These animal “celebrities” face a daily struggle to survive in the most dangerous places in the world. They also hold a special place in our hearts here at National Wildlife Federation because they are the animals we work hard to protect.

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Read our report on what stars we expect will steal the show…

Mountain Goat

Three mountain goat kids. Photo by Donna Dannen. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

Mountain goats are among North America’s most isolated creatures. Traveling above the tree line, these acrobats begin climbing mere hours after being born. Your next reality show will be full of confrontation if you cast mountain goats — like alpine Real Housewives, nannies are notoriously aggressive, bickering over the finest inhospitable ledges while their kids form play groups. They’re also great for stunt work, rarely falling and recovering quickly when they do.

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Mountain goats aren’t facing the same conservation problems as other species in this list. However, they do serve as a reminder of why native habitat is crucial for wildlife. When introduced into Olympic National Park, mountain goats quickly disrupted the ecological equilibrium by devouring native plants. About 700 were removed from the park, and efforts are underway to manage those goats remaining within the park boundaries.

Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. Photo by Ronald Wooten. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the smallest marine turtles in the world, and the vast majority nest in one area near Tamaulipas, Mexico. If you’re looking for the next teen star, try some other species: these sea turtles spend their formative years in the open ocean. Males will sometimes range far and wide looking for food before returning to mate.

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Sea turtles face enormous obstacles toward replenishing their numbers. Protection of beach nesting sites (especially in Mexico) has led to great strides in recovery of the species, though bycatch (accidental capture in shrimp trawls, gill nets, longlines and dredges) is still the largest problem these species face. Efforts to use modified fishing equipment is helping reduce the incidence of bycatch.

Help wildlife like sea turtles today with a symbolic adoption!

Burrowing Owl

Burrowing owls. Photo by James Turner. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

Burrowing owls are attentive parents, remaining with their young for 40 days until the owlets are ready to leave the nest. The owlets are natural actors — they remain behind while their parents hunt, mimicking the sounds or rattlesnakes to scare off predators.

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Burrowing owls are able to dig their own nests underground, but often use those excavated by mammals like prairie dogs. Prairie dogs, in turn, are in decline due to habitat loss, leaving fewer ready nesting sites available for burrowing owls. There’s a real conservation concern due to pesticide use, which impacts the owls’ food supply.

The biggest threat to these birds, however, is automobile collisions. Burrowing owls can hunt on the wing, but also do so by hopping or running along the ground, a practice that makes them susceptible to car strikes.

Bison

Bison and calf. Photo by Sandy Sisti. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

Bison are the quintessential animal of North American prairies. Once numbering more than 40 million strong, the continent’s largest terrestrial animal was nearly hunted to extinction. Bison will likely work best as extras, since they communicate mostly via smell and pheromones (though they do grunt, snort and growl).

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Our decimation of bison in the late 19th Century is one the most tragic stories of a species’ decline, but the restoration of these majestic mammals may be even more compelling. National Wildlife Federation is working to return wild, free-ranging bison to their native homes. Working with ranchers who own lands near a wildlife refuge, and with tribal partners on reservations, we hope bison will soon return to their native prairies. 

There are still obstacles in the way, mainly political — thanks to popular support our partners in Montana were recently able to thwart several pieces of legislation that would have negatively impacted bison there.

Symbolically Adopt a Bison!

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill crane and chick (also called a “colt”). Photo by Lauri Griffin. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

Sandhill cranes are a double threat: they sing and dance. They are the perfect star for your next romantic musical, as sandhill cranes will form lifelong pair bonds, dancing throughout mating season while joining in a unison call of singing.

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The Mississippi subspecies is a clear example of waiting too late to begin the conservation process. While Mississipi sandhill cranes were saved from extinction (though are still critically endangered), experts say they’ll need constant management: work to repair and restore habitat, reduce predation and release cranes raised in captivity to replenish population loss. In addition, sandhill cranes in general are facing the same issue as many other species: loss of wetlands and their other preferred habitats.

