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Center for Conservation Genomics News

A close-up, head-on photo of a salamander resting on a bed of moss.
Apr. 27, 2023
How to Find Wild Salamanders
With just a few tips and tricks, anyone can find salamanders and celebrate nature in their local area.
Smithsonian reseracher and intern Lindsey Gentry, left, works with a colleague to collect a slime sample from the skin of a mossy frog.
Apr. 17, 2023
Why I'm Studying Frog Slime
The sliminess on amphibians is more than just goop—it’s how these animals survive. A scientist and intern from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for...
Photo of Sally Bornbusch using a pipette in a laboratory.
Apr. 13, 2023
Focus on the Future: Sally Bornbusch
Focus on the Future is a series that seeks to highlight the early career scientists who conduct research at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Learn about...
A southern two-toed sloth with coarse fur, long limbs and curved claws hangs upside-down from a tree branch.
Mar. 27, 2023
Why Do Animals Eat Poop? (And Why It Might Be a Good Thing)
Here's why eating poop can sometimes be good for animal health—and how the practice is even becoming an important part of human and animal medicine.
A cheetah and her five cubs resting together on a pile of hay in a grassy yard
Apr. 13, 2022
Microbes Matter: Meet the Small but Mighty Microbiomes
Did you know that all animals have trillions of microscopic bacteria living inside them? These communities of microbes, known as microbiomes, play an important role in keeping animals healthy.
A nutrition lab research assistant at the Zoo wearing a full-body snowsuit stands in the freezer where animal milk samples are stored. The shelves are stacked with cardboard boxes and she holds a small box filled with tubes of milk samples.
Dec. 20, 2019
Making Sense of Animal Milks
As a research assistant for the nutrition laboratory, Jenna Pastel wears a snowsuit year-round. That’s because she spends a lot of time in a -20 degree Fahrenheit walk-in freezer located in the Zoo’s...
Three sable antelope standing in a field.
May. 17, 2019
Scientists Sequence the Sable Antelope's Genome for the First Time
DNA is the ultimate library, and scientists at SCBI’s Center for Species Survival and Center for Conservation Genomics are cataloging it as diligently as any librarians. 
A small, green-brown frog, called a wood frog, with smooth skin, large eyes and stripes along its hind legs sits on the ground in a bed of fallen leaves
Mar. 05, 2019
Genetics Discovery Could Help Protect Frogs from Disease
Smithsonian scientists and partners believe genetic diversity could hold the key to saving amphibians from Ranavirus, a pathogen that is particularly devastating to frogs and toads in the U.S.
San Joaquin Kit Foxes
Feb. 22, 2019
Foxes and Feces: How Science Saves Species
Without ever laying eyes on a San Joaquin kit fox, scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation Genomics know how many of the cute creatures live in...
Eastern red-spotted newt at Amazonia
Nov. 30, 2018
Salamanders Helping Salamanders
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...
A medium-sized black bird, called a common raven, perched on a tree branch
Mar. 07, 2018
Two Species of Ravens Nevermore?
In a new study almost 20 years in the making, Smithsonian researchers and partners report some of the strongest evidence yet of the phenomenon of speciation reversal in two lineages of common ravens.
McInerney and Parker visit Horsh Ehden Nature Reserve on Lebanese Independence Day to collect scat samples with Magda and her st
Jan. 18, 2018
Bringing DNA Metabarcoding to Lebanon's Cedar Forests
Which mammals live in Lebanon’s legendary cedar forests? Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute staff traveled to Beirut and trained students to identify animals using advanced DNA tools.
North American bat
Oct. 06, 2017
Bats in the Lab: Tracking the Path of White-Nose Syndrome
These bats have been dead for more than a century, but they are finding a second “life” as a research specimen. It may sound like a spooky science fiction story, but it is actually the work of...
Tortoise mating
Jul. 13, 2017
Tortoise Dudes and Duds: A Q&A with SCBI’s Rob Fleischer
In a shell of a paternity test story, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) scientists found that male desert tortoises that had been relocated from a threatened habitat to a new nearby...
Two desert tortoises mating
May. 24, 2017
Desert Tortoise Paternity Assignments Highlight Unexpected Shortcomings of Common Conservation Strategy
Four years after conservationists relocated 570 desert tortoises in California from a threatened habitat to a nearby location, the tortoises outwardly appeared to have successfully acclimated....
Sea otter floats on its back in the water and uses rock to open clam
Mar. 22, 2017
Smithsonian Study Reveals Tool-Using Sea Otters Not Closely Related
Tool use by sea otters to break open well-armored food is not necessarily a family matter, according to a new study published this week by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and...