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Many other animals use camouflage -- colors, textures, or patterns that help them blend in with their environment.

For thousands of years, people have kept animals for many different reasons. They have kept sheep for wool, cows for...

Start a field journal, and track how your favorite critter looks and behaves.

Most living things need oxygen to survive. Oxygen helps organisms grow, reproduce, and turn food into energy. Humans...

A coral reef may look like a colorful underwater garden, but these living structures are made by thousands of tiny an...

Animals and plants are usually adapted to survive best in particular environments, known as their habitats.

The giant squid is the largest invertebrate, or animal without a backbone, ever to have lived on Earth!

Clones are plants and animals that have more than just their looks in common; they also have the exact same DNA seque...

All dogs, from the giant Great Dane to the tiny Chihuahua, belong to the same species: Canis familiaris. Within that...

An animal or plant becomes extinct when the last of its kind dies.

Invent a story about an endangered species. Then draw and write about it!

Game + Hands-on

Play this game to find out how a law protects animals and plants.

Paleontologist Mark Norell answers questions about T. rex.

The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth.

All living organisms need energy to live. Organisms such as plants get this energy from the Sun. But animals get this...

This treehopper looks more like an ant than the flying insect it is. Its costume, called a "helmet," grows...

This mighty member of the cat family is a powerful predator. It can leap up to 30 feet in the air, climb trees, and e...

Animals swim, walk, crawl, slither, squirm, and even fly through the air. They can catch free rides by attaching them...

Conservation biologist Ana Luz Porzecanski answers kids' questions.
¡TAMBIÉN EN ESPAÑOL!

Some people may call invertebrates spineless because they lack a backbone or spine! But these amazing creatures are t...

Discover how these deep sea creatures create their own light!

Thousands of plants and animal species may be in danger of becoming extinct and disappearing forever.

If you came face to face with a pacu, what would you do? Never fear -- the pacu may look like a big and scary fish, b...

In 1997, Dolly rocked the world of genetics. Not baaaa'd for a little lamb from Scotland. What was the big deal? She...

With its furry coat, friendly face, and playful nature, the sea otter is perhaps one of the most endearing animals in...

In 1938, fishermen off the east coast of Africa pulled up a strange creature in their nets.

Scientists often need to examine things that are too small to be seen by the human eye, like bacteria or the tiny cel...

Scientists all over the world send precious cargo to Julie Feinstein: frozen samples of animal tissues.

Video + Game

Take a look at some stories that were told along the Silk Road.

Solve these interactive story puzzles to find out how people and other animals live in the Arctic.

The gremlin-like, endangered aye-aye makes its home in the tropical forests of Madagascar, a large island off the coa...

California sea lions are playful, intelligent, and fastin and out of water. Their large flippers enable them to leap...

Learn how to look at a bunch of bones and draw what a dinosaur looked like.

A tiny, two-feet tall horse-like animal scampers through a forest, nibbling on leaves.

Our oceans are full of colorful creatures. Find out how animals use color for attraction, communication, and camouflage.

Game + Video

Volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes... Examine how plate tectonics affect our world!

Over 80 kinds of poison frogs live in the tropical forests of Central and South America.

Most amphibians start their lives in water, and grow up to live on land. But axolotls live their whole lives in water...

Why is Ana fascinated by the rich variety of life on Earth? Find out!
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Test your knowledge about the major groups of life on Earth.

Even though this whale of a whale weighs many tons, the humpback whale can make acrobatic leaps out of the water!

Is this animal a rodent, a primate, or a raccoon's relative? Take a guess!

The world's largest flower grows in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. But its enormous, bright red bloom does not fi...

Create a flounder fish that's hard to spot!

In the wild, ruffed lemurs live in only one place -- the eastern rain forests of Madagascar.

The Sumatran tiger is found in only one place on the Earth -- on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Fewer than 500 o...

How do whales and walruses stay warm in chilly waters? Grab some gloves and find out.

The body of a sawfish may look like a fish, but its long, flat snout sets it apart. Rimmed with razor-sharp points, t...

Mummies are preserved remains of humans and other animals, some lasting for thousands of years.

Microbiologist Susan Perkins answers kids’ questions about microbes.

California condors are the largest birds in North America. Like all vultures, condors are carrion-eaters. This means...

If you watched an American black bear lumbering through the forest, you might not notice anything unusual about how i...

In college, Rob DeSalle wanted to study the narwhal, an Arctic whale with an eight-foot spiral tooth.

The Dzanga-Sangha rain forest is alive with the sounds of snakes, chimpanzees, birds, insects, and many exotic creatu...

Some of Earth's oddest creatures live arounddeep-sea hydrothermal (hot water) vents. These vents spew plumes of hot,...

