Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Weird Animals

A harmless toilet plunger really takes the snap out of a snapping turtle.

The Musk Turtle Beer Koozie and Other Household Items We Use for Science

When the going gets tough, creative researchers turn to plastic lizard protectors, monkey loofahs and deer vagina trackers

Cool Finds

Stunning Video Captures Humpback Whales Catching Fish With Nets of Bubbles

It’s a complicated but ingenious way to catch a meal

Art Meets Science

Explore the Secret Lives of Animals With These Marvelous Maps

A new book considers how sophisticated tracking technology and the data it collects can improve conservation strategies

A horsehair worm seen in its adult state, in which it lives only to breed

Cool Finds

This Jumble of Writhing Sticks Is Actually a Bizarre Parasite

Observed flailing around in Taiwan, this so-called ‘alien’ turns out to be a horsehair worm

Oxpeckers hang out with large ungulates–animals with hoofs like rhinos, giraffes and water buffalo.

Those Little Birds On The Backs Of Rhinos Actually Drink Blood

You think that’s ticks they’re eating?

"Endangered, you say?"

Five Fascinating Facts About the Amazing Cassowary

They may look pretty scary, but they’re actually pretty cool

Two tree frogs share an intimate moment. The eye-popping yellow of the male only emerges in mating season.

The Color-Changing Marvel of Tree Frogs Looking for Love

A new study sheds light on the wild world of “dynamically dichromatic” amphibians

White giraffes found in Kenya

Cool Finds

Two Rare White Giraffes Filmed in Kenya

The leucistic mother and baby were filmed by local rangers in August

A friendly Nauga.

How the Nauga and its Fictional Friends Helped Make Synthetic Fabric Cuddly

What started out as an advertising ploy turned into a low-key cultural phenomenon

Taxonomic vandalism can have disastrous consequences for wildlife conservation—but it could also impact human health. Shown here, an African spitting cobra poised to strike.

A Few Bad Scientists Are Threatening to Topple Taxonomy

Naming species forms the foundation of biology—but these rogue researchers are exposing the flaws in the system

It's a blob! It's a brain! It's a bryozoan!

Brain-like Blob Found in Canadian Pond

The rarely seen creature, which is a type of bryozoan, is comprised of thousands of tiny organisms

Scientists can study stress in these petite primates with simply a few strands of their hair.

New Research

Stress Is Killing These Teeny Lemurs, and The Story Is In Their Hair

Sampling the fur of Madagascar’s gray mouse lemurs reveal a bevy of environmental pressures

Male wolf spiders may have eight eyes, but they still can't tell whether the female they're mating with is dead or alive.

Whoa: Polygamous Wolf Spiders Have a Natural Form of Birth Control

Females have figured out how to get rid of unwanted sperm, allowing them to reap the benefits of multiple mates

Cool Finds

Brilliantly White Moose Photographed in Sweden

It took a local politician three years to finally capture a video of the elusive ghostly creature

This bubble eye goldfish may or may not be drunk.

New Research

How Do Goldfish Survive Winter? They Make Alcohol

A mutant enzyme allows goldfish and carp to live in low oxygen ponds by turning toxic lactic acid into ethanol

A close-up of a camel spider's multifaceted mouthparts, taken in Namibia's Namib Desert.

New Research

Camel Spiders Are Fast, Furious and Horrifically Fascinating

Yet another mystery about these arachnids: Why are they so intent on mass-murdering ants?

An artist's illustration of Patagotitan mayorum, the latest and possibly most gargantuan in a series of recent giant dino finds.

New Research

Did Scientists Just Unveil the Biggest Dinosaur of All Time?

The jury’s still out—but if you can get over the size contest, far more fascinating patterns about these giants emerge

How the Narwhal Got Its Tusk

According to Inuit storytelling tradition, the narwhal was once an evil stepmother, who wove her hair into a tusk

An arachnid in the trapdoor spider family, a group known for its snug and potentially even ocean-going burrows.

New Research

How One Brave Spider Floated Thousands of Miles to Colonize a New Continent

Improbably, new genetic analysis shows that trapdoor spiders may have ridden ocean currents from Africa to Australia

On Earth, creatures from sharks to snails to these coral polyps light up the darkness. Are glowing aliens really that far-fetched?

Life in the Cosmos

Could We See Glow-in-the-Dark Aliens From Earth?

Extraterrestrial life might make its own light to protect itself from harmful radiation

Page 32 of 43