Nature

Different species of frogs call out in various ways, and they may sound like musical instruments, construction tools or other animals.

From a Motorcycle Revving to a Pig Oinking, Eight Amazing Sounds Made by Frogs

All over the world, different types of frogs call out in various ways to warn others or attract mates

A view of the soft-bottomed Los Angeles River below the 400-foot-long Taylor Yard Bridge in Elysian Valley. The newest Taylor Yard parcel, currently fenced off as it undergoes toxic remediation, can be seen on the far right.

How the Arrival of an Endangered Bird Indicates What’s Possible for the L.A. River

Could the waterway that the city was built around make a comeback?

A Komodo dragon flicks its tongue out on Komodo Island, part of Komodo National Park in Indonesia.

The Most Infamous Komodo Dragon Encounters of the Century, From a Fatal Attack on an 8-Year-Old Boy to a Zookeeper Bitten by a Battling Animal

As tourism to see the endangered species is on the rise and their habitat decreases, on some very rare occasions, the animals bite

An armored mist frog warms itself on a wet rock. Once thought extinct, this species was rediscovered in locales where it has access to the sun’s warmth, which can help frogs fight the often-deadly fungal infections.

How Frogs Are Kicking Back Against a Lethal Fungus

Scientists are seeing signs of resistance to the infections that have been wiping out the world’s amphibian populations—and they're developing methods to fight the pathogen

The white substance on this fly is a fungus called Entomophthora muscae.

This Parasitic Fungus Turns Flies Into Zombie Insects

The pathogen takes over the brains of its hosts and controls them for its own sinister ends

A polar bear mother and her clingy, but cute, cubs are photographed along the Hudson Bay.

Celebrate the Beloved Yet Threatened Polar Bear With These 15 Photos

These amazing images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest show the Arctic animals at their fierce but adorable best

A Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander rests on a log.

Hurricane Helene Battered the 'Salamander Capital of the World' With Floods and Landslides. Will the Beloved Amphibians Survive the Aftermath?

The storm decimated a region rich with dozens of species already struggling with habitat loss and disease

Jonathan Shapiro, a Vermont-based wilderness instructor and certified “specialist” tracker on the East Coast, during an evaluation in the California desert.

Even as A.I. Technology Races Ahead, the Prehistoric Science of Wildlife Tracking Is Making a Comeback

Humans perfected how to identify wild animals over millennia, and now biologists are rediscovering the exceptional worth of the tracks and marks left behind

Dime Melovski gestures at lynx displayed in a hunter’s lodge in North Macedonia. The hunters found the lynx dead on the road and asked the scientists for permission to taxidermy it.

Can Lynx Be Saved in the Balkans?

A small team of local scientists are fighting rapid industrialization, misinformation and more to save Europe’s iconic cat

An aerial view of the new park modeled after Vincent van Gogh's 1889 masterpiece The Starry Night

This Park Recreates Vincent van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' With a Dazzling Display of Plants, Trees and Winding Pathways

At a new park in Bosnia and Herzegovina, two dozen gardeners have spent years replicating the Dutch artist's masterpiece using the land as their canvas

Two lynx shelter from the wind behind their parent, who looks into the camera.

See 15 Winning Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest

Breathtaking shots shine a light on the wonders of wildlife and the threats that human activities pose to the natural world

Leaf senescence creates a golden canopy over a trail in the Harvard Forest.

What 30 Years of Studying the New England Woods Reveals About the Colors of Changing Leaves

An ecologist’s long walks and detailed observations allowed him to chronicle the shifts in an iconic habitat and grow a once-overlooked branch of science

A polar bear looks out of a window frame on a deserted Russian island.

See 11 of the Best Wildlife Photographs From Years Past

A new book reveals striking images from six decades of the beloved Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

Grazer (128) is a back-to-back champion of Fat Bear Week—and the first working mother to win the popular online contest.

'Highly Defensive' Mother Bear Grazer Defeats Male That Killed Her Cub to Win Fat Bear Week

For the second year in a row, Grazer bested the massive male named Chunk to take the crown in the single elimination online popularity contest at Katmai National Park and Preserve

A green-crowned brilliant hummingbird feeds on a cactus flower in Costa Rica. 

Uncovering the Secrets Behind Hummingbirds' Extreme Lifestyle

Here's how the aerial acrobats are able to survive on a nearly all-sugar diet, fly higher than many helicopters can and migrate over the open ocean

Agafia Lykova was born while her family was living alone in the wilderness. She is the only surviving member of the family.

This Russian Family Lived Alone in the Siberian Wilderness for 40 Years, Unaware of World War II or the Moon Landing

In 1978, Soviet geologists stumbled upon a family of five in the taiga. They had been cut off from almost all human contact since fleeing religious persecution in 1936

An image of the famous Sycamore Gap tree before it was illegally cut down in 2023

One Year After England's Famous Sycamore Gap Tree Was Illegally Felled, a New Exhibition Honors Its Legacy

The show coincides with an initiative that will give away 49 of the tree's saplings to individuals and communities across the country

The Prometheus tree once stood in this grove on a mountain in Nevada.

How One Researcher Accidentally Killed One of the Oldest Trees in the World

In 1964, a graduate student cut down a bristlecone pine in Nevada. The tree, now known as Prometheus, turned out to be nearly 5,000 years old

A cross section of a chambered nautilus shell shows the newly defined shape, the "soft cell," repeating outward in a spiral.

Mathematicians Discover a New Class of Shape: the 'Soft Cell'

If the structures look familiar, it's probably because nature has been using them for a long time in places like nautilus shells, zebra stripes and onions

The viewfinders were installed at all 43 Virginia state parks.

Virginia State Parks Install Viewfinders for People With Colorblindness, Just in Time for Leaf-Peeping Season

The viewfinders are outfitted with special lenses that help people with red-green colorblindness distinguish between hues

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