Join us as we explore the natural world and our place in it. Legal: http://s.si.edu/legal Welcome to our page!
Please feel free to share thoughts about our posts, ask us questions, or tell us about your visit. We hope you’ll contribute to this interactive forum and to our ongoing conversation about the work we do to further the Smithsonian's mission to increase and diffuse knowledge. While on-topic discussion is encouraged, we ask that you express yourself in a civil manner and treat other users with respe
ct. The Smithsonian also monitors and may remove posts consistent with its terms of use, as described at http://si.edu/Termsofuse#user-gen. For our Privacy Policy: http://www.si.edu/Privacy
Operating as usual
48,000 butterfly and moth specimens don't just magically end up in our research collections. Here's how the work gets done.
(For those who don't click links, this story is about how our entomologists acquired *existing* collections that were scientifically important and in need of a permanent home.)
Entomologist Floyd Shockley drove across the country to pick up a premier butterfly and moth collection
Mammoth hair in a frame. That's what this is.
German scientists working for the Russian Academy of Sciences collected this hair—and some other remains—from a mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) in 1901. The animal had been entombed in Siberian ice, which preserved muscles, blood, fat, and more. But its preservation wasn’t perfect: the body had begun to rot before it froze, so when a landslide exposed the remains, the stench greeted the collectors. Carbon dating indicates that the animal lived 40,000–20,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene.
North American mammoths died out about 10,000 years ago. Scientists are still untangling the roles that changing climate, shifting ecosystems, and human hunting played in the mammoth’s extinction. Some mammoth species survived for a while longer in far northern Siberia, with the last population enduring on isolated Wrangel Island until about 4,000 years ago.
No, we are not part of the Academy. But yes, we do love volcanoes and the people who study them. So we are heartened that "Fire of Love" is an Oscar nominee for Best Documentary.
The film tells the story of volcanologists and cinematographers Katia and Maurice Krafft, a French husband and wife team that travelled to more than 200 active volcanoes before tragically dying while studying one in Japan on June 3, 1991.
The duo excelled at communicating the danger and the grandeur of volcanoes to the public. Over 23 years, they shared their knowledge in 21 books, 6 full-length films, and dozens of scientific journals.
In fact, they were some of the earliest collaborators with the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program. Among other things, that program tracks and reports weekly volcanic activity from the world’s 1,328 volcanoes active during the Holocene. In 1971, the Kraffts submitted their first report from Italy’s Mt. Etna, describing explosions and advancing lava flows.
Their legacy lives on, now in a documentary, but also at our museum. One object that was a bequest from their estate to the Smithsonian is the spindle bomb shown here. It was from an eruption in central France that occurred more than 7,650 years ago. Its aerodynamic shape formed as a molten clot of lava spun through air. Look for it the next time you visit the museum’s Geology, Gems, and Minerals Hall.
This goes out to all the people who have ever wondered: what would it be like if I devoured my lunch like a sea star?
Flip a sea star on its back and you will find the opening of its mouth at the center of its many arms.
A sea star feeds by expelling its cardiac stomach outside its body, where the stomach then begins to digest the meal. Once the cardiac stomach recedes back into the body with the partially digested food, the pyloric stomach, the second stomach, takes over and finishes the job.
USNM specimen E39586 was collected in 1982 in the North Atlantic; it's an Asterias rubens, the common starfish.
We love a good family tree. And scientists from the USDA and Smithsonian have just produced the most comprehensive one for ants, bees, and wasps. The researchers traced the evolution of these insects, from 300 million years ago to present. The phylogenetic tree maps the relationships and evolutionary timeline of over 700 known species. 🤯
The goal of this type of work is to identify common ancestors and see where diversification happens, where the tree of life forms new "branches"...and why they evolve.
Prior to this study, which came out last week in the journal Nature Communications, scientists placed a lot of focus on the role of stingers, and the advent of parasitoidism, to explain why there are so many species of wasps around the world. You see, parasitoids lay eggs in host insects (like caterpillars), and the wasp larvae feeds on the host, from the inside, while hiding out...resulting in a co-evolutionary pattern. This has long been considered an important component of wasp evolution, much like the notorious stinger!
