Lawsuit Launched to Save Seals' Arctic Habitat

The Arctic is under siege from climate change. So the Center for Biological Diversity has filed a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration to protect habitat for two ice-seal species in Alaska whose sea-ice homes are melting.

The Center first petitioned to save bearded and ringed seals in 2008, and the Obama administration listed them as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act in 2012. They're still at high risk from climate change and oil spills.

"Ice seals' homes are melting away, and the Trump administration has to give them protection," said the Center's Emily Jeffers. "With the Arctic warming at twice the global rate, ringed and bearded seals urgently need our help."

Read more in our press release.

Win: Another Blow to Keystone XL

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has denied yet another attempt by TransCanada to start building its proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

The court left in place a lower-court ruling that blocked construction on the controversial tar-sands pipeline amid an ongoing legal challenge.

"Keystone XL would be an absolute disaster for wildlife, water and our climate," said the Center's Jared Margolis. "TransCanada won't be threatening communities and habitats with pollution for profit while regulators review this terrible climate-killing project."

Read more in our press release.

Cars and trucks kill millions of animals every year in California. As development reaches into the state's last wild places, many creatures — from mountain lions to San Joaquin kit foxes — are pushed onto roadways, with lethal results. To learn more check out our video on Facebook or YouTube and read this article by the Center's J.P. Rose. If you live in California, please write to your state representatives urging support of new legislative actions to track roadkill and build wildlife crossings.

Only 10 Vaquitas Remain on Earth

Devastating news from scientists: Only 10 vaquita porpoises likely remain in the world. The animal's extinction is virtually assured without bold, immediate action.

Vaquitas, the world's smallest and most endangered cetaceans, are found only in Mexico's northern Gulf of California. Scientists are calling on the country's president, Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador, to end all gillnet fishing and adopt a "zero tolerance" policy of enforcement in the vaquita's last habitat.

"One of Earth's most incredible creatures is about to be wiped off the planet forever," said the Center's Sarah Uhlemann. "Yet Mexico has only made paper promises to protect these porpoises from deadly nets, without enforcement on the water. Time's running out."

Read more in this New York Times op-ed.

Nevada Victory: Oil, Gas Leasing in Ruby Mountains Rejected

Nevada's iconic Ruby Mountains have been saved from oil drilling and fracking: The U.S. Forest Service has rejected a proposal to auction off 54,000 pristine public acres for dirty oil extraction.

That's because the plan was met with overwhelming public opposition, including 13,000 letters of protest — many of them written by Center supporters. Thank you for making a difference.

"We're grateful to Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Assemblywoman Heidi Swank and the thousands of Nevadans who spoke out against this disastrous proposal," said the Center's Nevada Director Patrick Donnelly. "Now it's time to pass the Ruby Mountains Protection Act to make these critical protections permanent."

Read more in The Nevada Independent.

Trump Slashes Sage-grouse Safeguards

The Trump administration has announced land-management plans that will wipe out critical protections for imperiled greater sage grouse across seven western states.

The new plans ― covering millions of acres of public land in Colorado, California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming ― allow enormous new loopholes for fossil-fuel development that will push these splendid, showy birds toward extinction.

This scheme will let the Bureau of Land Management lease out hundreds of thousands of acres of high-priority sage-grouse habitat for oil and gas drilling. They also scrap science-based standards for grazing in their habitat and make it easier for officials to nix buffers around mating and nesting areas.

Read more in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Wild & Weird: This Caterpillar Wears a Stack of Heads

The gum leaf skeletoniser caterpillar (Uraba lugens) has an interesting sartorial habit. After molting it takes its discarded head exoskeleton ... and places it on its own head. The caterpillar, which molt ups to 13 times before making a cocoon, stacks multiple discarded head casings to create a towering goth crown of caterpillar "skulls."

How does the tower of empty head shells stay in place? Scientists aren't quite sure. And why do the caterpillars do it?

Behavioral ecologist Petah Low, who studies these creepy-cuties, believes the headdress of heads is used as a defense against predators.

Learn more at BBC and check out a particularly great photo of a decked-out gum leaf skeletoniser on Twitter.