For the first time, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center analyzed how songbirds are affected by both general noise and the acoustics of hard human-made surfaces in urban areas. [...more]
Nearly 20 years after the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute became the first to produce an Eld’s deer fawn through artificial insemination, SCBI scientists have now contributed to the birth of the first Eld’s deer via in vitro fertilization. [...more]
Researchers who will study the microbial communities living on the skins of frogs that are surviving the fungal scourge of chytridiomycosis, deadly to the frogs. [...more]
In a new study researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics used DNA from coyote scat (feces) to trace the route that led some of the animals to colonize in Northern Virginia. [...more]
Smithsonian scientists and collaborators have determined the evolutionary family tree for one of the most strikingly diverse and endangered bird families in the world, the Hawaiian honeycreepers. [...more]
School's nearly back in session, but the seven young lions at the Smithsonian's National Zoo have been working hard through the summer months! Instead of learning their ABCs, they're learning behaviors that help animal care staff evaluate their health, including opening their mouth, showing their paws, getting up on a bench and laying down in practice to receive a vaccination. We've been tracking their achievements—and adorable blunders—on camera. They're certainly earning their meatballs and we think you'll be impressed by their progress. According to their teachers, keepers Rebecca Stites and Kristen Clark, all seven lions earn the same grade for effort: A+ [...more]
The Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., is celebrating the recent hatching of two Micronesian kingfisher (Todiramphus c. cinnamominus) chicks, a female and male, born July 25 and Aug. 20, respectively. [...more]
nsightful Problem Solving in an Asian Elephant. Kandula, an 8-year old Asian elephant at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, demonstrates insightful problem solving by positioning a large cube under a treat that is too high for him to reach. By standing on the tire he can reach the food. From the scientific paper "Insightful Problem Thinking in an Asian Elephant," published Aug. 18, 2011 in the journal PLoS ONE. [...more]
Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center have found that fledgling catbirds living in the suburbs are extremely vulnerable. Almost 80 percent are killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Nearly half of the deaths are connected to domestic cats. The team studied catbird nests in 3 suburban neighborhoods in Maryland: Spring Park, Opal Daniels Park, and Bethesda. Learn more about this 2011 study by clicking here. (Catbird photo by Gerhard Hofmann)
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