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Animals

This is the face of deception.

New Research

This Bird Tricks Other Animals Into Handing Over Their Meals

The African drongo mimics warning calls of other animals to scare them away from food, but mixes true warnings with lies to keep those animals guessing

Cool Finds

Mosquitoes Kill More Humans Than Human Murderers Do

From a human perspective, this makes them the deadliest animal in the world by far

Not the world's fastest mite, but a related species from the same Family.

Cool Finds

This Obscure Species of Mite Is the Fastest Animal on Earth

The mite just defeated the previous record-holder, the Australian tiger beetle

Cool Finds

This Seal Tried to Steal Another Seal’s Baby Before It Was Fully Born

Nature is not a nice place

None

Decades of Political Strife Have Left Myanmar’s Jungles Unexplored and Unchartered

Now as the country opens up, what will happen to its endangered species? A new three-part series on the Smithsonian Channel explores the issue

A bowl of shark fin soup, which is sometimes made with meat from protected species of sharks

Cool Finds

People Caught Eating Rare Animals in China Might Soon Face Jail Time

Eating endangered species was never kosher, but now legitimate punishments can finally be dished out for this crime

Take in the Sights and Sounds of the National Parks

Enjoy a nature break and listen to birds from America’s greatest natural wonders

A Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris ssp. sumatrae) at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.

This Song (And This Tiger) Will Go Extinct Unless We Save It

Smithsonian magazine editor Michael Caruso is among the 400 influencers asked to protect and save the “Endangered Song”

"Fellow hermit crab? I'll eat you up!"

New Research

Cannibalistic Hermit Crabs Salivate at the Smell of Their Dead

Instead of responding to the smell of a relative’s death as the sign that a predator could be about, hermit crabs interpret this cue as fresh dinner

Cool Finds

When Museum Specimen Get Infested With Bugs, Curators Have to Freeze Them

Freezing and heating can oftentimes keep invertebrate enemies at bay

New Research

Scientists Confirm That Cats a) Are Pretty Smart, b) Don’t Really Care What You Want

Cats’ impressive individuality makes it hard to study their smarts

Greater Rhea trio

Cool Finds

The U.K. Is Weirdly Obsessed With Rhea Birds—Which Keep Escaping Their Owners

A rhea went on the lam in the U.K.—and is far from the first giant, flightless bird to do so

Mom's ample body serves as this baby's bed for now, but soon she'll grow up to build sleeping nests of her own.

New Research

Chimpanzees Are Extremely Picky About Where They Sleep

The primates painstakingly rebuild their nest from scratch every night—a pre-bed ritual reminiscent of the “Princess and the Pea”

A wolfdog.

New Research

Dogs That Should Be Guarding Sheep Are Mating With Wolves Instead

Intimate encounters between dogs and wolves are relatively common in Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains

You're next.

Cool Finds

This Poor Chicken Got Eaten by a Cow

Herbivores don’t always stick to their diet

New Research

Ice-Age Bees Uncovered at the La Brea Tar Pits

The samples were actually excavated back in 1970, but were set aside because there wasn’t a way to analyze them at the time

Researchers say they've developed a system that allows them to use dolphins' own language to communicate with the animals.

Tech Watch

Checking the Claim: A Device That Translates Dolphin Sounds Into English

Researchers used new technology to interpret a dolphin noise they say translates loosely to “seaweed”

New Research

Sea Otters Can Get the Human Flu

Scientists have no idea how the otters contracted the H1N1 virus, however

Cool Finds

Horses Can Do Yoga

“The method is to tame the horse according to its nature , avoiding cause fear and pain, and by earning their trust and loyalty”

Cool Finds

Thanks to New Shipping Guidelines, the Ocean Might Finally Become a Quieter Place

Noise from the shipping industry can stress and harm marine animals

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