latin America.

New Research

A Blood-Sucking Foe Lurks in Central American Caves

Kissing bugs, which can spread Chagas disease, turned up positive for human blood meals in caves in Guatemala and Belize

Blue crabs crawl inside a bushel on a boat off the coast of the Smith Island town of Tylerton, Maryland.

Anthropocene

In 100 Years, Maryland’s Crab Cakes Might Be Shrimp Cakes

Rising temperatures and a more acidic ocean may spell trouble for the Chesapeake Bay’s iconic crabs, oysters and fish

The Biomuseo brightens the night sky

Frank Gehry’s Biomuseo in Panama, Finally Open for Business

The eye-popping structure devoted to the nation’s vibrant ecosystems makes its grand debut

A model of Spinosaurus, based on data published in Science today, gets rock star treatment at a National Geographic photo shoot. A feature story, including the image above, will appear in National Geographic's October issue.

New Research

Meet the Mighty Spinosaurus, the First Dinosaur Adapted for Swimming

A mysterious mustachioed man helped paleontologists piece together the life story of the long-lost, semi-aquatic “Egyptian spine lizard”

Sugar gliders, marsupials native to Australia.

Adorable Portraits Put Nocturnal Animals in the Spotlight

A new photo book showcases animals we humans rarely see—while a new study says we may have more in common with night-dwellers than thought

The cover of the 2014 State of the Birds 2014, the most extensive study of birds in the U.S. ever published.

The Most Extensive Report Ever on American Birds Says There’s Cause for Concern

Researchers from 23 groups just released the fifth State of the Birds report, which contains good and bad news

Matt Dean (left) and Jim Dines (right) analyzed pelvic bones of whales and dolphins from 29 different species.

New Research

Promiscuous Whales Make Good Use of Their Pelvises

Hips don’t lie: Whale pelvic bones are not vestigial but instead evolved to help the marine mammals maneuver better during sex

An inlaid alabaster unguent jar in the form of an ibex, with one natural horn, was found in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Anthropocene

Egypt’s Mammal Extinctions Tracked Through 6,000 Years of Art

Tomb goods and historical texts show how a drying climate and an expanding human population took their toll on the region’s wildlife

A coffee roaster does a taste test in Los Angeles.

New Research

Five Coffee Mysteries the Bean’s Genes May Crack

The newly sequenced coffee genome might reveal the origins of caffeine and pave the way for better-tasting, healthier brews

The oaten pipes hydroid (Tubularia indivisa) is a small colonial predator native to the North Atlantic.

Art Meets Science

College Students Studied These Mail-Order Sea Creatures in the Late 1800s

Restored glass models of marine invertebrates, made by artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, are on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Introducing Dendrogramma, a deep sea creature that resembles a mushroom but has more affinity to a jellyfish.

New Research

Deep-Sea Mushroom Creatures Found Off Australia

Neither fungi nor fish, these oddball organisms collected in 1986 may represent an early branch on the tree of life

A wolf yawning in the snow near Hesse, Germany.

New Research

Yawning Spreads Like a Plague in Wolves

Evidence of contagious yawning in chimps, dogs and now wolves suggests that the behavior is linked to a mammalian sense of empathy

For the first time in more than a decade, bison will roam at the National Zoo.

The Historic Return of the American Bison

A National Zoo exhibition featuring the animal, long tied to Smithsonian history, opens Saturday

How Does Bao Bao Celebrate Her Birthday? With Cake, Bamboo and Hundreds of Fans

The National Zoo hosted a traditional Chinese ceremony for the giant panda’s first birthday

Photos of two queen ants (left, the host species Mycocepurus goeldii and right, the parasitic species Mycocepurus castrator) shown side-by-side represent what may be an example of sympatric speciation—when a new species develops in the same geographic area with its sister species, but reproduces on its own.

This Ant Species May Support a Controversial Theory on Evolution

New research suggests that species don’t have to be geographically separated in order to evolve

From the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

100 Years After Her Death, Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon, Still Resonates

The famed bird now finds itself at the center of a flap over de-extinction

A dense flock of starlings in the sky above Rome.

How Just One Bird Can Urge an Entire Flock to Change Directions

The equations that describe these movements are equivalent to those that govern waves

A bold conservation vision calls for a return to the South’s once-vast longleaf pine forests.

Can the World Really Set Aside Half of the Planet for Wildlife?

The eminent evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson has an audacious vision for saving Earth from a cataclysmic extinction event

Celebrate Bao Bao’s Birthday With a Party and This Recap of Her First Year

Hot off her recent win in the Smithsonian Summer Showdown, D.C.’s favorite panda celebrates her first birthday on August 23

An urban spider hangs out in downtown Los Angeles.

New Research

Friendly Neighborhood Spiders Get Bigger in Cities

A study of orb-weaving spiders in Australia shows a correlation between urbanization and fatter arachnids

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