But by putting together this tree, the researchers were able to see that a key driver of speciation was a return to feeding on plants. This includes not only the bees, but also specialized plant feeders like gall wasps. This pattern was quite unexpected and underpins how changing the way we gather and interpret data, can influence how we understand the natural world.
The illustrations shown here are by Taina Litwak (USDA-ARS) and depict species that represent key evolutionary adaptations across this family tree.
Science is collaborative and this study involved 11 scientists from 6 research institutions. The lead author was Bonnie Blaimer, an entomologist at the Museum für Naturkunde in Germany and a former Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow. Other Smithsonian contributors included Bernardo Santos and Seán Brady. The co-authors from the USDA were Michael Gates, Robert Kula, David Smith, Elijah Talamas, and Matthew Buffington.
"I think the Earth is a vast canvas of different chemical compositions. And it’s like a detective story to determine how the Earth created this tapestry of different compositions. That's my fascination." -- Elizabeth Cottrell, Smithsonian research geologist and curator of the National Rock Collection.
Today, the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry named Cottrell a Geochemical Fellow in recognition of her ongoing contributions to the field of geochemistry.
It's a prestigious honor and to mark it, we've interviewed Cottrell on Smithsonian Voices. It's a great read for anyone, especially for those looking for career inspiration in the STEM arena.
Cottrell's enthusiasm for her research is hard to surpass...so if you want a career change after you're done reading the interview, don't say we didn't warn you.
Elizabeth Cottrell collects rocks and analyzes samples in the lab to help reveal what makes Earth so unique
This may look like a variation on a Rorschach test, but it's the skull of an Atlantic bluefin tuna, as seen from above.
Bluefin tunas (Thunnus thynnus) have more than 200 bones in their heads, forming a rigid snout suitable for powerful, long-distance swimming. They must swim continuously to oxygenate their gills as they make epic migrations in large schools to tropical waters for breeding.
For those who want table conversation for the weekend: leeches, like all clitellate annelids including earthworms, are hermaphrodites. As you can see from these microCT scans, they have both male (blue) and female (purple) reproductive organs. This feature unites the entire Class Clitellata and separates them from other annelid worms that have separate sexes.
Anatomy is key to understanding the evolutionary adaptations of our biodiverse planet. But for squishable, spineless animals like leeches—it’s proven to be a challenge. Especially if you want to peer into their insides without destroying them.
This week, Anna Phillips and Freya Goetz published a paper in Zoomorphology outlining how they created the images you’re seeing here using micro-computed tomography. Phillips is a Smithsonian research zoologist and the curator of the U.S. National Parasite Collection and Goetz is a museum specialist and master of the microCT.
Together, the two set out to image the innards of two leech species in a non-destructive way. For as long as these leech species have been known to science, the details of their internal morphology—the physical characteristics of their anatomy—has not been adequately documented. And this hinders other avenues of research related to these parasites.
Phillips and Goetz microCT scanned two different species within the genus Macrobdella: M. decora (shown left) and M. mimicus (shown, right). To the trained eye of Phillips, one immediate surprise was that M. decora has longer, more complicated reproductive ducts—they have more twists and coils—than M. mimicus.
There’s more to uncover, but for now, their study has shown that this powerful research tool can advance the science of parasitology and help Phillips unlock new information from specimens in the collection she curates, while preserving it for future generations.
What's cuter than a puppy? A baby aphid.
Aphids have complex reproductive mechanisms. Some, depending on the season, are born pregnant and give birth to fully formed aphid babies – like the one in the video.
These creatures are sometimes considered destructive to crops and ornamental plants through direct feeding damage or transmission of plant disease-causing organisms. One reason they are so successful at becoming harmful to plants is that they are efficient at multiplying.
