child photographing anteater

An Anteater Named Teddy

Even as a pet, his single interest was in ants, and he never quite got used to a tame chimpanzee.

The Crowninshield Elephant

The surprising story of Old Bet, the first elephant ever to be brought to America

Soviet boys

What Makes the Soviet Character?

The anthropologist analyzes a modern culture

The highest French court tried a cow in 1546. On the assumption that animals possessed a moral sense, capital punishment was the verdict.

Beasts Before the Bar

Quaint court scenes of yesteryear show that ignorance of the law was once no excuse even for an animal.

Great Desert

Mystery of Singing Sands

Many desert travelers have been frightened or awed by this amazing phenomenon

Expedition Headquarters

Bones in the Brewery

A Paleontologist's Rendezvous with History and Prehistory in St. Louis

Lost Continents

Ever since the days of the Greeks, people have tried to prove that thriving civilizations once existed on huge islands that have since sunk beneath the sea.

dinosaur track

A Dinosaur Walks into the Museum

What scientific "detectives" deduced from the biggest footprints ever found

Roy Chapman Andrews in the Gobi Desert

Museum Quiz

American Museum—unique clearinghouse of information

The Pearl of Allah

The giant clam yielded its 14-pound pearl only after slaying a native diver trapped when its great jaws snapped shut.

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Recent Stories

Teeth that stab or crush to match their meal

To walk on walls and ceilings, your feet have to stick, but they have to get unstuck, too.

Ferns and fungi that explosively reproduce

The seemingly unwieldy shape of a fish is anything but a drag.

Recent Interview

Xiaoming Wang

Hear author Xiaoming Wang interviewed by Vittorio Maestro, Editor in Chief of Natural History. (MP3, 17 minutes)