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South America

The bare-throated bellbird is among the world’s loudest birds.

These South American Birds Can Match a Jackhammer’s Ear-Splitting Volume, Making Them Some of the World’s Loudest Known Avians

The bare-throated bellbird and the red-legged seriema can produce sounds at amplitudes that exceed 120 decibels, which puts them on par with a trumpeting elephant or a chainsaw

Pottery fragments from Etowah in Georgia, where people of the Mississippian culture built large earthen mounds

Ancient Pottery Reveals the Earliest Known Traces of Chocolate East of the Mississippi, Painting a Picture of Connection in the Americas

A new archaeological discovery suggests that people in present-day Georgia have feasted with cacao for 1,000 years

Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a biologist and National Geographic Explorer, first encountered the new species at the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary in Bolivia.

Meet the Adorable and Tiny Tilcayo, the First Brand-New Cat Species Identified in More Than a Century

Discovered in a cloud forest in Bolivia, the diminutive felines are smaller than a house cat and covered in large, irregularly shaped rosettes

The granite peak of Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia rises more than 11,000 feet above sea level, attracting hikers and climbers from around the world.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

These 15 Stunning Photographs Capture All That There Is to Love About the People, Land and Culture of Argentina

See images of the South American country’s charming cities, historic homes, beautiful beaches and majestic mountains

Brazil experienced its first urban outbreak of yellow fever in decades from late 2016 through 2018. During that time, people flocked to health centers to get a vaccine, which can provide lifelong protection.

Brazil’s First Urban Yellow Fever Outbreak in Nearly a Century May Have Been Fueled by a Surprising Culprit

Extremely wet conditions are known to help spread mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever. But based on computer simulations, researchers suspect that a severe drought may have contributed to the South American country’s recent deadly epidemic

South America was home to the marsupial sabertooth, illustrated on the left, while North America was home to the smilodon, on the right. The species competed with each other after the Panamanian land bridge connected North and South America.

Ancient North American Mammals May Have Gathered in Mexico and Diversified Before Moving to South America, Priming Them to Thrive There

An analysis of fossils from the country hints that animals from the north stayed in a “holding pen” between seven million and ten million years ago. The timeline might help explain why so many South American mammals have North American ancestry, but not vice versa

A European depiction of Spanich and Inca conflict

Smallpox DNA Hidden for Centuries in Mummies Found in Chile Suggests European Colonists Brought the Virus to the Americas

Researchers say they found the first direct, molecular proof of the deadly trajectory the virus took

Archaeologists used lidar to “see” through the Amazon’s dense canopy and discovery nearly 400 previously undocumented geoglyphs.

Mysterious Shapes Hidden Beneath the Amazon Canopy Reveal a Sprawling Ancient Civilization Much Bigger Than Researchers Expected

Scientists recently discovered hundreds of monumental, geometric earthworks known as “geoglyphs” in northern Brazil from the Aquiry civilization

Andean leaf-eared mice can survive in extremely high-altitude environments with frigid temperatures and little oxygen.

Here’s How These Adorable Mice Can Live at an Extremely High Elevation Where No Other Mammal Is Known to Reside

The Andean leaf-eared mouse has adaptations that help it generate body heat efficiently in frigid, low-oxygen conditions at 22,000 feet above sea level, according to a new study

The large, engraved stela was a highlight of the dig.

Cool Finds

This Ancient Monolith That Archaeologists Unearthed in Mexico May Depict People Receiving ‘Divine Liquid’ in a Ritual

The stela was found with a large, decorated platform and remnants of offerings in the state of Veracruz

Rescuers search for victims in a collapsed building in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, following the earthquakes on June 24, 2026.

Powerful Back-to-Back Earthquakes Killed at Least 188 People in Venezuela. Here’s the Science Behind the Rare ‘Doublet’

On June 24, two quakes above magnitude 7 struck the northern part of the country only 39 seconds apart. While doublet sequences aren’t unheard of in seismology, they are uncommon—especially in such short succession

In February 2020, naturalist guides Lizardo Proaño and Juan Carlos Narváez photographed a harvestman eating a live frog during a night hike at Mashpi Lodge in Ecuador.

Daddy Longlegs Seem to Hunt Frogs in South America, Revealing the Gangly Arachnids as Overlooked Predators

A new study suggests that harvestmen actively attack the slippery amphibians, rather than just scavenging them. The findings hint that the spineless creatures have a more complex relationship with vertebrates than previously thought

Indigenous communities in the Andes domesticated the potato between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Potatoes Didn’t Just Feed Ancient Indigenous Communities in the Andes—the Tasty Tubers Also Reshaped People’s DNA

A new study finds that Indigenous Andeans living in what is now Peru have extra copies of a gene called AMY1, which helps the body digest starch

Scientists now think humans settled South America in three waves.

A New Big Database of DNA From Indigenous Americans Shakes Up Scientists’ Theories About Human Settlement of South America

Genomic data provides evidence for a previously unknown wave of migration, with Indigenous groups living in central and southern Mexico spreading into South America and the Caribbean starting around 1,300 years ago

A camera set up by the conservation organization Panthera captured a healthy male jaguar in the Sierra del Merendón mountain range.

A Rare ‘Cloud Jaguar’ Was Spotted in Honduran Mountains for the First Time in a Decade, Representing a Win for Conservationists

The big cats are rarely seen at high elevations, so the sighting suggests that efforts to protect a wildlife corridor in the region are working

Nearly 200 hippos are estimated to roam in Colombia.

Colombia Plans to Euthanize Dozens of ‘Cocaine Hippos,’ Descendants of Animals Brought by Notorious Drug Trafficker Pablo Escobar

If nothing is done to control the invasive creatures, officials estimate the population could grow to 1,000 animals by 2035. So, they aim to cull about 80 individuals later this year

The feathers belonged to birds from four large parrot species, according to researchers.

Humans May Have Transported Live Parrots Over the Andes Mountains Along Sophisticated Trade Routes Before the Rise of the Inca Empire

Archaeologists were puzzled when they found parrot feathers in a pre-Inca burial in coastal Peru. A new study suggests that the birds were captured in the wild and kept alive over lengthy journeys

Jaguars in Porto Jofre, Brazil, support a lucrative tourism industry, leading conservationists to argue that the big cats are most valuable when they’re alive.

In the World’s Best Place to See Wild Jaguars, Residents Are Using the Big Cat’s Appeal to Reach Conservation Goals

Brazil’s Pantanal region has the highest jaguar density on Earth, drawing camera-toting visitors to its riverbanks. Despite overtourism concerns, one enclave may offer a model for how to protect the charismatic apex predator

The owl symbolizes night and death in Zapotec culture.

Cool Finds

This Carved, Painted Zapotec Tomb Is Mexico’s Most Important Archaeological Discovery in a Decade

The tomb features the carvings of a huge owl head and at least three probable ancestors

An illustration of humans hunting cetaceans 5,000 years ago

New Research

These Baffling Bone Artifacts Discovered by an Amateur Archaeologist May Be the World’s Oldest Whale Harpoons

After revisiting items from a Brazilian museum, researchers think humans may have been hunting whales 5,000 years ago, a millennium earlier than previously thought

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