Imagine you are a marine biologist, traveling far beneath the ocean surface in a submersible.

When Martha Hurley first took science as a kid, she thought it was boring. She'd rather be outside exploring nature....

Hundreds of years ago, European sailors placed carved mermaids on the front of their ships as figureheads and told ta...

Today, unicorns are creatures of fairy tales. But thousands of years ago, people believed these creatures were real,...

Today, there are mythic creatures that some people believed to be real, like the Loch Ness monster of Scotland and th...

The kraken is a sea monster with long, snakelike arms. This amazing creature may have been inspired by a living anima...

Polar bears are the top predator of the icy Arctic. But these large, furry white mammals have to work hard for their...

Long before dinosaurs, these strange roach-like creatures scurried along the ancient sea floor.

These creatures have lived in Earth's oceans for over 545 million years!

Is this animal a tadpole, frog, salamander, or lizard? Take a guess!

Discover some of the amazing ways that animals use color to help them survive.

Game + Video

Challenge your friends to this Mesozoic Era card game.

Paleontologist Mark Norell answers kids’ questions.

At age 10, George Barrowclough began bird watching with his dad. He pursued his interest in birds by becoming an orni...

Growing up, Joel Cracraft loved reading travel and adventure books. In high school, he became interested in ornitholo...

That toothy grin might make you think this is a crocodile or an alligator. But the Yacaré caiman is neither. Caimans...

An invasive species is a living thing that moves into a new region. Species often become "invasive" as a re...

Compared to the continent of Africa, Madagascar may seem small. But this island, the fourth largest in the world, is...

At the top of the world is a cold and icy area called the Arctic. It is made up of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Nort...

Find out what you can do to protect the oceans and ocean life.

You could travel the globe, but there's only one place you'd find a ruffed lemur: Madagascar. It is an endemic specie...

Bubbling hot springs. Antarctic ice. Deep ocean trenches. The Himalayan peaks. Few organisms can live in any of these...

What unique plants and animals live in this island nation's diverse habitats?
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Biodiversity is the rich variety of life on Earth. But why is it important?

See how many different plants and animals you can find in this virtual mangrove swamp.

Most ocean plants and animals live near the shore, on a narrow ribbon of seafloor called the continental shelf.

The seafloor covers more than half of the Earth's surface. Most of the seafloor consists of the flat, expansive abyss...

The deep sea is not an easy place to explore. To observe the ocean below 2,000 meters (or 6,562 feet), scientists mus...

The striped bass has been a popular catch for fishermen for centuries. These fishes are known for their spiny fins an...

Over 500 years ago, the Inca built a city high in the Andes mountains called Huanuco Pampa (wa-nu-koh pam-pa).

Thousands of years ago, nomads traveled throughout the area that is now Peru. Eventually, they settled into villages...

Like many kids interested in science, Ro Kinzler thought she wanted to be a marine biologist. But later on, she reali...

Despite its ferocious appearance, Barong Ket is a welcome sight in Bali, Indonesia.

For over 1,000 years, people called the Inuit lived in the Arctic. Long ago, they relied on fishing and hunting for s...

Explore how mammals run, fly, swim, walk, hop, and swing!

On the dry grasslands of eastern Africa, the Thomson's gazelle grazes in the tall grass. Suddenly, it hears a noise a...

The red kangaroo is an amazing mammal. With its powerful hind legs and long tail, it can leap up to 45 feet (13.5 m)...

Your brain is made up of cells. Specialized cells called neurons allow you to think, feel, and move. Neurons aren't o...

Taiwan's national butterfly is the Broad-tailed Swallowtail butterfly.

This butterfly once lived in the mangrove forests along the tropical coast of Taiwan.

The dazzling Magellan's Iridescent Birdwing is found only on Orchid Island, about 60 kilometers off the southeast coa...

Every fall, over one million Purple Crows journey from northern to southern Taiwan. They spend the winter in warm val...

The rare Taiwan beech tree grows only in a few forests of northern Taiwan. These are also the only places you'll find...

A firefly's light seems rare and magical. Yet there are many living things that blink, glow, flash, and glitter. The...

Send a note to a friend with these colorful letterheads.

Since he was a boy, Vladimir Ovtsharenko has been fascinated by nature. Growing up, he loved collecting spiders, beet...

Manatees were once mistaken for mermaids. In fact, manatees are part of a small group of marine mammals known as &quo...

Around the North Pole, temperatures are so cold that parts of the ocean turn into solid ice called "sea ice.

Can poisons be used for good? Yes, and Robert will tell you why.

What animal does this long, spiraled tooth belong to? Take a guess!

