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Mammals

Native Americans Saw Buffalo as More Than Just Food

The relationship between some Native American tribes and the American buffalo was a sacred one

The Risky Way a Polar Bear Attack Victim Confronts Her Fear

For Erin Greene, walking up to a polar bear requires even more courage than most of us can imagine

A Fertile Polar Bear’s Hard Journey From Mating to Motherhood

After mating takes place, a female polar bear will prepare for her impending pregnancy by eating voraciously. In all, she will pack on more than 400 pounds

Why the U.S. Army Guarded the 23 Remaining American Buffalo

In 1882, General Philip Sheridan’s expedition to the protected buffalo haven in Yellowstone National Park revealed a gruesome reality

A Beloved Alpha Polar Bear Near the End of His Life

Saint Pete, as he’s known by locals in nearby Churchill, Manitoba, is an elderly polar bear who’s been visiting the town for decades

An Angry Hippo Charges a Trespassing Lion

A lion ventures into an area of the river that’s part of a hippo bull’s territory. The enraged hippo wastes no time in asserting his dominance

Hippo Climbs Down a Steep Cliff…With Difficulty

A 15-foot male hippo carefully negotiates his enormous body down a sheer cliff. It’s the shortest and most direct route to the water

Showy traits, like the large antlers of these bull moose, can be detrimental to an animal's health.

New Research

Go Big or Go Generic: How Sexual Selection Is Like Advertising

When it comes to attracting mates, it pays to either go all out—or not try at all

What Really Killed Off the Woolly Mammoth?

What caused woolly mammoths to die-off so quickly? New evidence suggests an unfavorable climate may have drove them to extinction

A tickled rat.

New Research

What Tickling Giggly Rats Can Tell Us About the Brain

Their laughter manifests in a surprising region of the cerebral cortex

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Trending Today

Canada Can’t Figure Out Why the Ocean Floor Is Beeping

A mysterious sound has baffled residents of a far-flung hamlet

Ask Smithsonian: What’s the Longest You Can Hold Your Breath?

A dive into the science shows it is possible to override the system

A spotted hyena in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

North America Used to Have its Very Own Hyena

These giggly beasts didn’t just roam Africa and the Middle East. They were right here in our backyard

These are the creatures snakes have nightmares about.

The Animals That Venom Can’t Touch

Meet the creatures who look into the face of venomous death and say: Not today

The mammoth skull being excavated on Santa Rosa Island

Cool Finds

Scientists Puzzle Over Unusual Mammoth Skull Unearthed in the Channel Islands

The well-preserved fossil doesn’t neatly fit in with other examples of the species

A pair of bison hang out in the snow at Yellowstone National Park, one of the United States' best spots to see the huge mammals.

American Safaris: Where to See the Biggest Mammals in the U.S.

Go wild for the United States’ largest mammals and take an American Safari

The lowly urban rat deserves our attention.

In Defense of Studying City Rats

By placing a taboo on researching these “disease sponges,” we leave ourselves at their mercy

What kept giraffes apart so long that they developed into separate species?

New Research

There Are Four Giraffe Species—Not Just One

The downside to this revelation: several of the new species are critically endangered

Captive Bactrian deer at The Wilds, a conservation center in Cumberland, Ohio. Until recently, the deer was feared locally extinct in Afghanistan.

Rare Afghan Deer Endures Two Major Wars, Is Ultimate Survivor

Researchers feared the endangered ungulate had gone locally extinct. The Bactrian deer proved them wrong

New Research

Fertility Problems for Man’s Best Friend Could Spell Trouble for Man

Dog sperm quality has decreased likely from household chemical exposure

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