Wild black-tailed prairie dogs use alarm calls to warn one another of predators, and some grassland birds are listening in. Photo credit: Andrew Dreelin, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
A great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa) colony infected with stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) on the coral reef in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The lesion, where the white band of tissue occurs, typically moves across the coral, killing coral tissue along the way. Kelly Pitts, Smithsonian.
Animal care staff at NZCBI’s Front Royal, Virginia, campus welcomed a litter of eight black-footed ferret kits born to mother Aristides (above) and father ColeS. Photo credit: Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Daniel Webster by Southworth & Hawes, whole-plate daguerreotype, c. 1846. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; conservation made possible by a grant from the Smithsonian's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
Fragments of the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts (Volumes II and III). Photo credit: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: S1982.84.1-5
Chase Robinson, director of the National Museum of Asian Art, and Abeer AlAkel, Chief Executive Officer of RCU, sign a collaboration agreement to enhance cultural exchange and mutual understanding. Photo Credit: Royal Commission for AlUla.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute and the Royal Commission for AlUla announced an agreement May 13 involving the international conservation and loan of critically endangered Arabian leopards from Saudi Arabia. Photo credit: Royal CommissionforAlUla
Educators are invited to attend the Smithsonian’s free National Education Summit 2025, hosted by the Office of the Under Secretary for Education July 15–17. (Photo by Norwood Photography)
Jaehyun Lee collects a porewater sample in the SMARTX experiment, at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland. Credit: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Smithsonian STARS— Scientists Taking Astronomy to Rural Schools— aims to bridge gaps in access to hands-on STEM learning opportunities for children in rural and tribal nation schools by providing a donated telescope, ongoing teacher training and support, and curricula and lesson plans to inspire kids and foster their curiosity. Image courtesy of Celestron™.