When she was a kid, Ana explored the landscapes of rural Uruguay and Brazil and the many plants and animals that live...

Find out how biodiversity depends on you.

Take a look at some of the extraordinary ways that animals experience the world around them.

When "ologists" observe plants, animals, fossils, or rocks, they know they won't remember every detail. So...

Since he was a kid, George Amato has been wild about wildlife. Today he works for the Wildlife Conservation Society a...

The leatherback is the world's largest turtle. Unlike the bony exterior of other sea turtles, the exterior of the lea...

The frigid waters of the Arctic and the Antarctic may seem like hostile habitats. But a variety of marine life -- fro...

If there's one thing that makes humans different from other animals, it's the way we think.

The oceans are filled with creatures that use poison to survive. Some use chemical defenses to deter predators. Other...

This beautiful tortoise lives in the deserts of Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa. This reptile gets its...

The whooping crane is known as the tallest bird in North America. This long legged creature has been struggling to su...

From Madagascar to Indonesia, travel around the world with Museum scientists.

Antarctica is like no other place on Earth. The continent is covered almost entirely by a thick ice sheet. Yet there...

It's no fluke that Howard Rosenbaum is wild about whales -- especially the endangered right whales and humpback whales.

Many scientists have joined forces on the Human Genome Project. Their goal is to figure out the order of all "DN...

If you ever find a pseudoscorpion in your bathtub, don't worry! These tiny arachnids are harmless to humans.

Five hundred years ago, a great empire stretched along the Andes mountains and the Pacific coast of South America.

Sandstone is made of tiny pieces of sand you can see and feel. You can actually scratch away grains of sand from a pi...

Limestone is made up of fossils. After small marine animals die, their shells and skeletons build up on the ocean floor.

Check out the scrapbook to learn about this amazing race!

Game + Video

Examine fossils and gather clues from experts!

What animal bones did early humans used to build huts? Take a guess!

Sauropods weren't just the largest dinosaurs. They were also the largest animals to ever live on land. The sauropod M...

Until 1828, pterosaur fossils had been found only in Germany. Then a new kind of pterosaur fossil was discovered in E...

About 100 million years ago, a flying reptile called Pterodaustro guinazui soared above the coast of what is now Arge...

Imagine a flying reptile the size of a two-seater plane! That's Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest flying animals eve...

The most dazzling feature on many pterosaurs was a spectacular head crest. Tupuxuara leonardii had one of the most im...

More than four thousand islands—including one big island—make up this nation in the Caribbean Sea.

This massive plant-eater lived about 100 million years ago. Today, a cast of this 122-foot long titanosaur welcomes v...

Join scientist George Amato on his quest to stop criminals smuggling illegal goods.

Can you match these marine animals with their baby pictures?

The St. Vincent parrot makes its home on the tropical island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean. These parrots are cover...

The Asian elephant is one of the largest land mammals in the world. Some people believe that elephants feel joy and s...

The Tibetan antelope, also known as "chiru," is one of the most beautiful mammals in the world.

Dinoflagellates are tiny, one-celled organisms that live in oceans and freshwater ponds, rivers, and streams. Some di...

If you looked at the contents of a vacuum cleaner bag with a microscope, you'd probably find millions of tiny creatur...

The Portuguese man-of-war is actually a floating colony of individuals called polyps that are all dependent on each o...

What do we have in common with sharks, bluebirds, lizards, and toads? We are all vertebrates, or animals with backbon...

Vietnam is a country of amazing biodiversity, including many rare and unusual species. One fascinating example is the...

Museum scientists answer kids' questions!

As a conservation geneticist, Yael tries to help endangered species by studying their DNA.

Eleanor Sterling is the Director for the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural H...

When Paula Mikkelsen moved to Florida, she turned a fun hobby into an exciting career. She enjoyed walking along Flor...

Bustling with a spectacular diversity of life, coral reefs are the rain forests of the oceans.

Far beneath the ocean's surface is a mysterious world of cold temperatures, intense pressure, and almost total darkne...

Found along tropical coastlines, thick mangrove forests were once considered a nuisance, infested with mosquitoes and...

These tropical freshwater fishes come in so many colors, shapes, and sizes, it's nearly impossible to sum up the fami...

Ian Harrison first became interested in sea life during family vacations to the southwest coast of England.

According to legend, the roc was a giant bird large and strong enough to carry an elephant in its claws. As incredibl...

This living dinosaur is also known by its common name, the Martineta tinamou.

Named in 2000, this dinosaur is hot off the "paleo" presses! Unlike the jagged teeth of other troodontids,...

Can you build a successful wasp colony? Make the right choices and your offspring might have a future!

Learn about fossils, extremely rare—and valuable—records of the past.