Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Animals

The first gray wolves reintroduced to the United States were brought in from Canada in the 1990s.

Colorado Votes to Reintroduce Wolves to the Southern Rocky Mountains

In a historic decision, Colorado voters led the way to bring back the apex predator

The U.S., the Netherlands, Denmark and Spain have all reported coronavirus outbreaks on mink farms.

Denmark Plans to Kill 15 Million Mink to Prevent Spread of Mutated Coronavirus on Fur Farms

At least 12 Danish people have been infected with a SARS-CoV-2 mutation linked to the ferret-like animals

An extinct group of lizardlike amphibians known as albanerpetontids boasts the earliest example of a slingshot-style tongue. This CT scan shows an exquisitely preserved 99-million-year-old albanerpetontid skull with its long, specialized tongue.

Scientists Find the World’s Oldest Chameleon-Like Tongue Preserved in Amber

A skull and soft tissue perfectly kept in resin show that an ancient amphibian had a tongue that was both fast and extendable

A stunned iguana lying on the ground during a cold snap in Florida on January 22, 2020. When temperatures dropped into the 30s and 40s, some of these cold blooded lizards lost their grip and fell from their nighttime perches up in the trees.

New Research

Lizards Fell From Palm Trees During a Florida Cold Snap, but Now They’ve Toughened Up

New research finds the lizards are now able to withstand temperatures up to 7.2 degrees colder than lizards tested in 2016

Platypuses' nocturnal nature made researchers suspect they might glow under ultraviolet light.

New Research

Platypuses Glow Green Under Ultraviolet Light

The web-footed monotremes join a small cast of fluorescent, nocturnal mammals

A still from the first ever video of a live ram's head squid in the wild.

See Strange Squid Filmed in the Wild for the First Time

The elusive creature is called the ram’s horn squid after a spiral-shaped internal shell that is often found by beachcombers

New research identifies a previously unknown type of nerve cell inside octopus suckers that the cephalopods use like taste buds.

New Research

Octopuses Taste Food With Special Cells in Their Suckers

New study reveals biology behind one of the octopus’ many super powers

A swordfish photographed underwater southwest of Tampa, Florida.

New Research

Shark Stabbed Through the Heart and a Swordfish Is to Blame

Recent research documents the latest instance of a strange but not unheard-of phenomenon in which swordfish impale sharks with their bills

Rattlesnakes can bite after death.

14 Fun Facts About Frightening Animals

From snakes that eat their prey alive to primates that inject their peers with flesh-rotting venom, these are the scariest deeds committed by critters

The ogre-faced spider earns its name from its large eyes and mandibles.

How Ultra-Sensitive Hearing Allows Spiders to Cast a Net on Unsuspecting Prey

Sounds trigger the ogre-faced spider to backflip and shoot a silk trap on other insects

Two-headed snakes struggle more when their heads are joined close together.

In Florida, Pet Cat Brings Home a Rare Two-Headed Snake

The snake is now in the care of Florida Wildlife Conservation’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

An entomologist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture vacuums invasive Asian giant hornets out of a nest discovered last week in the city of Blaine on October 24, 2020.

Entomologists Destroy Asian Giant Hornet Nest Found in Washington

The crew sucked nearly 100 hornets from the tree-hollow hive—the first ever found in the U.S.—using a vacuum and captured escapees with nets

The Gollum snakehead is unusual among subterranean critters because it has both eyes and a colorful complexion.

New Research

Subterranean Fish Named ‘Gollum’ Belongs to a New Family

The freshwater fish belongs to a never-before-described taxonomic family, making it one of the biggest finds of the last decade

A diabolical ironclad beetle can withstand the crushing force of 39,000 times its own body weight.

New Research

The Secrets of the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle’s Almost Unsquishable Strength

Researchers hopped in a Toyota Camry and drove over the beetle twice…for science—and it survived

Javan slow lorises are now one of only six mammal species known to use venom against individuals of their own species.

The Cute-but-Deadly Slow Loris Reserves Its Flesh-Rotting Venom for Its Peers

The world’s only venomous primates just got weirder

The llamas were preserved through natural mummification, leaving their colorful decorations intact.

Sacrificed Llamas Found in Peru Were Likely a Gift From the Inca

The elaborately decorated animals were probably buried alive alongside similarly adorned guinea pigs

Why does smaller size, like that of the anteater, benefit species in different environments, wondered one Smithsonian reader.

Why Are South American Animals Smaller Than Those on Other Continents?

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

“When you have sound, the dingoes will flinch. They’re a bit nervous but they don’t run away. But the wavy man, boy, they bolted," animal behavior researcher Bradley Smith tells Science magazine.

New Research

In Australia, Inflatable Tube Dancers Scare Dingoes Away From Livestock

At car dealerships, the 13-foot-tall flailing contraptions are meant to attract buyers. But on ranches, they scare off predators and protect the herd

Last month in Brooklyn, a man dumped two bags full of eels into Prospect Park Lake. They're thought to be Asian swamp eels, seen here.

Man Seen Dumping Bags of Eels Into Lake at New York City Park

Officials say the non-native eels are unlikely to survive the winter, but experts caution that the serpent-like fish could still disturb the ecosystem

Female Hainan gibbons are bright yellow with black patches while males are completely black.

New Research

Rope Bridges Save the Most Endangered Primates From Making Death-Defying Leaps

After an avalanche destroyed part of the rainforest, a bit of infrastructure connects the gibbons to their favorite fruit-filled trees

Page 97 of 226