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For years, scientists have planted motion sensitive cameras in the wild to help them get a handle on population sizes, movement patterns and other animal behaviors. “At the same time we’re answering these questions, we’re collecting millions of amazing pictures of animals,” says Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum.

Today, the Smithsonian Institution, in partnership with the New York State Museum, launches a new Web site called “Smithsonian Wild,” a portal to photographs snapped by camera traps administered by Smithsonian researchers and their collaborators around the world. The site indexes the candid snapshots by animal—everything from giant pandas to clouded leopards to tapir—and project site—from Kenya to Panama, Thailand, Peru, China and areas in the United States, such as the Appalachian Trail and New York’s Adirondack Mountains.

“Smithsonian Wild” is the brainchild of Roland Kays and William McShea, a research ecologist with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, who wanted one site to which they could remotely upload and export data from. “Making the photos available to the public is a bonus that aligns well with the Smithsonian’s initiative to release collections to the public and allow for public participation,” says Robert Costello, a national outreach program manager for the National Museum of Natural History who brought people together to design and develop the site. He says that the museum plans to recruit and train citizen scientists in camera trapping so that they can contribute to Smithsonian research.

Costello hopes that visitors to the site “feel a sense of anticipation and excitement, like the researchers, as they explore photographs of wildlife taken in the absence of human beings and often at very short distances.” Understandably, many of the shots include a tail here or a blur of animal there, but the opening gallery showcases some of the most dramatic. In one, a jaguar’s eyes are deadlocked on the camera. In another (number 12 of 22), an African buffalo’s mug is so close to the lens that you can see its wet nose glisten. Some of them are downright funny, like the one (three photos to the right of the jaguar) of a red squirrel in the Peruvian Amazon standing on its hind legs, scared stiff by the camera flash.

“You get a sense of the variety of wildlife that passes by a single spot,” says Costello. “Spying on nature can be full of surprises.” The cameras have caught glimpses of elusive cats like the jaguarundi and the margay and revealed unusual combinations of animals, says McShea—weasels carrying mice in their mouths, a tapir with a vampire bat sucking on its leg, an ocelot dragging an agouti and another creeping up behind an armadillo.

Animals like tapir, peccaries, agoutis and paca are so abundant and unflustered by the cameras that they will stick around long enough for it to capture a series of photos that scientists can then string together to create video (see “View Movie” tab under photos). Other animals have been known to get aggressive with the cameras. “The cameras in tropical Africa and Asia have to be protected with special boxes to prevent them from being used as soccer balls by elephants. Black bears will frequently destroy cameras that trigger a flash at night. And golden monkeys in China have been photographed coming down to the ground and urinating on the cameras,” says McShea.

In the fall of 2009, I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Barro Colorado Island field station in Panama. I hiked along island’s trails and saw howler and spider monkeys, agoutis and crested guan. But, through camera trap photos, I was able to see the area’s creatures that I may have scared off while tramping through it. Looking through the photos on “Smithsonian Wild,” it is hard not to pick favorites. Personally, I like the giraffe ducked down just enough to fit into the camera frame and the long-faced collared peccary that begs for a thought bubble, saying, “What are you lookin’ at?”—both in the gallery on the home page.

Which do you like best?

The More You Know- Anyone who has ever visited the Air and Space Museum, probably leaves with lots of questions; the most popular of which has to be “How did you get an airplane inside the building?”  Well, wonder in silence no more, because the Air and Space Museum is here to help. “Ask an Expert,” is a weekly series, held Wednesdays at noon, where a museum expert speaks for 10-15 minutes on a given topic and then answers questions.  If you can’t make it in person, don’t worry, you can always watch the videos online.

The Revolution Will Be… Airmailed? - These days, everyone is talking about revolution, as change is happening in countries around the world. But what happens after the revolution? Well, after the Mexican revolution of 1910, airmail was used to “promote a progressive national image worldwide.” See how they did it in the bilingual online exhibit “Mexico Via Airmail.” So, the next time you find yourself in conversation about current events, you can add a little historical context.

