According to legend St. Patrick (circa 387–460 or 492 AD) banished all snakes from Ireland, chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast atop a hill. Today we suspect that...
The uplift of the Isthmus of Panama 2.6 million years ago formed a land-bridge that has long thought to be the crucial step in the interchange of animals between the Americas. This includes the movement...
The newest additions at the Reptile Discovery Center at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are eight tentacled snakes, born Oct. 21 to parents that have not produced viable young in the past four years. Tentacled snakes are aquatic,...
Two Cuban crocodiles were born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo on July 6 and 14 and they are among the most genetically valuable in the Cuban crocodile population under human care. The Zoo has not...
Smithsonian herpetologist George Zug answers a few questions about skinks….
Biologists from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the Papua New Guinea National Museum, and the U.S. Geological Survey have discovered a new species of gecko, adorned like a bumblebee with black-and-gold bands and rows of skin nodules that enhance its camouflage on the tropical forest floor.
A new genetic study by a team of Cuban and American researchers confirms that American crocodiles are hybridizing with wild populations of critically endangered Cuban crocodiles, which may cause a population decline of this species found only in the Cuban Archipelago.
Science Spotlight
