As the male túngara frog serenades female frogs from a pond, he creates watery ripples that make him easier to target by rivals and predators […]

The post Bats use water ripples to hunt frogs appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Would you want to explore the world searching for long lost creatures of our past? […]

The post Five amazing fossil finds that will make you want to be a fossil hunter appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When it’s time for a meal of katydids, bats use their ears. When hunting and eating male katydids, different bat species locate their prey by […]

The post To hunt, bats listen for signals in prey mating calls appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Like many predators, the fringe-lipped bat primarily uses its hearing to find its prey, but with human-generated noise on the rise, scientists are examining how […]

The post Bats Use Second Sense to Hunt Prey in Noisy Environments appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post The Forgotten Dinosaur Hunter appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian recently renewed their agreement to search for, collect and curate Antarctic meteorites in a partnership known as […]

The post NASA, Smithsonian renew hunt for Antarctic meteorites appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Paleoecologist Conrad Labandeira travels to the Karoo Basin of South Africa to find leaf fossils from the Permian-Triassic boundary, the time of the Earth's largest mass extinction. What can bug bites on leaves tell us about our own uncertain times?

The post Video: On the hunt for 251-million-year-old insects in South Africa appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Henry E. Huntington in 1907.; Credit: Theo C. Marceau, New York City. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

One of the most prized treasures of LA County is 100 years old this year.

The Huntington Library is beloved for its lush botanical gardens and fine art.

As KPCC's Brianna Flores reports, you can trace its origins to a pivotal moment in Southern California history.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

New entrance at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. ; Credit: Tim Street-Porter/The Huntington

For years, I’d feared the worst. Behind that intrusive belt of chain link and green canvas fence, with all the hidden noise of power digging machines, smashing jackhammers and growling tractors going on behind it, and heaps of dirt piled high, I dreaded that something terrible was going on in the dark, hidden heart of our dear old Huntington.

We were promised a new visitor center, a new store, a new cafe and restaurant. I imagined the Disney-fied worst: Henry Huntington’s Roller Coaster Red Car Ride; Pinky’s Pinkberry Parlor. The Blue Boy Fashion Center. Maybe even a giant Rem Koolhaas-LACMA style amoeba of purple reinforced concrete sprawling all over the lawns between the library and the old gallery.

My fears were groundless. The $68 million (not much more than the Getty paid for its new Manet) 52,000 square foot Education and Visitor Center addition is in perfect harmony with the early 20th Century original library and art gallery, perhaps more so than some previous increments, such as the nearby and blankly imposing Munger Research Center. 

The addition is named after outgoing Huntington chief Steven S. Koblik, who engineered much of the funding and planning for the facility. He’s got something to be proud of in his retirement: a new garden-centered segment of new facilities that founder, pioneer transit tycoon Henry Huntington, would probably have enthused over.

(The Huntington Store at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Photo: Tim Porter-Street/The Huntington)

With its mighty $400 million endowment and the muscular fundraising power that enticed squillionaire Charlie Munger to donate hugely to this project (not to mention that research center), the venerable Huntington institution could have easily erected something expensively and grandiloquently modern.  

But its directorate and patrons seem to understand an important fact about the place: Most visitors don’t go there to be dazzled. We go there to be enthralled, even comforted by the century-old institution’s enduring and deeply reassuring ambiance that we are privileged to inhabit during our visits to its galleries of great art, its acreage of exquisite gardens and Arcadian vistas.

The Huntington possesses what designer Sheryl Barton, who co-created the new landscaping with the Huntington’s Jim Folsom, spoke of at the opening press conference as “the choreography of experience.”

That experience includes the new California-Mediterranean groves and gardens and the low-lying new structure that includes an expanded store, new classrooms, courts, cafes and an auditorium. With its simple, Tuscan-columned loggias and red-tiled roofs (and, oh, yes, even that showy glass dome on the Rose Hills Foundation Garden Court), it all effortlessly blends into the traditional whole.

Although the Huntington doesn’t seem to be planning on a new influx of visitors, it’s hard to see this new, more user-friendly front office isn’t going to attract more people to its San Marino location than the current 600,000 per year.

Particularly considering how regional museum attendance in general has boomed over recent decades. Will this abate the quiet private experience many of us Huntington fans have shared and treasured over the years?

(The Huntington will be installing this Alexander Calder sculpture, the  Jerusalem Stabile, this spring. Here, it's seen at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Calder Foundation; gift of the Philip & Muriel Berman Foundation to the Calder Foundation. Copyright © 2015 Calder Foundation /Artists Rights Society (ARS) Used with permission of The Huntington)

Probably. But there will also be important new things to see — like  Alexander Calder’s 12-by-20-foot Jerusalem Stabile, which beckons you into the new addition, and two powerful, newly acquired murals by the great 20th Century California artists Millard Sheets and Doyle Lane. Plus a new and glorious vista from the cafe’s terrace over to the original old Huntington villa — now gallery — where all this began, over a century ago.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Scientists from the Universities of Bristol and Málaga have proposed that the long extinct marsupial lion hunted in a very unique way - by using its teeth to hold prey before dispatching them with its huge claws.