Math Made Interesting- For the child who dreams of becoming an astronomer when s/he grows up (and the parents/adults who want to encourage those dreams), NASA introduces “Space Math @ NASA,” online math and science problems designed to challenge the mind and the imagination. Perfect for students in (at least) grades three and higher.

Art History- In honor of Black History Month, the Archives of American Art presents its digitized collection of papers on African American art in the 20th century, with a particular focus on artists from the Harlem Renaissance.  Read the papers of influential artists like: Palmer C. Hayden, William H. Johnson, Charles Henry Alston, Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, online for free.

Charles Lang Freer in Cairo, 1907. Photograph by P. Dittrich. Courtesy of the Freer Gallery.

This month, as Egyptians took to the streets to protest the country’s 30-year old political regime, it was reported that the Egyptian Museum in Cairo had been broken into with several artifacts stolen and others damaged during the break-in.

In 1906, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was only four years old when Charles Lang Freer, industrialist, art enthusiast and founder of the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art, passed through its doors on his first trip to Egypt.

Freer, a self-made millionaire who became an ardent collector of Chinese and Japanese art in the late 19th century, was on his way to Asia, when he decided to make a stop in Egypt. What he found there would inspire two additional trips to the country in 1908 and 1909. Freer would eventually amass a world-famous collection of Asian art; he would add to it a sizable collection of 19th-century American Art, including a number of James McNeill Whistler paintings and the famous Peacock Room. But on these trips, he would also begin collecting in earnest a host of Egyptian artworks.

In 1906, Freer donated 7,500 paintings, sculptures, drawings and works in metal, lacquer and jade to the Smithsonian.

The little-known “Freer and Egypt” exhibition is located on the third floor of the marble, Italian Renaissance-style building on the National Mall.  The small room, sandwiched between a Chinese Art collection and a Buddhist Art collection, holds but a portion of the 1,500 objects of Egyptian artifacts that Freer brought back during those visits, as well as a few pieces that were added after his death, like the Head of a pharaoh, acquired in 1938 and considered one of the museum’s treasures.

“He was not the usual collector,” said Alexander Nagel, the museum’s curator of Ancient Near Eastern Art, “he was always looking for the essential.” And his collection reflects a very specific aesthetic. There are about 1,300 glass objects, mostly smaller more colorful artifacts, rather than the mummies or stone reliefs, typically chosen by collectors of Egyptian art at the time, according to Nagel. “He had a special taste, even in Egpyt,” Nagel said. “It was mainly the aesthetics of the art, not what every other collector would run after.”  Also on display in the gallery are a pair of stone falcons with Greek inscriptions and a carved wooden face with inlaid glass that would have adorned a coffin.  And down the Western corridor,  visitors can find another of  Freer’s Cairo purchases in a display case labeled “Gold Treasure,” which include stunning medallions, earrings, pins and other adornments that were probably crafted in Constantinople during the 6th and 7th centuries.

Perhaps the best of Freer treasures aren’t to be found among the artifacts in the gallery itself, but instead below ground in an archive. There, by appointment, scholars can delve into Freer’s diaries, letters, postcards, photographs and detailed manifests of his travels and purchases. These, says David Hogge, the Freer and Sackler Galleries head archivist, provide “a great social history,” of Egypt in the 1900s, as seen through the eyes of a Western traveler and collector.

In one letter, Freer tells of his adventures: “I must confess, however, to enjoy the quest greatly. Poker and all other games are as nothing. It’s real living, real experience and beats winning a contract for cars quite out of sight,” he wrote.

“In America the same individuals and quest would be impossible. Here the blazing sun, the oriental colors, the crooked trails about Giza, the veiled but still clearly unveiled women, the strange home life, the quaint hospitality, the kind of courtesy offered by the head of the house, the thirst for gold, what it will buy is all wonderful to a novice like myself.”

“He can be very condescending,” says Hogge said. “But he also has this very pure enjoyment of the experience.”

