One of the great interspecies love stories of our time has come to an end.

It seemed only fitting that Oprah Winfrey chose to wear a flowing, full-length purple dress for her portrait unveiled Wednesday at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

Google Doodle is marking on Tuesday the life and legacy of Raoul A. Cortez, a pioneer of Spanish-language radio and broadcasting in the U.S. and a civil rights activist, on what would have been his 118th birthday.

A young black bear gave residents of a quiet northeast Washington neighborhood a start Friday morning when they woke to find a furry interloper wandering backyards and sniffing around garbage cans.

Air Force Veteran and former suit tech for the space shuttle program, Sharon McDougle recently visited the Smithsonian.

Foxes are known to raid henhouses.

The “cake” was made from frozen fruit juice, sweet potatoes, carrots and sugar cane and it lasted about 15 minutes once giant panda mama Mei Xiang and her cub Xiao Qi Ji got hold of it.

The Houston Zoo recently welcomed it’s newest bundle of joy -- an adorable, no name lemur.

There is now an official gun of Texas.

Fauci presented the donation Tuesday night in a virtual ceremony to honor him with the museums Great Americans Medal. (Smithsonian's National Museum of American History via AP)WASHINGTON – Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the U.S. government’s pandemic response, has donated his personal 3D model of the COVID-19 virus to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The museum on Tuesday honored Fauci with its Great Americans Medal. “His humanitarianism and dedication truly exemplify what it means to be a Great American." The museum asked Fauci to contribute a personal artifact to mark the pandemic, and he chose the lumpy blue and orange ball that he used to explain the complexities of the virus in dozens of interviews.

“I’m so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. Other Black country stars came before Pride, namely DeFord Bailey, who was an Grand Ole Opry member between 1927 and 1941. But until the early 1990s, when Cleve Francis came along, Pride was the only Black country singer signed to a major label. “Then it was `first Negro country singer;’ then `first black country singer.′ Now I’m the `first African-American country singer.′ That’s about the only thing that’s changed. “The Texas Rangers join the country music world in mourning the loss of Charley Pride.

WASHINGTON – A lone senator from Utah has singlehandedly blocked the bipartisan approval of two new national museums to honor American Latinos and women, arguing that “last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation.”Republican Sen. Mike Lee objected Thursday to the creation of the two proposed Smithsonian museums, stalling two projects that have been in the making for decades and enjoy broad bipartisan support. Senate approval would have sent the legislation approving the Latino museum to President Donald Trump for his signature. The Senate was attempting to pass the measures by voice vote, which requires every senator's consent. Lee said he sees an exception for museums dedicated to American Indians and African Americans that already sit on the National Mall. “We have been systematically excluded, not because this senator said so but because the Smithsonian itself said so,” Menendez said.

WASHINGTON – More than three months after his birth, the National Zoo's new panda cub finally has a name. Officials at the Smithsonian, which runs the zoo, announced Monday morning that the cub born on August 21 would be named Xiao Qi Ji (shee-OW-chee-jee), which is Mandarin Chinese for “little miracle.”The choice was the result of a five-day online poll that drew nearly 135,000 voters to choose between different Mandarin Chinese names. In a nod to Chinese tradition, the name was not chosen until 100 days after the birth. Monday's announcement comes on the day the zoo shut its doors to the public for the second time this year due to the the COVID-19 pandemic. But the zoo reopened on July 24 and other museums gradually reopened other museums with timed entry passes to keep the crowds low.