NHM Scientists Brace for Unlikely Visitors and Strange Creatures During the Super El Niño

It's the strongest El Niño in more than a hundred years, and far-flung creatures are already arriving in Southern California, with more expected in the coming months. Studying them will help NHM researchers better understand the impacts of the massive climate event.

Barcoding the Shoreline

Our Marine Biodiversity Center scientists have been sampling tidepools to build a "biolibrary" to identify the inhabitants of the coast's precious ecosystems.
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Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum Carbon Release Study

A Tar Pits researcher reconstructed forests of 56 million years ago—with chilling parallels for our warming planet: climate change led to a widespread browning of Earth's landscapes—against a backdrop of elevated atmospheric CO₂, global warming, and reduced rainfall triggered by volcanically driven carbon release—and trees are at the root of these drastic changes.
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Meet Spea labreae, a New Species of Ice Age Toad Discovered at La Brea Tar Pits

The first new extinct toad species and the first description of the Mexican burrowing toad at the Tar Pits help us understand the impacts of climate change on species distributions, past, present, and future.
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10-million-year-long Mammal Layover in Mexico Primed the Pump for the Great American Biotic Interchange Between North and South America

Published in the journal Science, a new study by NHM researchers shows that Mexico acted as a biodiversity "holding pen" for 10 million years ahead of the Great American Biotic Interchange that opened the floodgates between North and South America 2.8 million years ago.
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The Beasts of Pampa La Brea, a Peruvian Tar Pit

Discover some of the Ice Age titans of Talara, the asphaltic site in Northwest Peru
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Newly Described Snake from the Age of Dinosaurs, Tametara mirim, Reveals the Ancient Brains and Surprising Diversity of Snakes 

Newly Described Snake from the Age of Dinosaurs, Tametara mirim, Reveals the Ancient Brains and Surprising Diversity of Snakes 
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Keiko’s Tooth: A Killer Whale, a Movie Star, and the Hidden Power of Museum Collections

Assistant Mammalogy Collections Manager Amanda Killian on finding the Free Willy star's tooth and the ever-growing value of natural history museum collections
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New Study More Than Triples the Estimates of Insect Species From 6 Million to 20 Million

Ground-breaking study explodes the number of estimated insects, emphasizing the need for conservation and natural history collections
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Fossils Under San Pedro High School Reveal a Pleistocene Beach in a Miocene Sea

Discover some of the last fossils and the lasting impact of the bone beds beneath San Pedro High School
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