Our colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been studying aphids since the late 1800s. Some of their earliest such work was essential in identification, classification, and developing management techniques for these insects in crops like hops, which are used in the brewing industry – cheers to the USDA! 🍻
Due to their small size, aphids are curated a bit differently than other insects. Specimens are mounted on slides and preserved inside the transparent resin of Canada balsam, which allows scientists to study the small insects under a high-powered microscope. The National Aphid Collection houses more than 100,000 microscope slides, with some specimens dating to before the creation of the USDA in 1862.
This footage was taken in April 2022 in Virginia by contributor Miguel Montalvo. The aphids were found living on blades of grass in a patch of un-mowed lawn.
Somewhere, someone's celebrating . Not us.
This amphibian—think toads, frogs, salamanders—is called a caecilian. And this particular specimen (USNM 98571) is Siphonops annulatus. Doris Cochran, our museum's first female curator, collected it in Brazil in 1935.
As a group, caecilians are generally not well studied or known, owing to the fact that most live mainly underground in the tropics of Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. Although this specimen is orange-ish, in life it was a bluish-grey color.*
Females of the species shown here practice pretty wild parental care. After the eggs hatch, the outermost layer of the mother’s skin becomes paler and filled with more fat. Hatchling and nestling caecilians have teeth that they use to rip off the fat-filled, specialized outer layer of their mother’s skin (which she regrows about every 3 days!).
Scientists call this, “maternal dermatophagy,” and that's our phrase of the day. Possibly the week.
* The change in coloration is due to the fixing and preservation process of herpetological specimens.
On , learn how to avoid getting hurt by ostriches. President Theodore Roosevelt will instruct you.
Head to the Smithsonian Magazine for that tidbit and the epic story of a natural history "gift" from one leader to another.
For President’s Day, learn the story behind the giant birds sent to Washington to celebrate Roosevelt’s reelection
“Conservation is in our tradition and in our blood, and is something that has been important to the Institution for our entire history.” — John Ososky, marine mammal specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 🐋
This World Whale Day, take a look inside of the National Museum of Natural History’s whale bone repository
Maybe we're a day late to because both of the Smithsonian's 📱📱 were in the shop. All two of them.
"Anthropologists are typically interested in the making of things, not how they get fixed," says Joshua Bell, the Smithsonian's curator of globalization. He has documented cellphone repair shops in Washington, D.C. to understand the experts who keep our phones—and by extension, our lives—running. It's an avenue of research he's conducted in collaboration with colleagues and students at George Washington University.
For the past decade, Bell has used cellphones as a lens to examine people, culture, and our changing connections with one another and the natural world. Part of that work involves investigating what happens when these devices break down.
Bell and his colleagues produced ethnographies—detailed descriptions based on careful observation and interviews—of cellphone repair technicians' work. They documented this complex trade, which often involves reverse-engineering devices that get more and more complicated with each new model.
"What's wonderful about the promise of repair is that we can actually come to know our devices and what's in them and hopefully come to know the people who make them work," says Bell.
We'll delve more into the world of 📱📱 with "Cellphone: Unseen Connections," a new exhibition curated by Bell that will open on June 23, 2023 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Just let me drink this pretend water in peace, hippo.
Nope. It's , so we're talking about why this Hippopotamus amphibius is hanging out by the watering hole too. These mostly hairless mammals could overheat in the sun. So during the day they protect themselves by staying in or near the water while feeding on aquatic plants. When night begins to fall, they will lumber onto land to eat grass and other vegetation.
Together forever ❤️...so far 105 years and counting. These common green darners (Anax junius) were captured while mating, or as we like say "in copula." The year was 1918 and the place was Chevy Chase Lake, in Maryland.
When dragonflies mate, the male uses claspers at the end of his abdomen to grip the female. She then bends her abdomen upwards to reach a structure on the underside of the male's abdomen where he has stored his s***m. And they do this all while FLYING! Sometimes taking the shape of a wheel or a heart.
The specimens, male (left) and female (right) (USNM EO22322), are part of our Education and Outreach Collections.
Imagine face-to-face with this behemoth. Keep imagining because you won't! Millions of years ago, this giant sea turtle was one of many reptiles that called the ocean home.