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Quotas on the hunting or fishing of wildlife may be worsening the problem they seek to address. A new study has predicted cycles in wildlife population sizes over time and indicates that quota systems, introduced in response to declining numbers of wildlife, do not respond quickly or accurately enough to changes in population size and may put wildlife at greater risk.

Hunting has obvious impacts on wild populations. However, new research concludes that for Scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos), it also contributes to the killing of cubs by adult males to increase the male's chances of mating with the cubs' mother. The researchers say that this indirect effect of hunting should be considered when developing sustainable hunting quotas and management plans.

Maps of the risk of griffon vultures’ exposure to lead in north-eastern Spain have been produced in a new study. High-risk places are mountainous areas where there are high levels of bioavailable sources of lead in the soil, but also where game hunting is prevalent, and carcasses scavenged by the birds may contain lead ammunition.

But apparently, time travelers shy away from promoting their whereabouts on social media.

A private space telescope mission that aims to discover 500,000 near-Earth asteroids is technically sound and on track for a 2017 launch, a review panel says.

Polar bears have shifted to a diet of more land-based food in response to climate change and melting sea ice.

The venom of some cone snails contains insulin, a new study finds, helping the sluggish mollusks snag speedier prey.

Offshore wind farms may become seal hunting grounds, new research shows.

The Environmental Defense Fund is developing a satellite that will regularly monitor 50 major oil and gas regions for methane leaks.

NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has been decommissioned after 10 years of data collecting on other galaxies and black holes.

Giant African snails have invaded the Galapagos, but two rescued dogs are sniffing them out and helping researchers fix the ecology of the islands.

Ethanol subsidies are such a wedge issue in Iowa that one candidate says he will stay away.

England is poised to introduce a sweeping ban on the import of endangered animal parts, including those from "trophy" kills.

If you've ever had trouble finding something online, a new website is here to help.

For apartment hunters who are just as concerned about a gridlock-free commute as they are about the presence of a washer and dryer set, Walk Score releases a ne

The former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China looks like the greenest Republican in the presidential race — and perhaps the most interesting.

Turret spiders, the minuscule relatives of tarantulas, pack a powerful punch for any insect venturing close to the castle walls.

Conservation group Lion Guardians has helped East Africa’s Masai tribesmen bring back the big cats and better their own lives.

A Brooklynite goes from the urban jungle to the Amazon jungle.

Death has always been hidden away, but after spending time with an isolated tribe, this writer is ready to face death head-on.

I briefly lived with hunter-gatherers in the rainforest, where a couple visiting tourists did something very unexpected.

A humpback whale fell victim to a swarm of sharks, which are usually known to hunt much smaller prey.

Why are these crocodiles orange? One grotesque theory about their coloration might shock you.

Following fresh eyewitness evidence, researchers are placing dozens of camera traps in a remote region of Australia.

Scientists aren't yet sure if this is a unique phenomenon or if it's something all snakes are capable of.

This unexpected clash of alligators and sharks demonstrates which animal really sits atop the estuarine food chain.

These invasive species are wreaking havoc on reefs and the fish that live amongst the coral.

Dan Mackay, found thousands of dog tags near London and is on a mission to reunite them with surviving veterans or their relatives.

Amateur botanists with the Lost Apple Project seek to bring back heritage fruits in the Northwest U.S.

My daughters and I loved watching The Crocodile Hunter. Steve's Passion and enthusiasm for wildlife conservation were unmatched. But in addition to being a masterful entertainer and educator. Steve Irwin was also a brilliant marketer.

The online marketplace for hunting trips celebrates the anniversary with another performance record

Pintail Hunting Club offers unique opportunities for sportsmen and women in the Houston area.

BookYourHunt now works with more than 300 outfitters worldwide and has just reached and already exceeded the milestone of 1500 hunts offered.

Hunting, camping, fishing, and outdoor activity enthusiasts have another easy, and safe way to find a high quality and a wide array of products to meet their recreational needs.

BookYourHunt.com, the online marketplace for hunts, creates perhaps the most convenient way to offer or find access to hunting land, hunting leases, or landowner's tags.

Studies show that tooth loss can increase the risk of heart disease.

Don't worry, the #1 Online Marketplace for hunting trips is still online of course but recently ventured offline as well for several of the USA's biggest hunting shows.

San Diego County-based Man K-9 trained police dogs in Huntington Beach by employing a helicopter and using gun fire to simulate realistic situations the dogs could face.

Tom's freakish knowledge and physical ability in the woods leaves him in a position of consistently redefining the hunting experience between guided adventures and charity events.