Help NWF protect wildlife — Donate Today>>

Pronghorn

Pronghorn running. Photo by Kathy Gervais. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

Pronghorn might be your next action star: they sprint at 60 mph. Scientists believe the species developed their unique combination of speed and stamina to out-maneuver prehistoric predators that are now extinct. While adults no longer have any natural predators, young pronghorn have a 50% mortality rate in the wild due to predation from coyotes, bobcats and golden eagles.

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Nationally, pronghorn are thriving across much of their native habitat. While their young are under constant threat from predators, the species seems to have adapted by rearing twin fawns each year. It’s not all blue skies and open prairies, however. The biggest obstacle for pronghorn is the lowly fence—despite an ability to easily jump over fences (as deer often do), pronghorn refuse.

Roads and highways are additional obstacles, especially in the Southwest. While pronghorn make a 300-mile roundtrip between Wyoming’s Upper Green River Basin and Grand Teton National Park every year, endangered Sonoran pronghorn are boxed into a small area.

Ferruginous Hawk

Ferruginous hawk. Photo by Perry Holland. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

This is the breakout role for the largest American hawk. They take costume very seriously, and are covered head-to-toe in feathers. As unique vocalists, ferruginous hawks specialize in screechy squeals you may hear in horror films.

Gray Wolf

Gray wolf. Photo by Dennis Stewart. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

The wolves’ iconic howl serves as a way to bring a pack back together if spread over long distances, and as a warning to strangers. Not unlike the Bluths, gray wolves form familial packs with dominant male and female leaders.

After a long history of being seen as a threat, wolves are now known to be a critical part of healthy ecosystems in their native range.

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Like bison, wolves have recovered in select pockets of their once vast native range. Their reintroduction into Yellowstone spurred a resurgence in biodiversity — aspens, beavers and red foxes have returned, while the runaway increase of coyotes and elk has been checked.

Unfortunately, in Canada, gray wolves have become a favorite scapegoat for declining caribou populations (see below). As a result, government-sanctioned efforts to “cull” the species include poison-laced bait and aerial hunts from helicopters.

Help wildlife like wolves today with a symbolic adoption!

Caribou

Caribou. Photo by Patrick Freeny. National Wildlife Photo Contest donated entry.

Caribou conduct the longest migration of any terrestrial species in North America. Labrador, Canada, is home to the greatest migration of 28,000 caribou—they travel 3,700 miles each year.

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Over the last 50 years, about half of caribou habitat has disappeared due to timber, oil and gas development in the heart of their range, leading to steep declines in populations. Now, the expansion of tar sands production is threatening to destroy what remains of their fragile habitat—and if development continues unchecked, scientists predict that some herds in the tar sands region could disappear in as little as 30 years. The situation has spiraled so far out of control that it’s prompted misguided plans by the Canadian government to “rescue” caribou by shooting hundreds of wolves.

NWF is working to protect caribou by stopping the expansion of the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline. Just this week, we helped thwart an attempt by pipeline supporters in Congress to push the project forward.

Do Your Part to Protect Wildlife

The animals featured on NORTH AMERICA face myriad dangers in their everyday lives. Many of those dangers are natural, but our actions also impact these animals and their habitat. You can help protect wildlife, like these extraordinary species, by donating to the National Wildlife Federation.

Endangered Whooping Cranes – like this adult with its chick – are one of many species threatened by tar sands pipelines. (US Fish & Wildlife Service)

National Wildlife Federation board member David Carruth, an Arkansas resident who has spent the last few weeks assisting in the response to the disastrous Pegasus pipeline spill, will be speaking at a press conference to highlight the dangers of tar sands for wildlife and public health. And David, along with Nebraska Wildlife Federation president Duane Hovorka, will testify at the hearing. adding their voices to the hundreds of attendees telling the State Department to deny the pipeline.

You can watch a live stream of the event here, and I’ll be back with a recap of the hearing later this week so stay tuned. If you haven’t already sent a message to the White House, NOW IS THE TIME! The public comment period closes on Monday, April 22 so tell the President and Secretary Kerry “NO KXL!”

