Articles tagged as Conservation | Smithsonian Magazine

A few days after a New Zealand river gained the rights of personhood, an Indian court has declared that two heavily polluted rivers also have legal status

March 23, 2017

The notorious RPB: the rusty patched bumble bee.

Future of Conservation

The Bee That Breaks Your Heart

Insects are hard-pressed to get protection as endangered species. Can one fuzzy anomaly beat the odds?

Updated: March 22, 2017 | Originally Published: October 25, 2016

A wild female Amur leopard crouches on a rocky hillside in the Kedrovaya Pad nature reserve in Russia.

Future of Conservation

China Approves Massive National Park to Protect Its Last Big Cats

The 5,600-square-mile reserve along the Russian border will safeguard rare Amur leopards and Siberian Tigers

March 15, 2017

Surfers take to the water in Montauk, where a shark nursery was discovered offshore last summer.

Future of Conservation

Can Social Media Give Sharks a Better Reputation?

A nonprofit called Ocearch is naming tagged sharks and giving them Twitter and Instagram accounts to ease fears and aid in conservation

March 8, 2017

Veterinarians stand with Omsin the green sea turtle, whose life they saved during an hours-long operation.

Trending Today

This Sea Turtle Ate 11 Pounds of Coins

Veterinarians removed the 900+ coins from Omsin the turtle’s stomach after they noticed she was acting erratic

March 6, 2017

Collars and tags are used to track animals like panthers.

A study says that the new technology could hurt more than it helps

March 2, 2017

Two vessels rendezvous off the coast of Argentina in a likely transshipment.

Fighting Illegal Fishing With Big Data

Global Fishing Watch is using satellite data to monitor suspicious ship activity on the high seas

February 28, 2017

North American gray squirrels are decimating native red squirrels in the British Isles, leading to a new plan to reduce the population of invasive mammals

February 27, 2017

A sea turtle entangled in a fishing net swims off the coast of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on 8 June 2016

Art Meets Science

Winning Nature Photos Capture Triumph and Turmoil in the Animal Kingdom

From poaching to panda recovery, the winners of the World Press Photo competition chronicle human interactions with nature

February 14, 2017

This diminutive mammal could soon go extinct.

As “the panda of the sea” hurtles toward extinction, scientists stage a last-ditch effort to save the species

February 8, 2017

A new study on grey reef sharks turned up a few surprises.

New Research

Ocean Preserves Keep Fishing Boats Away from Grey Reef Sharks

Scientists tracked hundreds of reef sharks to find that massive marine refuges can work—with one caveat

February 2, 2017

One of the rarest orchids east of the Mississippi, the small-whorled pogonia, emerges from a long dormancy when there is an abundance of specific fungi in the soil.

A Mystery of Hiding Orchids, Solved

Smithsonian scientists have discovered what triggers the rare small-whorled pogonia to awaken from dormancy

January 19, 2017

Scimitar-horned oryx being released into their holding pen in Chad last March

Hunting wiped out wild populations of the scimitar-horned creatures, but breeding programs are helping them make a comeback

January 18, 2017

As his ancestors have done for generations, Icelander Árni Hilmarsson catches an Atlantic puffin in a net called a háfur.

Disappearing Puffins Bring an Icelandic Hunting Tradition Under Scrutiny

Historically, hunting seabirds has been a distinctive feature of Nordic coastal culture. Should it still be?

January 17, 2017

The Javan myna is critically endangered in its natural Indonesian habitat, but exploding populations in Singapore have made it a nuisance there.

New Research

How Escaped Exotic Pet Birds Could Help Save Threatened Species

Though usually seen as a threat to local populations, these escapees could also help in the recovery of creatures in trouble

January 16, 2017

A street cat lounging in inner Sydney, Australia.

New Research

Feral Cats Now Cover 99.8 Percent of Australia

The fluffy murderbeasts pose a major threat to wildlife

January 4, 2017

J2, better known as "Granny," was the oldest-known living orca.

Over a century old, “Granny” hasn’t been spotted since early October

January 3, 2017

Tusks from an $8 million shipment intercepted in Singapore

Future of Conservation

There’s a New Tool in the Fight Against Elephant Poaching

An American biologist wields an innovative weapon against the illegal trade in African ivory

January 2017

The journals that scientists consider most prestigious are often in English.

New Research

English Is the Language of Science. That Isn’t Always a Good Thing

How a bias toward English-language science can result in preventable crises, duplicated efforts and lost knowledge

January 2, 2017

Trending Today

The Year in National Parks

From people stealing baby bison and Yosemite trademarks to epic blooms in Death Valley, 2016 has been an eventful centennial year for the NPS

December 30, 2016