Protostega gigas is a species of extinct sea turtle that swam in North America’s Cretaceous inland sea, which connected the Gulf of Mexico with the Arctic Ocean. With some individuals more than 12 feet long and up to 2,000 pounds, Protostega gigas is one of the largest turtles ever discovered.
The fossil skeleton shown here, USNM 11651 and USNM 11649, lived 83–81 million years ago and was found in Kansas. You can see the specimen and other giant sea predators in our Fossil Hall.
🎨 by Davide Bonadonna for the Smithsonian
Along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya roughly 2.9 million years ago, early human ancestors used some of the oldest stone tools ever found to butcher hippos and pound plant material, according to new research led by an international team of scientists.
The study, published today in the journal Science, presents what are likely to be the oldest examples of an important stone-age innovation known as the Oldowan toolkit—which included hammerstones, cores, and flakes—as well as the oldest evidence of hominins consuming very large animals.
Excavations at the site, named Nyayanga in western Kenya, also produced a pair of massive molars belonging to the human species’ close evolutionary relative Paranthropus. The teeth are the oldest fossilized Paranthropus remains yet found, and their presence raises intriguing questions.
“The assumption among researchers has long been that only the genus Homo, to which humans belong, was capable of making stone tools,” says Rick Potts, senior author of the study and the National Museum of Natural History’s Peter Buck Chair of Human Origins. “But finding Paranthropus alongside these stone tools opens up a fascinating whodunnit.”
The analysis of wear patterns on 30 of the stone tools found at the site showed that they had been used to cut, scrape, and pound both animals and plants. Because fire would not be harnessed by hominins for another 2 million years or so, these stone toolmakers would have eaten everything raw, perhaps pounding the meat into something like a hippo tartare to make it easier to chew.
Using a combination of dating techniques, including the rate of decay of radioactive elements and the presence of certain fossil animals, the research team dated the items recovered from Nyayanga to between 2.58 and 3 million years old, most likely around 2.9 million.
The study’s lead author, Thomas Plummer of Queens College, CUNY, is a research associate with the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program Program. Researchers from the National Museums of Kenya, Liverpool John Moores University, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History also participated in the study.
No digs against our legendary diamond, but it's our *hope* that someday the Allende meteorite will be as well known. It fell to Earth in 1969, landing in many pieces, near a Mexican town for which it's named.
Allende is a rare type of stony meteorite called a CV3 carbonaceous chondrite. It contains white objects called calcium-aluminum inclusions, or CAIs, up to nearly an inch across. These are some of the oldest minerals formed in our Solar System when the cloud of gas and dust from which the Sun, planets, asteroids, and comets first started to cool, condensing minerals rich in calcium and aluminum. 🤯
In studying Allende, Smithsonian geologists and other researchers can unlock the secrets of the first few million years of the Solar System, a time in which the materials formed that dominated the first half billion years of .
One meteorite can't tell the whole story, but sample-by-sample—we now have more than 20,000 distinct meteorites—Smithsonian experts are curating a collection that will shed light on the origins of Earth's water, continents, and life.
Do weevils wobble? Perhaps we are misremembering…
This is in fact a weevil, a member of the Curculionidae family of true weevils and snout weevils, which are characterized by a protruding rostrum on the front of their head. They are often considered garden pests since many species feed on various fruits and nuts.
Specimen EO400284-DSP, shown here, is part of our education and outreach collections.
If the Smithsonian fielded its own football team, this would *not* be the official ball...or would it?
Citrine, a gem variety of quartz, is notable for its gorgeous smoky yellow hue, which is caused by the presence of iron impurities within the mineral. This modified marquise-cut gem (NMNH G11455) weighs almost 20,000 ct. and is the largest smoky citrine in the National Gem Collection.
Impress your friends this . Mute the TV during commercials and casually share these quartz facts:
🏈 Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals in the Earth’s crust. It is the major constituent of beach sand and an important component of many types of rocks.
🏈 Quartz is composed of the elements silicon and oxygen, and in its pure state is colorless. However, just small amounts of various impurity atoms can yield a range of vivid colors.
