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Animals

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Dog faces, the history of laughter, snakes, and bird warning calls

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Tiny Lungless Salamander Discovered in Georgia

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Whale of a comeback, dancing cockatoos, sticky bees, and waltzing pond scum

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough travels to Nairobi, Kenya to understand the research programs and opportunities at the Mpala Research Centre.

Day 1: Seeing Kenya from the Sky

Despite many travel delays, Smithsonian Secretary Clough arrives in Kenya ready to study the African wildlife at the Mpala Ranch

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Flight of the hummingbird, termite cloning and the rise of the octopus

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Rainforest Creatures Caught on Camera

Richard Conniff has been writing for Smithsonian magazine since 1982. His latest work is titled, "Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time: My Life Doing Dumb Stuff with Animals."

Richard Conniff’s Wildlife Writing

International journalist Richard Conniff has reported on animals that fly, swim, crawl and leap in his 40 years of writing

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Are Appalachian Salamanders Carrying a Deadly Fungus?

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Dinosaur gangs, psychedelic fish and long-distance elephant calls

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Major Loss of Wildlife in Kenya’s Masai Mara

Smithsonian magazine staff writer Abigail Tucker recently ventured to Greenland to report on narwhal research.

Abigail Tucker on “In Search of the Mysterious Narwhal”

The Zoo’s three pandas, here Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, require a constant supply of bamboo, a plant that is not very nutritious, especially for animals, like pandas, that are natural carnivores.

Feeding the Animals at the National Zoo

After hiring the first animal nutritionist 30 years ago, the National Zoo prepares specific, well-balanced meals for each animal

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Wolves, hibernating animals, spitting cobras and more

Climbers Brian French and Will Koomjian ascend the Brummit fir in Coos County Oregon. It is the National Champion Douglas fir and stands 335 feet tall.

Climbing the Tallest Trees

A select group of adventurers climb the world’s tallest trees to learn more about the wildlife that lives on the highest branches

For the first time in 16 years, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center celebrated the birth of clouded leopard cubs.

National Zoo Celebrates Birth of Rare Clouded Leopards

Notoriously difficult to breed, two new clouded leopards are born at the National Zoo’s research facility

A gray wolf in Yellowstone National Park.

Wolves to Lose Protection in Idaho and Montana

Since the first wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995, the population has grown to 1,500 or more

Komodo dragon

Komodo Dragons: Cute, Deadly or Both?

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An Elephant Shrew, Born at the Zoo, is Caught on Film

The elephant-shrew looks like a mouse designed by a committee. It’s got a trunk like a pachyderm, the tail of a kangaroo and an anteater’s tongue

In a span of ten years, more than 1,000 species were discovered in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region.

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Mosquitoes, New Zealand flightless birds, pink lizards and more

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Honeyeater birds, sea slugs, tree frogs, and more

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