Speak up for people and wildlife at risk from tar sands — Tell the White House to say NO! to Keystone XL.

Photo by Cindy Bryant

See more of Cindy Bryant’s photos on Flickr >>

Sandhill Cranes: an Ancient Bird, a New Threat, and How
You Can Help

Big Oil’s actions are threatening Sandhill cranes and other wildlife species with critical habitat loss from construction, deforestation and oil spills. Read more >>

Sandhill cranes near Kearney, Nebraska on the Platte River earlier this spring (photo: flickr/stpaulgirl)

The Sandhills, in turn, are a unique landscape: 20,000 square miles, part desert, part grassland, with lakes and wetlands scattered throughout. Formed after the last Ice Age by winds that steadily built the dunes as high as 400 feet, the Sandhills are now stabilized by native grasses that allow farmers and ranchers to make a good living there. It is home not just to ranchers and cranes but also pronghorn antelope, porcupines, elk and bison, along with hundreds of other wildlife and plant species.

Making all this possible is a vast underground reservoir — the Ogallala aquifer — that sits beneath the Sandhills. It is our biggest water reserve, providing 30% of the groundwater used for irrigation in the entire US and drinking water for millions of Americans, and at some places the water table is so high that it’s actually at the surface, creating those lakes and wetlands. The Ogallala enabled the Great Plains to become “America’s bread basket,” but overuse threatens to suck this vital resource dry and now Big Oil (always eager to kick Mother Nature when she’s down) has raised the stakes for farmers and cranes alike.

Big Oil’s Dangerous Gamble

Tar sands pipelines spell big trouble for species like cranes (photo: Andrea Westmoreland)

The Global Labor Institute at Cornell University has concluded that spills from pipelines of tar sands-derived oil are three times as likely to occur per mile as spills of crude oil. And when they do, the researchers say, the damage is greater, the public health risks larger, the clean-up harder, the costs higher.

A spill over the aquifer would be a disaster. After a local and national outrcry — including criticism from Nebraska’s Republican governor and senators from both parties — sent Keystone XL back to the drawing board, the company has recently proposed another route. But the revised project still crosses the Ogallala aquifer, and critics charge that the “official” border of the Sandhills is a pretty meaningless distinction, because the surrounding area is similar geologically. In other words: new route, same risks.

Double Trouble in the Boreal Forest

Sandhill cranes mate for life (photo: Matthew Paulson)

Stretching across the northern reaches of our continent, this ecosystem is one of the most important you’ve (probably) never heard of, not just for its striking range of biodiversity but also for the crucial role it plays in regulating our climate: globally, boreal forests — almost a third of which are in Canada — store more carbon than any other biome.

Calling it simply a forest is a little misleading, though — the region also includes vast wetlands like the delta of the Peace and Athabasca rivers in northeastern Alberta, a favorite nesting area for sandhill cranes and hundreds of other species. But danger is on the horizon: just to the south of this vibrant delta, the oil industry is building the biggest industrial project in our planet’s history.

Big Oil’s wholesale demolition of the boreal forest is well-documented but mostly overlooked outside of Canada. (It’s worth checking out these photos to get a sense of the scale and what we’re fighting to protect.) Taken together, habitat loss, catastrophic spills, and climate change pose an enormous risk to sandhill cranes, caribou, wolves and other wildlife, and pipelines like Keystone XL are the key to the whole system. Thanks to a grassroots uprising we’ve halted this project so far, but we need your help to hold the line against tar sands.

Speak up now and tell the Obama Administration to say NO to Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Our planet deserves better.

Over 5,000 sandhill cranes visited the Paynes Prairie Preserve outside of Gainesville, Florida in the 2009-2010 winter. Marijka Willis captured this photo as the fog lifted and several cranes took flight.

