Articles tagged as Conservation | Smithsonian Magazine

Funani, mother of the new baby hippo, is shown here in 2003 with one of her previous offspring. The new calf isn't quite so rotund yet.

Welcome to the world, tiny, adorable river horse!

March 26, 2015

Workers with the Nigiri Project head out to test pens in the flooded rice fields near Sacramento.

Rice Can Help Save Salmon If Farms Are Allowed to Flood

The Nigiri Project aims to restore the beloved fish by cutting a notch in a California levee and letting some floodplains return to nature

March 23, 2015

Raptors used in falconry like this peregrine falcon may soon be squaring off with robotic birds.

Cool Finds

Drones Are Teaching Falcons How to Hunt

One of the newest training techniques used by falconers could eventually help conservation efforts to save the birds’ prey

March 20, 2015

Clear tropical waters at the Pitcairn Islands.

The immaculate waters around the storied Pitcairn Islands are to be protected from illegal fishing and mining efforts

March 19, 2015

Awareness about this animal underdog is climbing, yet an estimated 10,000 pangolins still fell victim to the illegal wildlife trade last year

February 20, 2015

Close-up of a bald eagle at Klamath Basin.

Now’s the Time to See Hundreds of Bald Eagles

The Winter Wings Festival at Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge is one of the longest-running bird festivals in the country

February 13, 2015

The Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado was abandoned hundreds of years ago, probably because of a severe drought. Scientists now predict that the region could experience an even worse megadrought in the latter half of the 21st century.

Anthropocene

The Western U.S. Could Soon Face the Worst Megadrought in a Millennium

Climate models predict that the region will be drier than the droughts that likely caused ancient Native Americans to abandon their pueblo cities

February 12, 2015

Is fine chocolate slipping through our fingers?

The World of Chocolate

How to Save the Chocolate Tree Without Sacrificing Flavor

Demand, disease and climate change are threatening cocoa, but a new breed of clones could keep the treat abundant and tasty

February 12, 2015

Lick and Lather, 1993, two self-portrait busts: one chocolate and one soap is currently on view at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The World of Chocolate

The Art of Chocolate (and Soap)

Conservators went on a scientific journey to discover the best ways to preserve artist Janine Antoni’s landmark “Lick and Lather”

February 10, 2015

The World Hit “Peak Chicken” in 2006

The popular poultry is just one of many key food resources that hit peak production between 5 and 30 years ago

January 27, 2015

The western tarsier, a rare primate species, has lost large amounts of its Borneo habitat to logging. More of that habitat is likely to disappear because of climate change.

Borneo’s Mammals Face a Deadly Mix of Logging and Climate Change

But adding small amounts of land to already protected areas could help save the island’s biodiversity

January 22, 2015

Clumsy curators won’t admit who’s behind the irreparable repair

January 22, 2015

Can the Siberian Tiger Make a Comeback?

In Russia’s Far East, an orphaned female tiger is the test case in an experimental effort to save one of the most endangered animals on earth

February 2015

Could tigers be coming back from the brink? India now counts 2,226 of the big cats

January 20, 2015

Cool Finds

Beavers Once Parachuted into Idaho’s Backcountry

Strange things can happen when you combine WWII military surplus, innovative thinking and a bunch of beavers in need of a new home

January 16, 2015

New Research

World’s Loneliest Wolf Is No Longer So Lonely

As conservators work to restore and protect America’s gray wolf population, one wide-ranging male has finally found a pack to call his own

January 15, 2015

L. larvaepartus (male, left, and female) from Indonesia is the only frog ever discovered to birth live tadpoles.

New Research

This Exotic Frog Skips the Eggs, Gives Birth to Live Tadpoles

The species is one of just a handful of frogs that use internal fertilization, and the only one found that births tadpoles

January 2, 2015

Cool Finds

Where the Buffalo Roam: Illinois

American bison are back in Illinois for the first time in 200 years

January 2, 2015

A Persian leopard cub at Zoo Augsburg in Germany

Cool Finds

By Keeping Poachers Out, Mine Fields Give Endangered Animals Somewhere to Hide

The heavily-mined Iran-Iraq border is a sanctuary for the Persian leopard

December 22, 2014

New Research

Why a Tanzanian Village Chased Six Elephants Off a Cliff

Not all animal killings are linked to the illegal wildlife trade

December 22, 2014