The Smithsonian’s National Zoo recently acquired Japanese giant salamanders given to the Zoo by the City of Hiroshima Asa Zoological Park. This donation will be the foundation of a new long-term breeding program in the United States and may play an important role in saving amphibians around the globe. [...more]
There are several hypotheses about how amphibian chytrid has spread around the world, but the trade in amphibians for food, bait, pets and laboratory animals has been identified as the most likely mode of spread [...more]
Each year thousands of vacationers enjoy the scenery along Virginia’s Skyline Drive, little knowing that for a few brief moments they are passing through the territory of an endangered holdout from the Pleistocene that few humans have ever seen—the Shenandoah salamander (Plethodon shenandoah). Steep rocky slopes on the north sides of just three mountains in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park make [...] [...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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