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This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

Basically untouched until recent decades, the boreal forest’s great natural riches may also turn out to be its undoing: massive amounts of oil have been found in deposits known as “tar sands,” and the energy industry has kicked off a full-scale war on Mother Nature in their rush to boost their profits. Aided by a government that seems determined to wreck the country’s eco-friendly reputation, Big Oil is transforming huge parts of Alberta, Canada into something out of a nightmare, destroying vital wildlife habitat and putting whole populations at risk.

Read on to learn more about nine remarkable species that are directly threatened by tar sands development, then send a message to the President to help protect them.

Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)

Woodland caribou are being pushed out by oil development in their habitat (photo: British Columbia Forest Service)

The Canadian federal and provincial governments seem happy to turn a blind eye to the problem, and a stakeholder group that should be leading the charge to protect this iconic species — the Endangered Species Conservation Committee — is stocked with representatives from the energy industry, agriculture and timber companies, who watered down the caribou recovery plan to a toothless piece of paper. And even then, Environment Minister Peter Kent ignored a court order and refused to issue emergency protections for at-risk herds. Scientists fear that industrial development could cause Canada’s woodland caribou to vanish by the end of the century.

Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)

Our understanding of gray wolves has come a long way since the days of Little Red Riding Hood. They are impressively smart, social animals that spend as much time playing as hunting, and live together in close-knit packs of 4 to 7 animals.

Gray wolves are a keystone species in the northern ecosystem (photo: flickr/YankeeNovember3)

But in the eyes of the Canadian government this makes them a threat, and an easy scapegoat for the recent rapid declines of the caribou herds. So the government has embarked upon a plan to “cull” wolf populations using poison-laced bait and aerial hunts from helicopters. The poison, strychnine, is known for an excruciating death that progresses painfully from muscle spasms to convulsions to suffocation, over a period of hours. As if that weren’t awful enough, other animals like eagles and even domesticated dogs have been unintended casualties of the baiting campaign.

Black Bears (Ursus americanus)

Black bears like this cub like to eat the garbage from dumps around tar sands mines, much to their misfortune. (photo: Noah Katz)

It shouldn’t come as a surprise by now that tar sands development has directly encroached on bear habitat, leading to more interactions between humans and this species. Unfortunately, the government’s approach has been similar to their wolf plan: shoot ‘em and keep digging for oil.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development says 145 black bears were killed by Fish and Wildlife conservation officers last year after being habituated to garbage in the oilsands region. The number of bears shot in the Fort McMurray district was nearly three times the count the previous year and the highest in recent history, said spokesman Darcy Whiteside. Nearly half — 68 bears — were shot in oilsands camps and facilities after being attracted to the camp by food, garbage or other attractants, Whiteside said Tuesday.

Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis)

Canada Lynx near Whitehorse, Yukon (photo: Keith Williams)

Unlike bears, lynx shy away from contact with humans. Development in the eastern part of Canada has already forced out the big cats, and pressure from tar sands exploitation in Alberta is causing concerns there as well. And there’s a critical connection between gray wolves and lynx: wolves kill coyotes, which directly compete with lynx for snowshoe hare and other prey. So fewer wolves means more coyotes, which means fewer lynx. For a population that’s already threatened, that’s bad news. On the other hand, protecting wolves means lynx may rebound as well.

Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis)

Sandhill cranes face a double-whammy in Alberta and Nebraska (photo: flickr.com/nigel)

The big birds migrate thousands of miles each year from their breeding grounds in western Canada to as far south as Mexico, fattening up for a month in Nebraska’s Platte River valley. But this exposes them to a double-whammy from tar sands, with Alberta’s energy development destroying prime nesting habitat, and the danger of a spill in the Nebraska Sandhills region (from which they take their name) that could take away a crucial feeding ground. As it happens, their migratory pathway overlaps the route of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline almost mile-for-mile, meaning that a spill at any point will put this iconic species in harm’s way.

