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Animals

After researchers reviewed the video footage, they found that the wolf slept for long periods of time but in between naps, also frequented the Ash River to hunt for fish.

Experience a Day in the Life of a Wild Wolf, as Seen in Stunning Collar-Cam Footage

A perfect summer adventure for a wolf in Minnesota seems to be spent fishing and napping

The Indian jumping ant (Harpegnathos saltator).

New Research

This Ant Can Shrink and Regrow Its Brain

Indian jumping ants shrink their brains when they become their colony’s queen, but they can also grow the brain back if they quit the gig

A bearded dragon moves in for a close-up. The Australian lizards face threats from habitat loss and rising temperatures.

In a Warming World, Heat Interferes With Sex Determination in These Australian Lizards

Scientists have discovered how hot temperatures override chromosomes in bearded dragons

As many as 70 orcas cooperatively hunted, killed and ate a roughly 50-foot long blue whale last month off the coast of Australia.

More Than 50 Orcas Hunt and Kill Blue Whale Off Australian Coast

This is one of just a handful of times that orcas have ever been recorded killing a blue whale

Previous research has shown that a gorilla's larger body size is linked to reproductive success and social rank. The chest-beating could be another way for the gorillas to convey their size to others and, in turn, avoid fights that could result in serious injury or death.

Gorillas Beat Their Chests to Communicate With Each Other

The larger male apes have lower frequencies in their pounds and may use chest-beating to signal their social status, strength, and size to others

A new study found rat poison in the bodies of more than 80 percent of 133 dead bald and golden eagles from across the U.S.

New Research

Study Finds Rat Poison in Dead Eagles From Across the U.S.

More than 82 percent of 133 eagles tested had so-called anticoagulant rodenticides in their bodies

Above: This leaf-tailed gecko hatchling receives his medication from a syringe, which he laps up with his impressive tongue.

Smithsonian Voices

Watch How Zookeepers Give Animals Their Meds

It takes more than just a spoonful of sugar to entice compliance from geckos, red pandas, kiwis and monkeys

New research finds lions that have just yawned together are more likely to move in unison.

New Research

Contagious Yawning May Keep Lion Prides in Sync

A study finds after yawning together, lions were 11 times more likely to copy the actions of the individual that yawned first

An engraving from German zoologist Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen Der Natur, a 1904 book that celebrated the symmetry of nature

From Books Bound in Human Skin to Occult Texts, These Are Literature’s Most Macabre, Surprising and Curious Creations

A new tome takes readers into collector Edward Brooke-Hitching’s “madman’s library”

The dolphins swam in the Grand Canal near St. Mark's Square, Venice's main public square

Dolphins Spotted in Venice’s Grand Canal—for Real This Time

The coast guard and a rescue organization took about two hours to guide the cetaceans out of the canal

A viral video shows an octopus (not pictured) lashing out at an Australian tourist in shallow water.

A Very Angry Octopus Goes Viral After Lashing Out at an Australian Tourist

A video posted to social media captures the cephalopod’s arm-flinging attack

A study of ten narwhal tusks reveals how the animals are responding to a swiftly changing Arctic.

New Research

Study of Narwhal Tusks Reveals a Swiftly Changing Arctic

Chemical analysis of ten tusks shows shifting diets and increasing levels of mercury as climate change warms the polar region

Grasshoppers swarm a street light a few blocks from the Las Vegas Strip on July 26, 2019.

New Research

Las Vegas Was Inundated by 46 Million Grasshoppers on a Single Night in 2019

A new study says the horde of insects was drawn to the Vegas Strip by its famously bright lights

The imported parrots and scarlet macaws were mummified between 1100 and 1450 A.D.

Cool Finds

Mummified Parrots Found in Chile Suggest Vast Pre-Hispanic Trade Network

People in South America likely kept the birds as exotic pets whose feathers were prized for their use in headdresses and hats

A newly emerged cicada from Brood X suns itself.

14 Fun Facts About Cicadas

Amazing details about the buzzing insects set to storm the United States this spring

Bears with intensifying symptoms either die or are require euthanasia. Those that survive require lifetime treatments and can't return to the wild.

A Puzzling Brain Disease Is Killing Black Bears in the Western United States

Some animals showing signs of a neurological disorder had brain inflammation, but the cause is still unknown

By the time sauteur d’Alfort rabbits are a few months old, they learn how to walk on their front paws to accommodate their uncoordinated back legs.

New Research

Thanks to a Genetic Mutation, These French Rabbits Prefer Handstands to Bunny Hops

The unusually acrobatic sauteur d’Alfort rabbits were first discovered in France in 1935

Retouched composite image of the mural and its surroundings

Cool Finds

3,200-Year-Old Mural of Knife-Wielding Spider God Found in Peru

Local farmers accidentally destroyed 60 percent of the shrine complex that houses the ancient Cupisnique painting

The site of the rabbit burrow has apparently been occupied by different groups over the millennia.

Cool Finds

Burrowing Bunnies in Wales Unearth Trove of Prehistoric Artifacts

Rabbits on Skokholm Island discovered Stone Age tools and fragments of a Bronze Age cremation urn

The juvenile walrus spent two days resting in Pembrokeshire, Wales before returning to sea.

How Did This Walrus Get to Wales?

The same walrus might have stopped briefly in Denmark and Ireland

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