Africa

A bone tool shaped on a 1.5-million-year-old elephant humerus

Human Ancestors Were Making Bone Tools One Million Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

Archaeologists have discovered a collection of prehistoric animal bones in Tanzania that suggests early humans figured out how to transfer tool-making techniques "from stone to bone" 1.5 million years ago

Stone tools suggest humans lived in a tropical rainforest in present-day Ivory Coast roughly 150,000 years ago.

Humans May Have Lived in Tropical Rainforests Much Earlier Than Scientists Previously Thought, Study Finds

New research suggests that humans inhabited the rainforests of West Africa roughly 150,000 years ago, providing new insights into our ancestors' ability to adapt to challenging environments

A pangolin emerges from an underground tunnel at night at Save Vietnam’s Wildlife, a group that runs a pangolin conservation program inside the Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam.

Will the Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry End the Pangolin?

The creature is being trafficked across Africa and Asia to fuel a steady demand for their scales, an ingredient in unproven remedies

A view of the exhibition “Tsedaye Makonnen—Sanctuary :: Mekdes” at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art

These Seven Stunning Towers Memorialize Lost Black Lives With Mirrors, Light and Ethiopian Cross Designs

At the National Museum of African Art, a Washington, D.C. artist’s work illuminates a gallery room and honors 54 people who died this century

Cuddly lovebirds have come to represent Valentine's Day, and their name is even used to refer to two people who are infatuated with one another.

14 Fun Facts About Lovebirds, From Their Lifelong Devotion to Surprising Aggression

The cuddly, colorful parrots have become a symbol of Valentine’s Day. Here’s what to know about the famously affectionate birds

Hand-drawn illustration of two of the seven sampled molars from Australopithecus

Ape-Like Human Ancestors Were Largely Vegetarian 3.3 Million Years Ago in South Africa, Fossil Teeth Reveal

Scientists suggest meat consumption was pivotal to humans' development of larger brains, but the transition probably didn't start with Australopithecus, according to a new study

Archaeologists and Masai landowners conducted excavations at Engaji Nanyori in Tanzania.

Homo Erectus Thrived in a Desert, Study Finds, Suggesting the Early Humans Could Adapt to Extreme Environments

New research suggests modern humans aren't the only hominin species capable of "ecological flexibility"

A Surinam golden-eyed tree frog calls for a mate, puffing out its cheeks.

See 25 Incredible Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest

Cast your vote for your favorite of the photographs, which are all contenders for the People’s Choice award, through January 29

Jimmy Carter tries to comfort 6-year-old Ruhama Issah at Savelugu Hospital in Ghana as a Carter Center technical assistant dresses Issah's Guinea worm wound. In May 2010, Ghana reported its last case of Guinea worm disease and announced it had stopped transmission a year later.

Jimmy Carter Worked to Eradicate the Vicious Guinea Worm Parasite, Slashing Cases by the Millions

The 39th U.S. president aimed to quash the debilitating water-based infection before he died. Through the Carter Center's work, he came tantalizingly close, lowering the number of yearly cases from 3.5 million to just 14

The five women—Marie-Jose Loshi, Monique Bitu Bingi, Lea Tavares Mujinga, Simone Ngalula and Noëlle Verbeken—took legal action against the Belgian state for the suffering they endured as children.

Belgium Has Been Found Guilty of 'Crimes Against Humanity' for Kidnapping Thousands of Children in Congo

A Brussels court has ordered Belgium to pay damages to five women, now in their 70s and 80s, who were abducted from their parents when they were young children

Archaeologists Caesar Bita and Filipe Castro dove to investigate the wreck.

A Mysterious Shipwreck Rests Just 20 Feet Below the Surface. It May Be Connected to Vasco da Gama's Final Voyage

Researchers think a coral-covered vessel discovered off the Kenyan coast could be the "São Jorge," a galleon that sank 500 years ago

Researchers hypothesize that this footprint was made by a member of the hominin species Paranthropus boisei.

Footprints Reveal Two Early Human Species Walked the Same Lakeshore in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

A new, “mind-blowing” discovery reveals evidence that Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei stepped at the same site within days—or hours—of each other

An Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) licks nectar from the Ethiopian red hot poker flower (Kniphofia foliosa).

These Endangered Wolves Have a Sweet Tooth—and It Might Make Them Rare Carnivorous Pollinators

Ethiopian wolves like to lick up the flower nectar of red hot poker plants, and researchers have caught the behavior on camera

A sculptor's rendering of "Lucy," Australopithecus afarensis, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on August 28, 2007.

What 'Lucy,' One of the World's Most Important Fossils, Has Taught Scientists in the 50 Years Since Her Discovery

The famous early human is still providing lessons to anthropologists about prehistoric Earth and its inhabitants

Straw-colored fruit bats typically start drifting into the park around October and leave in January.

The World's Largest Mammal Migration Is Taking Place in Zambia Right Now

Each year, millions of straw-colored fruit bats descend on Kasanka National Park for a few months, and scientists are working to understand their mysterious journey

Iznik tile, 16th  to 17th century, Syria or Turkey.  

An Astonishing, Rarely Seen Islamic Art Collection Goes on Display

At the oldest public art museum in the United States, miniatures, glassware and other intricately created works transport visitors around the world

Haggis joins Moo Deng as a popular ambassador for the pygmy hippopotamus species, which is endangered.

Meet Haggis, the Latest Baby Pygmy Hippo to Win Over the Internet

Born October 30 to parents Gloria and Otto at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, the hippo is already gaining popularity, following in the footsteps of viral sensation Moo Deng

The rats let their handlers know when they've found something by tugging on a ball attached to the front of their custom vests.

These Giant, Vest-Wearing Sniffer Rats Could Help Combat the Illegal Wildlife Trade, Scientists Say

Researchers trained African giant pouched rats to detect commonly smuggled items, including rhino horns and elephant tusks

The lions have been housed as taxidermy specimens at the Field Museum in Chicago since 1925.

Two Lions Went on a Man-Eating Spree in 1898. Now, DNA Evidence Reveals Their Diets

The notorious predators, nicknamed the “Man-Eaters of Tsavo,” terrorized railway workers in Kenya for roughly nine months

Oued Beht, highlighted in color

The Discovery of a 5,000-Year-Old Society in Morocco Reveals an Ancient Farming Culture

At the site known as Oued Beht, archaeologists uncovered evidence of a large farming settlement where people used advanced techniques

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