Discovered in my backyard on March 23, 2013 in moist dirt.

Endemic to California, usually found in a variety of habitats: chaparral, woodland, grassland, forests, urban yards, vacant lots, marshes, and beach driftwood. Generally found in moist locations, under logs, rocks, bark, leaf litter, stumps, debris. Can be very abundant in an area.

Defensive behaviors include: coiling and remaining still, then uncoiling quickly and springing away, repeatedly bouncing over the ground for a distance, then remaining still; releasing sticky noxious skin secretions which can glue shut a predator’s mouth; and releasing the tail to let its movement distract a predator. A released or severed tail will regenerate.

Lungless Salamanders breathe through their skin which requires them to live in damp environments on land and to move about on the ground only during times of high humidity. (In California, they do not inhabit streams or bodies of water, but they are capable of surviving for some time if they fall into water.)

Our Most Precious Resource:  WATER

We all know water is essential for life on Earth. However, our insatiable demand is putting our most precious natural resource at risk.

ADULT CALIFORNIA TOAD

Anaxyrus boreas halophilus 
Grows to 2-5 Inches From Snout To Vent 

Diurnal and Nocturnal. Reproduction is Aquatic. Fertilization is External. 

SEEN in my backyard in Sonoma County on March 19, 2013.

*** This toad is not on the Special Animals List.

NWF Needs our HELP – Help them plant TREES!

Trees play a critical role in supporting so many other living things – human and wildlife alike.  Did you know…

• Trees clean the air: Trees absorb odors and pollutants and filter our air through their leaves and bark — our own built-in air purification system!
• Trees provide oxygen: Over the course of a year one acre of trees provides enough oxygen for 18 people.
• Trees save water AND help keep our water clean: Trees help to both reduce runoff and help to filter groundwater and the water in our streams. Shade from trees helps slow water evaporation so you don’t need to water your lawn as much.
• Trees provide jobs: Whether it is harvesting fruit, nuts, or other products from trees or using trees for clothing, tires and other products – trees provide jobs and help to sustain our economy.
• Trees are critical for wildlife: Trees provide many different species with food, cover and places to raise young and for some species are even their water source. Whether it is in the canopy or trunk or roots wildlife can be found both in living, dying and dead trees helping to keep our ecosystems balanced.

As part of National Wildlife Week, NWF has supplied these resources, activities and fun lessons to be used each day in the classroom.

National Wildlife Week Educator Resources:

• • Posters that together form a five-foot tree!
  • Lessons and Activities by grade
  • Wildlife Trading Cards featuring 45 species of trees and wildlife
  • Webinar to help you prepare for National Wildlife Week
  • Free trees for student tree planting events

[vsw id=”a_hgCM8XZkk” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

De-extinction, the science of bringing back extinct life, is the subject of the April 2013 cover story of National Geographic magazine. Once only an idea in science fiction, today it is poised to become reality. Researchers working to bring back animals like the passenger pigeon and woolly mammoth discuss the implications of their work.

Learn more about this subject at: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/deextinction

Tens Of Thousands of Elephants Were Killed Just Last Year. Elephants can’t protect themselves against sophisticated, well-armed poachers. They need protected areas to roam. well-equipped ecoguards and they need you!

Question:  How in the wild can we bring elephants back from the brink of extinction?

Answer:  Enforce laws that already exist to protect elephants from the devastating illegal ivory trade. Find the enforcement gaps that poachers exploit and close them.

Conservationists from all over the world  are  debating that question as they gather in Bangkok for the 16th Meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

Tell the U.S. delegation to CITES to help ensure that the international laws that can save elephants are enforced.

Click here to automatically sign this petition. If 35,000 signatures are reached, it will be hand delivered to delegates next week.

As a supporter of Wildlife Conservation Society, I implore you to address the dire plight of elephants at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES. CITES data show that 2011 was the worst year for both African elephant slaughter as well as large ivory seizures since record keeping began, and that 2012 was just as bad.

Thank you,

JJ 

Beginning on Thursday, March 7, at 9 PM (ET/PT), Animal Planet will be embedded in Battleground: Rhino Wars, a three-part miniseries that documents this intense conflict that is centered on the worldwide commercial demand for rhino horns, an exotic commodity that’s more valuable than gold on the black market. 

The miniseries reveals the conflict between blood-thirsty poachers and one of South Africa’s anti-poaching units, which has recruited armed forces to stop the illegal, lucrative trade of rhino horns. Cameras reveal a bloody war that these elite U.S. warriors find themselves fighting, in an area where both rhinos and people are being slaughtered with increasing regularity. 

For the full story, click here.