The secret to salamanders’ survival may be in their slimy secretions. Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are swabbing salamanders in Shenandoah, looking for disease-fighting microbes that live in the mucus on their skin.
As part of the Bird-Friendly Coffee initiative, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center ecologist Robert Rice and partners are gearing up to find out which trees in shade coffee farms supply the most food resources for birds.
Smithsonian’s National Zoo visitors will have the opportunity to find gifts for family and friends at GRUMP, a European-style outdoor market, Dec. 7, 8 and 9 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. during ZooLights, powered by Pepco.
What sounds does an infant orangutan make? Primate keeper Erin Stromberg filmed the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s 2-year-old Bornean orangutan Redd as he pleaded with his mother to share her food. Get the scoop on this and his latest milestones in this Q&A with Stromberg.
Cheetah Conservation Station keepers are celebrating a dama gazelle baby boom! Two young calves, Gustav and Amaya, recently made their debut. Learn all about the newest members of our herd from assistant curator Gil Myers.
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and American Prairie Reserve are collaborating to protect and restore one of North America’s greatest treasures — the prairie.
For the first time, scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute have successfully cryopreserved (or frozen) and thawed coral larvae from the mushroom coral.
Insect-eating birds that depend on high-calorie, high-protein cuisine (namely caterpillars and spiders) to feed their young are finding the menu severely lacking in backyards landscaped with even a small proportion of nonnative plants, according to a new study from SCBI.
For the past two years, Global Health Program veterinarian Dawn Zimmerman traveled to Awash National Park in Ethiopia to collar hamadryas baboons, helping researchers track the primates and study their biology, reproduction and social nature.
Just one month after welcoming a male Dama gazelle calf, Cheetah Conservation Station keepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo once again welcomed a new member to the herd. A female calf was born in an off-exhibit enclosure the morning of Oct. 9 to 9-year-old mother Fahima and 4-year-old father...
As part of the Explorations in Engineering program at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia, students had a rare opportunity to help Smithsonian scientists save two critically endangered species: pangolins and scimitar-horned oryx.
George Mason University students recently traveled to the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya to work with Smithsonian scientists as part of a course on emerging infectious disease.
