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Wildlife

Australia’s major skink (Bellatorias frerei) has evolved to combat snake venom with the same mutation found in honey badgers, according to a new study.

Scientists Discover Australian Lizards Have Mutations to Resist Snake Venom—and One Day, That Could Help Humans

A new study looking at how skinks have evolved to block venom from reaching their muscles could guide development of new antivenoms

After seeing a picture of the stick insect on social media, the researchers spent days trying to find and collect it for further research.

Gigantic ‘Walking Stick’ Discovered in Australia Might Be the Continent’s Heaviest Insect

Scientists identified the elusive new species from a female found in a high-altitude rainforest’s canopy

The new species lives in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, from the eastern United States down to Brazil.

Scientists Identify a New Manta Ray Species, Just the Third Known in the World

Meet Mobula yarae, a large marine creature that lives along the coast in the Atlantic Ocean

The overpass is expected to be completed in December 2025, with landscaping work to be finished in 2026.

Colorado Is Building the ‘World’s Largest’ Wildlife Overpass, Giving Elk and Other Big Creatures a Safe Path to Cross a Busy Freeway

The completed overpass will be 200 feet wide by 209 feet long, forming a bridge across six lanes of traffic that see more than 100,000 vehicles each day

Artist illustration of a pack of Borophagus secundus

What Happened to the Bone-Crushing Dogs That Once Hunted Across North America?

Before going extinct roughly two million years ago, canids known as borophagines took down and consumed much larger prey

Winter-run Chinook salmon are unique because they spawn in the summer, then migrate as adults to the Pacific Ocean in the winter.

For the First Time in Nearly a Century, Adult Winter-Run Chinook Salmon Are Swimming in California’s McCloud River

Video footage shows a female guarding her nest while several smaller males compete for positioning nearby

Boston terriers are said to be affectionate with human family members, good with children and playful.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Celebrate Man’s Best Friend With These 15 Photographs of Good Dogs

Delight in dogs with snapshots from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

A river otter 

From Playful Otters to Pint-Size Owls, These Eight Awesome Animals Call the Chesapeake Bay Home

Blue crabs, bluebirds, beetles and many more creatures can be spotted in and around the bay—and scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center are paying attention

Scientists filmed the way killer whales hunt together. These images show one of the animals turning toward the other after a tail slap delivers a shock to herring.

Killer Whales Hunt Fish in Highly Coordinated Pairs and Perfect Their Movements With Practice, Drone Videos Reveal

Footage taken off the coast of Norway reveals that orcas team up to maximize their prey, according to a new study

Ziggy (dog) and Rozi (cheetah) play with a stuffed animal at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo in Australia.

A Lonely Cheetah Cub at an Australian Zoo Now Has an Unlikely ‘Best Friend’—a Puppy

While the companionship might seem surprising, zoos have been pairing sibling-less cheetah cubs with dogs for decades to improve their socialization

Researchers deposited the larvae into the hull of a shipwreck off the coast of Belgium.

Scientists Deposit 200,000 Rare Oysters in a Shipwreck 100 Feet Below the Surface of the North Sea

European flat oysters have nearly disappeared from the region. Now, researchers are helping them recover by depositing the oyster larvae on gravel beds off the coast of Belgium

The leaf-toed gecko has been rediscovered on Rábida Island in the Galápagos.

Small, Secretive Gecko Rediscovered in the Galápagos After Scientists Eliminate Invasive Rats

Researchers thought leaf-toed geckos were locally extinct on Rábida Island, so they were thrilled to find several of the lizards alive and well during 2019 and 2021 expeditions

Aspen trees are making a comeback at Yellowstone National Park.

Reintroduced Wolves Are Helping Baby Aspen Trees Flourish in Northern Yellowstone for the First Time in 80 Years, Study Suggests

The apex predators, restored to the park in 1995, appear to be keeping the local population of plant-eating elk in check, which allows aspen saplings to grow tall and healthy

New research suggests a large crocodile-like creature attacked a "terror bird" 12 million years ago.

Even Apex Predators Like ‘Terror Birds’ Had Enemies, Research Suggests

Bite marks on a fossilized leg bone found in South America suggest a crocodile-like creature attacked a massive, meat-eating bird 12 million years ago

A juvenile blacktip reef shark swims in shallow waters by the mangroves in Palau. This image was highly commended in the underwater category.

See 11 Stunning Images of Mangrove Forests and Their Wildlife, Showcasing the Trees’ Beauty and Fragility

The winners of the Mangrove Photography Awards shed light on the ecologically valuable but highly threatened coastal ecosystems

 The scientists found R. wellingtoni in two different color combinations, black-purple and red-black.

Scientists Just Found a Coral Species They Thought Had Gone Extinct, Marking the First Record of It in 24 Years

After the 1982-1983 El Niño warming event, the coral endemic to the Galápagos Islands experienced sharp population declines and was rarely observed during surveys

The Barbados threadsnake is just three to four inches long and about the same width as a strand of spaghetti. Pictured here in 2006, the species was officially described in 2008.

Scientists Feared the World’s Smallest Snake Had Gone Extinct. They Just Found It Again

When fully grown, the Barbados threadsnake is only three to four inches long—shorter than many earthworms

For the experiments, the scientists worked with plain-body octopuses (Callistoctopus aspilosomatis).

Octopuses Fall for the Rubber Hand Illusion, Just Like Humans, Pointing to a Sense of Body Ownership

The trick that plays with awareness of one’s own limb appeared to fool all six of the cephalopods tested in a series of experiments

A variety of tyrannosaurs roamed the planet before T. rex evolved.

Meet Ten Tyrannosaurs That Came Before T. Rex, From Small, Feathery Creatures to 30-Foot-Long Bone-Crushers

Everyone knows the famous tyrant lizard king, but its relatives amaze, too

The remotely controlled robotic rabbits have been placed at various undisclosed locations in South Florida to see how well they fool the invasive snakes.

‘Robo-Bunnies’ Are the Newest Weapon in the Fight Against Invasive Burmese Pythons in Florida

Scientists are experimenting with robotic rabbits in hopes of luring the destructive snakes out of hiding so they can be euthanized

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