🏈 The Greeks referred to quartz as krystallos, meaning “ice,” and this name is the origin of the word crystal. Citrine (yellow to orange), amethyst (purple), rock crystal (colorless), smoky (brown to gray) and rose (pink) are some of the most common varieties of quartz.
Today's photo caption challenge is brought to you by the feet of USNM 23792, a woolly mammoth composite skeleton. Post your captions below!
AND if you enjoyed doing that, apply to run this feed as our social media producer. The position is currently open; applications are due February 14, 2023 by 5pm EST. Here are all the details:https://www.si.edu/content/ohr/SITrustVacs/SITRUST-23-NMNH0107.pdf
For those who just want to learn about these icons of the ice ages, woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) inhabited cold steppes covered with a wide range of grasses, shrubs, and wildflowers—providing a varied diet. They likely evolved in Asia and migrated across Beringia about 100,000 years ago. Asian elephants are their closest living relatives.
The full USNM 23792 specimen is on view in our Fossil Hall. It's actually a composite skeleton, put together from the isolated bones of many individuals of the same size. Although they are less scientifically valuable, composite skeletons are very helpful for showing what a whole prehistoric animal looked like.
Good things come in three; so we (randomly) picked three beetles. They share many features, including one very prominent one. Can you spot it?
In many beetle species the male sports a long horn. They are used much like the antlers on deer—wielded in male-to-male combat over mating rights.
Many of you will know this, but beetles are insects in the Coleoptera order. What you may not know is that our USDA collaborators and Smithsonian entomologists curate and preserve one of the world's largest scientific collections of beetles: more than 7 million specimens. This includes more than 20,000 that are "primary types," the original reference for a specific species. This collection is critical for many lines of research, including understanding the biodiversity of our planet and how to preserve it for future generations.
Shown here are specimens from our Education collections: atlas beetle (Chalcosoma atlas, -DSP), the elephant beetle (Megasoma elephas, -DSP, and the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules; -DSP).
Not sure about you, but we're getting verrrrry sleeeeeeeepy...
If you've never pondered snake skeletons before, here's your chance. They have truly remarkable spines. This X-ray of a rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii) shows the many vertebrae and rib bones coiled throughout the entire length of the snake's body. Go ahead and try to count them all without getting entranced.
Pictured here is specimen USNM 240364, collected in Mexico in 1979.
Congratulations to paleobotanist and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Sant Director Kirk Johnson and senior research biologist and curator Doug Erwin for achieving the rank of by AAAS - The American Association for the Advancement of Science! Here's to many more years of unlocking Earth's paleo past so that we can better appreciate the planet we've inherited and the one we're passing on to future generations.
10th St. & Constitution Avenue NW
Washington D.C., DC
20560
| Monday | 10am - 5:30pm |
| Tuesday | 10am - 5:30pm |
| Wednesday | 10am - 5:30pm |
| Thursday | 10am - 5:30pm |
| Friday | 10am - 5:30pm |
| Saturday | 10am - 5:30pm |
| Sunday | 10am - 5:30pm |
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History:
We 🧡 this Butterfly Tree on display through tomorrow, November 2, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Each butterfly contains the name of a loved one who has died. Stop by and add to it or make a Butterfly Tree in your own community gathering space. #DíaDeLosMuertos #DayOfTheDead
You can often tell a lot about an animal’s behavior from its physical features. In this case, a curved bill, well-developed eyes, and feet with long sharp talons hint that this bird is a hunter and pretty talented at eating meat. The Yellow-headed Caracara is a medium-sized raptor that is widely distributed throughout the lowlands of South America and parts of southern Central America. This stoic looking one was caught on 📽 by volunteer contributor Miguel Montalvo, near Mariquita, Colombia.
