If you think a blind, nearly hairless rodent that lives underground can’t get much stranger, then buckle up. There’s a lot more to these weird (and wonderful) rodents than meets the eye!
Colonies have soldiers at their disposal.
For four years, the Reptile Discovery Center’s Asian water dragon female lived alone. Then, while examining eggs as part of a study, animal keepers made a shocking discovery—one was fertile! How could a female lay a fertile egg without a mate? They turned to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) for an answer to the mystery: parthenogenesis.
Miller: While biologists have documented cases of parthenogenesis in other species
Those of you who have been following Guntur from the beginning may remember that
Tree shrews look remarkably similar to squirrels. They are native to Southeast Asia and are the only members of their taxonomic order.
Fact Sheet Conservation Physical Description Northern tree shrews have grayish
Known for its eye-popping red plumage, the scarlet ibis is a medium-sized wading bird often found near freshwater and brackish water marshes. Flocks of these birds forage in shallow water and roost atop lofty trees.
Fact Sheet Conservation Physical Description Adult scarlet ibises have bright
The winter winds may blow chilly and cold, but they also bring out the sillies in our giant panda cub. The frisky 2.5-year-old tumbled around his outdoor habitat and showed off his unique somersault style.
They have noticed that Mei Xiang appears to have less patience with Xiao Qi Ji’s
Summer is in full swing at the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat. Read the latest update on Mei Xiang and Tian Tian from Laurie Thompson, assistant curator of giant pandas.
Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat, which means that Mei Xiang and Tian Tian have
The panda house is closed to the public beginning today, Sept. 1 to provide quiet for Mei Xiang as she enters the final stages of a pregnancy or pseudopregnancy.
has now had 3 surviving cubs—the panda team is still waiting to see if she will have
An elegant, graceful antelope (which may be behind the legend of the unicorn), the scimitar-horned oryx is supremely adapted to desert life. Currently extinct in the wild, conservation scientists are working on reintroduction programs in Tunisia, Chad and Niger.
Both male and female scimitar-horned oryx have long, ridged, sharp-tipped and curved
Przewalski’s horses, critically endangered horses found in Mongolia, are the last truly wild horse. Once thought to be the ancestor to the domestic horse, they are actually distant cousins. Mitochondrial DNA suggests that they diverged from a common ancestor 500,000 years ago.
They have a yellowish-white belly and dark lower legs and zebra-like stripes behind