Freer died in 1919, four years before the completion of his museum. In his will, he left very specific instructions about its aesthetic. “Nothing goes in, nothing comes out,” says Hogge, of Freer’s original intent; his will was later amended to allow occasional purchases of Asian and Egyptian art. Freer’s will also specified the number of objects that were to be displayed and how they were to be displayed, which explains the sparseness of objects in the gallery. Curators select and rotate items based on provenance, concerns about conservation and Freer’s terms.  The museum was meant to be “a complete survey of his aesthetic idea,” says Nagel. And the museum itself representative of “a harmonious artistic unit at the time.”

“It was given to the nation to inspire Americans with his artistic vision,” says Nagel. And the museum invites you to come have a look. “The archives here and the treasure are really open for everyone to come here,” says Hogge.

Today, singer and songwriter Ella Jenkins, the “First Lady of Children’s Music,” releases her 29th Smithsonian Folkways album, A Life in Song. Music is life for Jenkins, who turned 86 last August and has been playing and performing for more than 50 years. Introduced to the blues by her brother and various relatives, Jenkins was born in St. Louis and raised in Chicago. She graduated from San Francisco State University in 1951 and first began writing songs for children while working at the local recreation center and while working as a camp group song leader. In 1956, Jenkins brought a demo to Folkways Records founder Moses Asch, and her first album, Call-And-Response, was released on the label the following year.

But performance is only a part of her story. As a veteran traveler (she’s performed on all seven continents) and educator, her message to children is one that speaks to universal love and respect across cultures.

“Music can’t be forced on children. The important thing is to expose them to all kinds of music, and see what they are drawn to,” Jenkins told the Parents’ Choice Foundation. Known for her call-and-response style, Jenkins, with her ukulele and harmonica, masterfully engineers a boisterous audience participation from not only the kids, but any nearby listeners. She has many influences, including vaudeville, gospel, camp songs, and world music.

Jenkins isn’t lacking in critical acclaim either, having received Grammy nominations, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways

The octogenarian, who has been entertaining children for two generations is still going strong, and with today’s release of the new 21-track A Life in Song, an eclectic mix of blues, folk songs, and traditionals, she’s out to teach and sing to yet another. Go here to download the track, “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,” from the Ella Jenkins’ new release.

Pro Arte Playing Schoenberg (1907) by Prentiss Taylor. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Tuesday, February 22: Sketching: Draw and Discover: Luce Foundation Center for American Art

Come be inspired by the works on display at the American Art Museum and then spend some time sketching at the Luce Foundation Center’s workshop. Free, but bring sketchbooks and pencils. American Art Museum, 3:00-4:30PM. This event repeats every Tuesday at the same time and location.

Wednesday, February 23: Art and Science Lecture Series: Tom Lovejoy

In conjunction with the exhibition Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow, the American Art Museum presents a lecture series that places the science of climate change within a cultural context. The series invites leading environmental scientists to discuss the problems our planet faces, while experts in cultural fields consider how art can heighten awareness of these issues. Tonight’s guest speaker is Tom Lovejoy, the biodiversity chair at The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment. Free. American Art Museum, 7:00 PM.

Thursday, February 24: Slavery by Another Name with Author Douglas A. Blackmon

Wall Street Journal writer Douglas A. Blackmon discusses his Pulitzer Prize-winning historical study Slavery by Another Name: The Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. This book brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history when a new form of slavery came into being following the Civil War. Government officials leased falsely imprisoned blacks to entrepreneurs, farmers and corporations looking for cheap and abundant labor. And in the process disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of African Americans until the dawn of World War II. Book signing follows. Free. American Art Museum, 7:00-9:00 PM.

Friday, February 26: Shanghai Quartet with Wu Man on pipa

The critically acclaimed ensemble performs Lei Liang’s Five Seasons for string quartet with Grammy Award nominee Wu Man on Chinese lute (pipa), as well as Beethoven’s Quartet in D, op. 18, no. 3, and Schumann’s Quartet No. 1, op. 41, no. 1. Free. Freer, 7:30 PM.

For updates on all exhibitions and events, visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com