Wildlife

A mountain gorilla seemingly enjoys a moment of solitude in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, surrounded by orange, yellow and green leaves.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Celebrate World Gorilla Day With 15 Primate Pictures

These highlights from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest feature our close “cousins”

Why can't we stop anthropomorphizing our animal friends and foes?

There's More to That

Are Wild Animals Really Just Like Us?

A summer of news reports about orca, otter and bird “attacks” has the public wondering if trying to understand animal behavior in human terms is misguided

BirdCast’s newest advances provide detailed flight forecasts of millions of birds.

Four Amazing Impacts of This A.I.-Powered Bird Migration Tracker

A reimagined tool called BirdCast is helping birders, scientists and even farmers

An Azores bullfinch feeds on the buds of a native tree on São Miguel Island in the Azores.

Planet Positive

One of Europe’s Most Endangered Birds Is Bouncing Back

Twenty years of habitat restoration has helped the once critically endangered Azores bullfinch

Researchers have found bouts of REM-like activity in cuttlefish.

Do Other Animals Dream?

Researchers are finding signs of multiple phases of sleep all over the animal kingdom, including some that look very much like REM

The female whale was found stranded in January on a beach near Palm Coast, Florida.

How an Orca Skeleton Made Its Way From Florida to the Smithsonian

Washed up in a rare stranding event, the newly collected specimen will offer rich exploration for researchers

Savannah elephants walk through tall grass in Tsavo, a region in south-eastern Kenya. Trouble often begins when elephants stray from a protected area into human-dominated landscapes.

Inside the Effort to Prevent Conflict Between Humans and Elephants in Africa

Conservationists are inserting beehives as deterrents around farms and building craft breweries that reward farmers for pachyderm-friendly practices

Having native plants in a garden can create a good environment for caterpillars, which are hearty food for birds

Why You Should Grow Native Plants in Your Garden

Entomologist Doug Tallamy explains how doing so can help insects and birds

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Ten Wildlife Photographers Zoom In on Their Favorite Birds

Get up close and personal with a birder’s-eye view of the United States, as reflected by our beloved feathered neighbors

Caribbean reef sharks are as comfortable cruising coastal coral reefs as diving 1,000 feet into the depths. 

Efforts to Bring Back the Caribbean Reef Shark May Become a Conservation Success Story

The endangered creature is a target for fishing off the coast of the Bahamas—and a magnet for ecotourists who just might save it

Outside of Earth, is there any place a human could survive unprotected for even ten seconds?  

Could Humans Survive Unprotected Outside of Earth's Atmosphere for Even Ten Seconds?

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

A team including research scientists at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute became the first in the world to successfully cryopreserve coral using a technique called isochronic vitrification.

Scientists Cryopreserve and Revive Coral Fragments in a World First for Conservation

The new freezing technique could reinvigorate corals suffering from warming oceans—or even preserve human organs in the future

Antlers remain intact for hundreds to thousands of years.

How Conservation Paleobiology Serves as a Guide for Restoring Ecosystems

Researchers use historic remnants like antlers, shells, teeth and pollen to learn how natural communities once worked

One of the most popular species identification tools is iNaturalist. Since its creation in 2008, the app has logged more than 145 million observations from around the world.

The Race to Develop Artificial Intelligence That Can Identify Every Species on the Planet

Scientists are building machine-learning-powered software that can recognize a species based solely on a cellphone picture

Researchers are rediscovering the forgotten legacy of Charles Henry Turner.

This Pioneering Black Zoologist's Insights Were a Century Ahead of Their Time

Charles Henry Turner conducted trailblazing research on the cognitive traits of bees, spiders and more

As one Nile crocodile rests, another perks up near a river in Tanzania.

Nile Crocodiles Recognize and React to the Sound of Crying Babies

The reptiles may be aware that primate infants are in trouble—and an easy meal

An artistic reconstruction shows a group of Burgessomedusa phasmiformis swimming in the Cambrian sea.

These 508-Million-Year-Old Fossils May Be Earth’s Oldest Swimming Jellyfish

Researchers found the rare remains in Canada

A female American kestrel, the smallest falcon in North America, catches a bug in her beak. Among other traits, female kestrels can be identified by black bars on the tail; males have red tail feathers with black tips.

See Stunning Images of Female Birds, Often Overlooked by Wildlife Photographers

The sex frequently neglected by birders and scientists takes the spotlight in the Audubon Photography Awards’ Female Bird Prize

Spider wrestling can range from casual matches played by children to more high-stakes games involving gambling.

Does Playing Games With Spiders Reduce Arachnophobia?

An anthropologist ponders whether a children's pastime in the Philippines, pitting the creatures against each other in wrestling matches, decreases fear

Antler coral can host different types of algae, sometimes resulting in differences in color. 

This Pacific Coral Can Withstand Warming Waters With the Help of Algae

The heat-resistant organism in antler coral may help it adapt as ocean temperatures increase

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