Walleye (Sander vitreus)

An angler in Ontario holds her latest catch (photo: flickr.com/Rowdy Rider)

But walleye and several other native species of fish might soon become a scarce commodity if Big Oil gets its way. Residents of Fort Chipeweyan, Alberta (most of whose residents are First Nations members) have reported a pretty scary development in the last few years: lots and lots of deformed fish downstream of the tar sands developments. In 2010, commercial fishing ground to a halt due to concerns about heavy metals like mercury and cadmium…as if anyone would want to eat a filet with a golf-ball sized tumor. The Canadian government, not surprisingly, contests these claims, but independent data shows that contamination has reached 30 times the federally-accepted levels.

In addition to all that, tar sands extraction requires a lot of water — up to three barrels of water for every barrel of oil — and this has disrupted the normal cycles of of the Athabasca river and surrounding watersheds.

Moose (Alces alces)

It's hard to play hide-and-seek when you weigh more than a ton (photo: flicker/Benjamin 1970)

This species has been a major part of native culture and their diet for millennia, but with numbers near Fort McKay, Alberta declining 60% in recent years, First Nations elders now have to travel up to 200 kilometers to find moose during their traditional hunt. Moose meat has also tested high in arsenic and carcinogens created by tar sands mining, endangering the health of the region’s indigenous communities.

Like woodland caribou, moose are prey for gray wolves, and toxins in moose meat spells trouble for their predators.

Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)

Scaup, also known as "bluebills," call the Athabasca River delta home (photo: Carol Foil)

Scaup (pronounced “skawp”) are a favorite of hunters but, like so many other creatures, tar sands operations are taking a toll. In addition to direct habitat loss, Big Oil has created a particularly gruesome way for these birds to die. One of the dirtiest parts of oil mining is so-called “tailings ponds,” gigantic open pits where the industry dumps its liquid waste. There are lots of these contaminated tailings ponds in the delta region, filled with toxic chemicals and oil, but which appear to flying birds like just another good spot to land. And when they do, it’s not hard to imagine what happens: slow, painful death. The industry’s solutions have ranged from the simple (and ineffective), like scarecrows, to the absurd — supersonic “cannons” that boom loud enough to disturb animals for miles around, and scare off any birds from landing in the sludge.

You and Me (Homo sapiens)

Climate change threatens our oceans, shorelines, and every other ecosystem on earth (photo: Barry Keleher)

And perhaps the biggest threat of all is the danger posed by global warming, which has already reached a tipping point and could be pushed over the edge by burning Canada’s tar sands oil. Rising sea levels, extreme droughts, flooding — it might sound like the Apocalypse but in fact it’s already happening.

Speak up now! Tell President Obama to stand up for wildlife in the tar sands region, and stand strong against Big Oil’s plans to destroy the boreal forest.

National Wildlife Federation is helping to lead the charge against tar sands and Big Oil’s dirty projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, which would help trigger even more development in the boreal forest. We need your help to make sure that this pristine ecosystem and its magnificent animals don’t vanish forever.

To donate directly to our tar sands campaign, please go to NWF’s “Choose Your Cause” website, or visit NWF.org/tarsands to learn more and find out how you can make a difference.

Just a couple days after hatching, these two sandhill crane chicks are already able to follow their parents on foraging trips. Photo by Jim Urbach.

This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

Citing environmental concerns and the potential impacts to Americans’ health and safety, Obama told the State Department to take a closer look at the project, which has been blasted by Midwestern landowners, native tribes, conservationists and others around the country.

Making Nebraskans Pay?

Now, just days later, a Nebraska congressman has teamed up with TransCanada Corporation to speed up the process – and Nebraskans would foot the bill.

Wildlife like these Sandhill Cranes are at risk from pipeline spills and construction (Photo: Len Radin)

Nebraska state Senator Mike Flood, who introduced the legislation Monday, said it’s up to Nebraskans to cover the cost of a new review. “This is our land. These are our people. We will pay for this. It’s the right thing to do,” Flood said.

