Special Report

Planet Positive

From stories about rebounding endangered species to others about innovations that reduce our carbon footprint, these Smithsonian magazine dispatches show what's working in wildlife and environmental conservation.

A Hawaiian green sea turtle swims off Maui. Reinhard Dirscherl / ullstein bild via Getty Images

<p>Bald eagles are intensely social in spite of also being fierce predators. Some 500 live near the remote fishing port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska.</p>

The Bald Eagle's Soaring Return Shows That the U.S. Can Change for the Better

<p>Male Svalbard walruses cluster by the shore. Each weighs an average of about 3,000 pounds and is up to ten feet long.</p>

A Welcome Comeback for Norway's Walruses

<p>A rare sighting of a northern spring salamander on migration night. These nocturnal creatures spend their days hiding under logs and stones.</p>

Why Did the Salamander Cross the Road?

Featured Story

Lions spritzed with the hormone oxytocin stayed closer together.

Can Spraying Lions With the 'Love Hormone' Help Them Live Together?

Researchers administered oxytocin to captive animals, and preliminary results showed the big cats were less hostile towards strangers

More Science and Conservation Coverage

The gophers spend most of their time underground and only venture to the outside world to forage for food or mate.

Pocket Gophers May Be the First Non-Human Mammal to 'Farm'

Elizabeth Gamillo

Brooding requires a significant sacrifice for a mother Bathyteuthis berryi. Though she can't feed or quickly escape from predators while carrying her eggs, she can ensure her young stay in water that has the right temperature, salinity and oxygen levels.

Watch a Deep-Sea Squid Carry Hundreds of Pearl-Like Eggs

Elizabeth Gamillo

Despite only uncovering one bone, researchers were able to identify it as an abelisaurid by the distinct structures that stuck out on the top left and top right of the neck vertebrae called epipophyses. (Pictured: Graduate student, Belal Salem holding the neck vertebra of the unamed abelisaurid theropod found in the Bahariya Oasis)

New Dinosaur Species With Bulldog-Like Face Uncovered in Egypt

Elizabeth Gamillo

The "Gifts We Carry: Sounds of Migration and Memory” concert will combine musicians from several backgrounds and cultures, including Salar Nader on the tabla and Homayoun Sakhi, a master on the Afghan stringed instrument the rubab.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

After Long Absence, the Folklife Festival Returns to the National Mall

A female saltmarsh sparrow in a New Hampshire wetland is held by University of New Hampshire graduatet student Talia Kuras. The circular device reads the transponder-containing indentification tag on the bird's leg.

Saving the Imperiled Saltmarsh Sparrow

Text by Maddie Bender
Photograph by Lauren Owens Lambert