Our ornithologists always recommend birdwatching, but fall migration can offer rare moments of awe. Case in point: this footage of Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis) at Bocas Ridge in Panama. The video was recorded by raptor researcher Karl Bardon as part of a raptor migration monitoring program initiated by Smithsonian scientists and the organization ADOPTA. These hawks are making their journey from the central and southern U.S. to as far south as Argentina for the winter. This flocking behavior is called “kettling,” when flocks of soaring birds find an updraft of warm air and use it to gain altitude before soaring long distances. It helps them conserve energy during their long-distance migration. The topography of Central America funnels migrating raptors through a narrow corridor along the Caribbean coast of western Panama. At this one site, more Mississippi Kites have been counted this fall than previous population estimates for the entire species! See the comments below to find out how to follow the daily hawk counts at Bocas Ridge. #fall #birds
This #WhaleWednesday we're excited to announce a new augmented reality experience that will open September 29 at the @smithsoniannmnh. #CriticalDistance will immerse visitors in a holographic orca pod and allow them to witness this endangered species’ daily obstacles. Produced by Vision3, Vulcan Productions, and Microsoft #CriticalDistance highlights a pod of 24 endangered southern resident orcas struggling to survive in the Pacific Ocean’s Salish Sea. Visitors will see firsthand how the orcas, including 6-year-old Kiki, must overcome marine noise pollution and vessel disturbances to effectively hunt for food—and, ultimately, survive. https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/new-augmented-reality-experience-spotlights-human-connection-oceans
“The Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) typically gives a nasal 'peent' in flight, but during the breeding season the males will make this unearthly 'booming' noise (@ 12s in the recording). The sound is entirely mechanical, made by flexing the wings in a steep dive and forcing air through the wing feathers. This display is mostly done to impress females, but sometimes also to intimidate intruders (me in this case).” – Jacob Saucier, Division of Birds #SummerRoadTrip #Playlist
"One of my favorite North American breeding bird displays. The Ruddy Duck clacks its bill against its chest, like a folk musician playing the spoons. All while making an adorable belching sound."– Jacob Saucer, Division of Birds #SummerRoadTrip #Playlist
"Here's a PSA: don't get too close to that harrier nest! Northern Harrier dads can be fiercely protective. I apparently got too close to this one’s nest, and he made a show of swooping and fussing as I hiked by. Luckily, I had my recorder and camera to document the attack 😉." – Jacob Saucier, Division of Birds #SummerRoadTrip #Playlist Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) ♂️, recorded at Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming on June 18, 2021
”Pinyon Jay. Social/nomadic/inquisitive. Sadly, sharply declining in population. I was privileged to spend time observing a large flock of them near Moab. The nasal calls of these flocks can be heard from a considerable distance as they rove the desert searching for patches of trees with the seeds and berries that they like to eat.” – Jacob Saucier, Division of Birds #SummerRoadTrip #Playlist
“I only brought the essentials on this trip. Better believe that included my recorder. Flashback to the beautiful Southwest, where the bouncy, jingling song of the Black-throated Sparrow is a critical part of the soundtrack.” – Jacob Saucier, Division of Birds #SummerRoadTrip #Playlist
Our new #UnsettledNature exhibit reveals the complexity of real-world issues through art. This lenticular image of corn kernels illustrates how seed banks preserve the plants that feed us. In the aftermath of environmental disaster, banked seeds may provide the genetic diversity essential for breeding crops that can resist new pests or grow in changing climates. Courtesy Dornith Doherty, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas; and Moody Gallery, Houston
Smithsonian's Human Origins Program
The Museum Interstate Located At The Intersection of 10Th Street and Constitution AvenueDepartment of Entomology, NMNH, Smithsonian I
Street Nw At Constitution Avenue NWNational Museum of American History
Street and Constitution AvenueThe Smithsonian's Lemelson Center
Street and Constitution AvenueSmithsonian National Museum of African Americ
Constitution Avenue NWLịch sử và những điều mày không cần biết
Pennsylvania AvenueInternational Spy Museum Educators page
L'enfant PlazaGerman-American Heritage Foundation and Museu
6th Street NW
National Museum of American History
Street and Constitution Avenue
Smithsonian National Postal Museum
Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington D.c.
National Museum of the United States Navy
Sicard Street SE
Smithsonian National Museum of African Americ
Constitution Avenue NW
Naval History & Heritage Command
Kidder Breese Street SE
The Smithsonian's Lemelson Center
Street and Constitution Avenue
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum
Street NW