No. 1320, October 23, 2025

Help Sought for Tail-Dropping, Legless Lizards

The Center for Biological Diversity has just filed a petition to protect little reptiles called mimic glass lizards under the Endangered Species Act. These rare, legless lizards survive only in a few scattered populations in Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina.

Often mistaken for snakes, mimic glass lizards are rare and elusive and can snap off their tails to distract predators. They’re at imminent risk of extinction from habitat destruction and degradation, predation, road mortality, and climate change.

“The mimic glass lizard’s plight is a warning that the health and integrity of our southeastern forests are unraveling,” said Elise Bennett, the Center’s Florida and Caribbean director. “These charming little legless lizards need healthy, well-managed forests, and so do we.”

Beloved Yellowstone Wolf Mourned

A popular she-wolf from Yellowstone National Park — described as curious, very playful, independent, and “one of the funniest wolves” around — was shot and killed by a Montana hunter in September.

Avidly followed by wolf-watchers and park visitors, the young wolf (known as 1479F) “was the kind of wolf that lived in your heart so much that you were scared to talk about her for fear she would become a target,” wildlife photographer Deby Dixon told Cowboy State Daily.

Her death is a testament to the urgency of protecting wolves even when they wander outside invisible park boundaries. Help us save wolves like her with a gift to the Future for the Wild Fund.{{if not --[[No Trump]] SavedSearch_501904}}

Roadless Rule at Risk — Let’s Resist

President Donald Trump’s U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to undo a landmark 2001 policy called the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. That would open nearly 45 million acres of wild, unfragmented national forests to road construction, logging, and other development — fouling precious water, raising wildfire risk, and killing imperiled species like wolverines, grizzly bears, and hellbenders.

“Now more than ever, forests and rivers need your voice,” writes the Center’s Will Harlan in a new op-ed explaining everything at stake.

Thankfully, in response to the Trump administration's relentless public lands attacks, members of Congress have introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act to restore critical roadless-area safeguards — and make those safeguards permanent.

If you live in the United States, ask your legislators to cosponsor this critical legislation.

New Podcast Episode: The Return of Jaguars

Jaguars once roamed the Americas from Argentina to Arizona. Hunting, government killing programs, and conflicts with the livestock industry forced them out of much of their home territory a century ago.

But in northern Argentina, they’re back — and the same could happen in the U.S. Southwest.

In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Vanessa Barchfield talks with Sebastián Di Martino, conservation director of Rewilding Argentina. They discuss the return of jaguars in Argentina and what it would take to bring them back to the United States.

Listen to the latest episode on our website or find it on Apple or Spotify.

Watch Our Sixth Annual Food Justice Film Festival

Today kicks off this year’s free, online Food Justice Film Festival, which explores the links between food sovereignty, agricultural heritage, social justice, and the environment. The movies are …

Farming While Black — Examines the historical plight of U.S. Black farmers and the rising generation reclaiming their rightful land ownership and reconnecting with their ancestral roots.

Tea Creek — Follows activist Jacob Beaton and his vision to transform his family farm into a beacon of hope for Indigenous food sovereignty.

LA Foodways — Looks at the storied agricultural history of Los Angeles to understand food-waste challenges and opportunities to bring fresh foods to urban communities.

Feeding Change — Uncovers the challenges and innovative solutions driving Hawaiʻi's agricultural transformation.

Watch them any time before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26.

Here’s how to sign up and watch.

And don’t miss our interviews with filmmakers, farmers, activists, and organizers.

Revelator: Survival of the Fittest?

Turns out some people who use that phrase don’t know what they’re talking about — especially if they’re social Darwinists.

Head to The Revelator to learn how nature really works.

And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

The Invisible Mammal: Special Screening

Hopefully you know by now: Bats aren’t just a Halloween mascot — they’re crucial for controlling insects, pollinating plants, dispersing seeds, and more.

But we should still go all out to celebrate them during spooky season. So the Center is a proud screening partner for a San Francisco premier of The Invisible Mammal, a film all about saving these ecosystem superstars. It follows a team of female scientists fighting white-nose syndrome, a fast-spreading disease that’s wiping out bat populations across North America. Now that’s scary.

Check out a trailer and get tickets for the matinee this Sunday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m. at the Roxie Theater. Use the code “BatLove” for $3 off.

That's Wild: Family Finds Leatherback Fossil

Out on a river fishing trip back in 2021, a family in Alabama found a massive sea turtle fossil from 32 million years ago. And when paleontologists were called in to investigate, it turned out to be in a leatherback genus that had never been described before.

The new genus has just been given the name Ueloca, based on the Muscogee Creek words for “water” and “turtle.” And the species’ name, colemanorum, honors the Coleman family for their discovery of the fossil and help with its recovery.

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Photo credits: Mimic glass lizard by MH Herpetology/Wikimedia; Junction Butte pack gray wolf by Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith/Flickr; {{if not --[[No Trump]] SavedSearch_501904}}grizzly bear by L. Hupp/USFWS; jaguar by Peter Hopper/Flickr; Food Justice Film Festival stills used with permission; jaguar by Tierra Curry/Center for Biological Diversity; bees by Stephen Ausmus/USDA; pallid bat still from The Invisible Mammal used with permission; leatherback sea turtle illustration by Izzi Stein/Center for Biological Diversity.

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