Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Animals

Pacific bluefin tuna populations have declined by up to 33 percent over the last 20 years.

Trending Today

300+ Species Just Joined the List of Threatened Plants And Animals

Overfishing, overhunting and habitat loss drove many of the new additions

New Research

Antarctic Seals Keep Trying to Have Sex With Penguins

This isn’t the first time a fur seal has attempted to copulate with a king penguin and scientists think that more seals are learning the behavior

Around 1,400 chimps might lose their home in Congo.

Cool Finds

How a Misdrawn Map Put 1,400 Chimps and a Rare Plant in Peril

Miners and farmers are moving into a protected forest in Congo thanks in part to an administrative blooper

New Research

Bullying Pays Off For Chimp Dads

For male chimps, the meaner you are, the more offspring you have

Everglades National Park is in critical condition due to poor water management, according to the IUCN.

A Third of Natural World Heritage Sites Are in Danger

From the Florida Everglades to Africa’s first national park, many crucial protected areas are in serious trouble

Cool Finds

Giant, Slow-Moving Sharks Are Secretly Everywhere

We know very little about Greenland sharks, including the extent of their range, but what we do know is intriguing

Chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) fight. Infanticide in baboons is driven by a mating structure built on male competition.

Why Some Mammals Kill Babies of Their Own Kind

Male mammals that commit infanticide developed the behavior in response to their species’ mating style

A wallaby in the mist on the Irish island of Lambay.

What the Heck Are Wallabies Doing in Ireland?

Normally spotted in Australia, the marsupial species is thriving on a remote island off the Irish coast

New Research

A Single Smelly Compound Sparks Carnivores’ Lust for Blood

When given scented wooden blocks soaked in this single chemical, captive carnivores go wild

New Research

How Cats Transformed From Wild Animals to Cuddly Companions

Genetically, there’s not that much separating feline pets from jungle beasts

An algae bloom off the coast of Maryland. Such blooms help create low-oxygen areas called dead zones as the algae respire or decompose.

Anthropocene

Ocean Dead Zones Are Getting Worse Globally Due to Climate Change

Warmer waters and other factors will cause nearly all areas of low oxygen to grow by the end of the century

New Research

Arctic Squirrels Use Steroids to Bulk Up But Don’t Suffer the Consequences

Fat alone couldn’t get these squirrels through hibernation in burrows that get almost as chilly as -10 degrees Fahrenheit

Mexican free-tailed bats can be real jerks to their friends.

New Research

On Summer Nights, Some Bats Like to Jam

Mexican free-tailed bats “jam” each others’ echolocation calls to discombobulate competitors

A gray wolf, not the animal spotted at the Grand Canyon

Trending Today

A Lone Gray Wolf May Have Wandered Into the Grand Canyon

Officials haven’t confirmed whether the canine is a full-blooded gray wolf, but wolf advocates are pretty convinced

Cool Finds

Humans Outnumber Rats in NYC

There’s actually about one rat for every four people

Moon jellies (Aurelia aurita) drift in dark waters at the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo.

Anthropocene

Big Moon Jelly Blooms Tied to New Dock Construction

A floating pier installed off Japan led to a four-fold increase in baby jellies, offering a solid link between structures and blooms

Admire Rakti exercises on November 3rd, getting set for the fatal race.

Trending Today

A Horse Racing Favorite Died Minutes After Completing the Melbourne Cup

Admire Rakti wasn’t even the only horse to die at the races

A Siberian musk deer two-month old stands next to his father at the Edinburgh zoo — they are closely related to the species just spotted

Cool Finds

Fanged Deer Not Extinct, Still Roaming the Mountains of Afghanistan

The Kashmir musk deer was last spotted in 1948 but now researchers report five recent sightings

A baby penguin and its parent greet the disguised rover.

New Research

Rovers Disguised as Baby Penguins Can Quietly Infiltrate Penguin Colonies

Normally wary penguins seem unfazed when there’s a smartly dressed robot in their midst

Cool Finds

Australia’s Koalas Have Chlamydia, But a New Vaccine Could Save Them

The sexually transmitted disease threatens the health of one of Australia’s iconic marsupials

Page 185 of 232