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Africa

Research suggests that elephants use certain plants for medicinal purposes.

When Some Elephants Raid Farms, They Might Not Be After a Snack. They Could Be Looking for Medicinal Plants

A recent study suggests that the large mammals may seek out parts of bananas and papayas when they’re suffering from gut parasites, sparking a cross-species exchange of pharmaceutical knowledge

Black soldier fly larvae grow in a high-tech facility at Innovafeed in Nesle, France. The company, which also has a facility in Decatur, Illinois, is the world’s largest producer of black soldier fly larvae.

Maggots Are an Incredibly Efficient Source of Protein, Which May Make Them the Next Superfood for Humans

Inexpensive to raise and insatiably hungry for trash, black soldier fly larvae are already on the menu for livestock, pets and, maybe soon, people

Five quartz arrowheads unearthed in South Africa contained traces of toxins.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Just Discovered the Oldest Known Evidence of Poison Arrows, Which Hunters Used to Slow Down Their Prey 60,000 Years Ago

New research reveals traces of plant toxins on arrow tips in South Africa, suggesting that the technique was used tens of thousands of years earlier than scientists thought

Bones from a chimpanzee on the left, Sahelanthropus tchadensis in the center, and an Australopithecus species on the right

New Fossil Analysis Suggests This Seven-Million-Year-Old Primate Walked on Two Legs, Potentially Making It the Oldest Known Human Ancestor

Fresh findings about arm and leg bones advance the debate over whether Sahelanthropus tchadensis was bipedal, but not everyone is convinced

People look on as fireworks light up the sky during the reopening ceremony of the National Museum in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on December 12, 2025.

Fourteen Years After Gaddafi’s Fall, Libya Reopens Its National Museum to Much Fanfare

Among the museum’s artifacts, which were hidden during the long closure, are a 5,400-year-old mummy and remnants from the Roman Empire’s North African cities

A rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) in Hluhluwe, South Africa, performs a threat display. These snakes tend to live on the edges of human communities.

The High-Stakes Quest to Make Snakebites Survivable Took Leaps Forward This Year, With Promising New Avenues to Safer Antivenoms

A wave of fresh science is challenging a century-old treatment and offering hope to the people snakebites harm most—often far from hospitals and help

The Hayli Gubbi volcano in the rural northeast of Ethiopia erupted November 23.

Ethiopian Volcano Erupts for the First Time in Nearly 12,000 Years of Scientific Records

The plume from the Hayli Gubbi volcano drifted east over the Arabian Sea and extended roughly 2,200 miles

The new research may help scientists and conservationists better monitor African lion populations. 

Listen to a Lion’s Second Type of Roar, Which Was Just Discovered by Scientists

Researchers uncovered the previously unknown vocalization while creating an algorithm that can identify and monitor lions based on audio recordings

Hyper-realistic reconstructions of Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy foreground, Selam background) by Élisabeth Daynès in the National Museum’s “People and Their Ancestors” exhibition, Prague

Meeting Lucy: How a World-First European Exhibition Brought Visitors Face to Face With the Fossil That ‘Shrinks Time’

Two Australopithecus fossils named Lucy and Selam made a rare trip out of Ethiopia for a 60-day display at the National Museum in Prague

A population of black-and-white ruffed lemurs on Madagascar is experiencing changes in the cadence of its breeding, researchers say.

Lemurs Are Having a Mysterious ‘Baby Boom’ in Madagascar. Here’s Why That Might Not Be a Good Thing

Researchers are investigating a sudden spike in pregnancies in one black-and-white ruffed lemur population that might signal environmental stress to the mammals

Two chimpanzees sit in the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, where the study took place.

Chimpanzees Weigh Evidence to Make a Smart Choice, in a Process Resembling Human Rationality

When presented with multiple clues about the location of food, chimps revised their choices based only on stronger clues, indicating they were comparing the worth of pieces of information

Researchers have developed a promising new antivenom effective against more than a dozen venemous snake species, according to trials in mice.

Researchers Create a New Antivenom That Can Combat Bites From 17 Snake Species, Trials in Mice Suggest

Snakebites are among the deadliest neglected tropical diseases, and scientists have long been searching for more effective ways to prevent their devastating effects

Camel racing is a popular past-time among people in areas of Inner Mongolia. This rider is dressed in traditional attire.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

See 15 Remarkable Photographs of Camera-Ready Camels

Join these caravanners on a scenic journey across the desert from snapshots taken by entrants to the Smithsonian magazine photo contest

A close-up of a gum leaf skeletonizer caterpillar, also known as a "Mad Hatterpillar" because of its distinctive stacked head capsules, left behind with every molt. The photo won the invertebrate behavior category.

See 15 Wondrous Winning Images From the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards

The eye-catching wildlife photos highlight both the beauty and the harsh realities of nature

Jane Goodall visiting a chimpanzee rescue center in 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda

Jane Goodall, Legendary Primatologist and Anthropologist, Dies at 91

She was considered the world’s leading expert on chimpanzees and was renowned for her global conservation efforts

Roosevelt stands between the Sister of Rev. W.F. Bumsted, at that time mother superior of the convent, and the young King Daudi of Uganda, and is surrounded by members of the king's court at St. Mary's Convent, near Kampala, December 22, 1909

In 1909, Theodore Roosevelt Embarked on an Ambitious Expedition to East Africa. Here’s Why His Trip Still Matters Today

The 26th U.S. president is both lauded as a conservationist and condemned as a big-game hunter. A new book recounts the historic journey on which he helped form a significant collection of animals at the National Museum of Natural History

Chimpanzees in Uganda's Kibale National Park love eating figs, which scientists found had the highest level of alcohol at the site.

Chimps Consume the Equivalent of 2.5 Alcoholic Drinks per Day by Eating Fermented Fruit, Study Finds

Scientists report that chimpanzees consume about 14 grams of alcohol daily and suggest the result might help explain humans’ interest in booze

“The base of Ethiopian cuisine as a whole is very much Jewish, more than anything else,” says Beejhy Barhany.

At This Harlem Chef’s Table, the Rosh Hashana Menu Is Full of Ethiopian Spices

With a café in New York City and a new cookbook, Beejhy Barhany is bringing the stories and flavors of Ethiopian Jews to the States

Nigerian chef Hilda Baci stirs rice in a giant pot in an attempt to set a world record.

This Nigerian Chef Just Set the World Record for the Largest Pot of Jollof Rice

Hilda Baci, whose winning dish weighed more than 19,000 pounds, had previously been awarded a Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon

The Uan Muhuggiag mummy is housed at Libya's National Museum, where it rests in a glass case on a cushion of cotton.

Africa’s Oldest Mummy Is a Toddler Who Died 5,400 Years Ago, Nearly a Millennium Before the Egyptians Started Mummifying Their Dead

Libya’s civil war has placed the Uan Muhuggiag mummy at risk. But negotiations are underway to transport the rare artifact from Libya to Rome, where it will undergo restoration and scientific analysis

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