Reproduction

Male pug-nosed tree frogs confuse predators by overlapping their mating calls with those their neighbors.

Illusionist Frog Attracts Mates Without Unwanted Attention From Predators

The simultaneous mating calls of the male pug-nosed tree frog confuses bats but not female frogs

Dolphin Boy Bands Sing 'Pop' Songs in Sync—and the Ladies Want It That Way

Female dolphins, it seems, aren’t immune to the allure of a harmonizing boy band

Swamp wallabies can nourish three separate offspring at once: an older joey that's left the pouch, a young one nursing inside of it, and an embryo that has yet to be born.

Swamp Wallabies Can Get Pregnant While Pregnant

These marsupials can conceive during the final days of an ongoing pregnancy, creating a “backup” embryo ready to take its predecessor’s place

The first two cheetah cubs born via embryo transfer

In a First, Cheetah Cubs Born Through Surrogacy at the Columbus Zoo

Zookeepers and Smithsonian scientists successfully transferred cheetah embryos, marking a major conservation milestone for the vulnerable species

Two giraffes

Fourteen Fun Facts About Love and Sex in the Animal Kingdom

Out in the wild, flowers and candy just aren’t gonna cut it

Athena, a two-toed sloth who recently made her debut at the National Zoo.

Will Love Bloom Between Two Sloths at the National Zoo?

Keepers are gradually introducing Athena, who made her debut at the zoo in December, to fellow two-toed sloth Vlad. Sparks have not flown—yet

Birds Sniff Each Other's Bacteria to Help Choose a Mate

A new study finds the microbiome in a bird's preen oil determines its scent, which can impact its reproductive success

Mark Prausnitz holds an experimental microneedle contraceptive skin patch. Designed to be self-administered by women for long-acting contraception, the patch could provide a new family planning option.

Will Microneedle Patches Be the Future of Birth Control?

Researchers are developing a new long-acting, self-administered device that delivers hormones beneath the skin’s surface

Sandro Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" finds its subject striking a contrapposto pose

Why Viewers Are Drawn to Renaissance Artists' Go-To Pose

A new study finds that the contrapposto stance reduces the waist-to-hip ratio, an attribute popularly associated with attractiveness

The National Zoo's female panda Mei Xiang (above in 2019) is exhibiting signs of a possible pregnancy. These same behaviors could also mean she is experiencing a pseudopregnancy.

14 Fun Facts About Giant Pandas

Mother Mei Xiang’s annual ambiguous maternal behaviors always deliver heightened anticipation at the National Zoo

Dog Breeding Has Changed Pooches’ Brains

A new study has found that key anatomical differences in dogs’ brains are linked to the behaviors they were bred to perform

Najin (left) and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos, on the day before their eggs were harvested.

Eggs Successfully Collected from the Last Two Northern White Rhinos

Advances in fertility science will hopefully allow researchers to implant embryos of the species into surrogate southern white rhinos

Ping incubates the egg as Skipper keeps guard.

Two Male Penguins in Berlin Join Long Line of Same-Sex Pairs to Adopt an Egg

Skipper and Ping have happily nurtured everything from rocks to fish before zookeepers let them incubate an egg

The bottlenose mother, pictured here with her adoptive whale calf and biological daughter, exhibited unusually tolerant behavior

Researchers Document First Known Case of Dolphin Mom Adopting Whale Calf

The melon-headed male whale actively competed for his adoptive mother's attention, repeatedly shoving his bottlenose dolphin sister out of the way

The almost 3-year-old female offspring (left) and her 12-year-old mother (right)

The National Zoo’s Female Asian Water Dragon Successfully Reproduced Without a Male

This is the first time facultative parthenogenesis has been recorded in both the species and the reptilian Agamidae family

Bonobo Mothers Interfere in Their Sons' Monkey Business

They find suitable mates for their offspring and chase away intruders once the mating begins, boosting fertility rates

A Nanoscale Light Trick Is the Key to Peacock Spiders' Super-Black Spots

A new study shows how patches of bumpy microlenses capture 99.5 of the light that hits them

Monk parrots are among the species that successfully breed in the wild.

Escaped Pet Parrots Are Doing Great in the Wild

A new study has found that 25 non-native parrots species are breeding in 23 American states

How Do You Educate Climate Change Skeptics? Empower Their Kids to Teach Them

A new study shows that educating children may be the best way to reach parents who don't seem to care about climate change

"I certainly see ourselves moving in a direction where conception through sex will come to be seen as natural, yet dangerous," says Metzl.

How To Prepare for a Future of Gene-Edited Babies—Because It's Coming

In a new book, futurist Jamie Metzl considers the ethical questions we need to ask in order to navigate the realities of human genetic engineering

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