It’s quite the turnaround for the good folks at TransCanada, who had obstinately refused to re-route their pipeline away from the state’s fragile Sandhills ecosystem and the Ogallala aquifer. But the payoff is obvious: instead of waiting 12-18 months for the federal government to complete a thorough analysis, now they hope the project could get hustled through the back door in as little as six months. Not a bad deal, huh?

Hold your horses! The State Department says we don’t have to worry:

“Any new proposed routes will be subject to the thorough, rigorous and transparent review process we have undertaken throughout,” deputy spokesman Mark Toner said late Monday.

Protesters carry an inflatable Keystone Xl pipeline around the White House during the Nov. 6th rally. (Photo: Marine Jaouen)

He might want to go back and check his facts, because the State Department has been one of Keystone’s biggest cheerleaders. “Thorough, rigorous and transparent” is the exact opposite of how the review went down, and we need this decision taken out of their hands and handled by an agency with a lot fewer skeletons in the closet.

Consider this: the State Department didn’t even factor in carbon pollution during their analysis, even though NASA’s top climatologist, James Hansen, says developing Canada’s tar sands spells “Game Over” for the fight against climate change. Add that to a long list of shady dealings (like the fact that the company that conducted KXL’s environmental review listed TransCanada as a “major client”) and it’s obvious we need a change of juries.

So what does all this mean? First off, it proves, once again, that you can’t trust Big Oil to tell the truth. And it also means that we have to be vigilant to ensure that this project gets the scrutiny it deserves.

Keep Up the Fight

Last week was a big victory, but the fight isn’t over. Already, other companies are proposing new pipelines to exploit Canada’s tar sands, and the last time I checked, those won’t be any greener or more wildlife-friendly than the Keystone XL proposal.

But we’ve proven that our voices count – your protests brought a filthy, $7 billion project to a screeching halt – and in this era of corporate domination that’s pretty impressive.

Let’s keep it up.

You can help protect Canada’s boreal forest and prevent the spread of tar sands development by making a donation through NWF’s Choose Your Cause program.

• More about National Wildlife Federation’s work stopping Keystone XL
• Article about Canada’s tar sands tragedy from National Wildlife magazine.

Email President Obama and tell him to stop the proposed Keystone XL pipeline >>

Keystone XL Pipeline Myths vs. Facts

So what do you need to know about the biggest threat to our energy future? Let’s bust the biggest myths about KXL one at a time, then find out how you can help stop the pipeline.

TransCanada executive. You can't see it from this angle, but his pants are, in fact, on fire. (Photo: flickr/Onion)

MYTH #1: “Keystone XL project will create 20,000 jobs–7,500 of which will be in Nebraska”

Unrefined tar sands (Photo: Flickr/Lou Gold)

FACT: The US State Department (the agency responsible for vetting the project) has conducted a sham review. Their activities have been tainted by a conflict of interest in favor of the project and they have failed to assess pipeline safety issues with any rigor, inadequately consulted numerous Tribal nations, and neglected to protect Americans from eminent domain threats made by TransCanada. This includes preferential treatment for TransCanada’s chief lobbyist (a former aide to State Department Secretary Clinton), as well as outsourcing much of the review process to a company who counts TransCanada as a major client.

MYTH #5: Keystone XL will reduce our energy prices.

FACT: The original Keystone pipeline has been plagued by problems since its opening in 2009 – at least 12 reported spills, including one of 21,000 gallons this spring. Keystone XL would be the first tar sands pipeline routed through the environmentally sensitive Sandhills and directly through the heart of the Ogallala aquifer.

MYTH #9: “Legislation already exists to protect Nebraskans; LB 629 was signed into law last session that holds TransCanada financially responsible for any damage due to the pipeline.”

Email President Obama and tell him to stop the proposed Keystone XL pipeline >>

Will you be in the DC area on Nov. 6? Join us at a rally at the White House to deliver the message to President Obama in person >>

These claims are only the latest in a long-running battle between TransCanada and Reality. For the full scoop on Keystone XL, and what it really means for Nebraska and the United States, visit www.nwf.org/KeystoneXL.