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Defenders of Wildlife

@defenders.org

1.1K followers 41 following 150 posts

Defenders of Wildlife leads the pack when it comes to protecting wild animals and plants in their natural communities. #ActAgainstExtinction

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Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 15h

Image with a black cracked background with 2 white boxes with wings with text in them reading "Endangered Species Act" and "Public Support" respectively. Text above reads "What Resurrected Them?" and below text reads "The ESA has protected countless species, and is 99% preventing extinction. Additionally, people like you advocating for wildlife creates positive change. Keep using your voice!"

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 15h

Image with a black cracked background with an image of a brown pelican standing on a railing overlooking the ocean within a tombstone-like frame. Text above reads "Brown Pelican" and below text reads "With the banning of DDT in the 1970s, brown pelicans were able to rebound and today the birds are off the Endangered Species list. There are over 370,000 brown pelicans today."

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 15h

Image with a black cracked background with an image of a partially submerged alligator within a tombstone-like frame. Text above reads "American Alligator" and below text reads "Almost hunted to extinction, alligators were saved by conserving habitat and strictly controlling hunting and trade of the species. Today, there is an estimated 5 million American alligators in the USA."

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 15h

Image with a black cracked background with an image of a bald eagle within a tombstone-like frame. Text above reads "Bald Eagle" and below text reads "The bald eagle almost went extinct in the 1960s. But thanks to robust conservation efforts, the bald eagle made a full recovery. There are an estimated 316,700 individual birds today."

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 15h

The walking dead are among us…but they aren’t zombies! They’re ESA-protected species!

There are many animals that almost went extinct but thanks to the Endangered Species Act and public support from people like you, now they live to see another day!

Image with black background with text "Animals Brought Back From The Dead" and "(aka the brink of extinction)" below. A opaque image of a pelican in the top right, an alligator in the bottom left and bald eagle in bottom right.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 5d

In the Texas Hill Country, the stars’ light fights its way through a soft, unnatural glow. The night feels thinner and emptier. And we’re not the only ones noticing, wildlife who depend on darkness are struggling to keep their rhythms.

So, where did the night go? dfnd.us/3VTBmn7

Where Did the Night Go?

I grew up looking up at the stars with my mom, stretched out on a blanket under the wide-open Texas skies. We’d watch meteor showers and trace constellations while

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 6d

#DYK: There’s a fish with no eyes that lives 900 feet underground with the nickname: the Prince of Darkness? AKA the widemouth blindcat!

It lives underwater in aquifers below Texas with a big mouth that allows it to feed on fine organic debris and tiny invertebrates that drift through groundwater.

A widemouth blindcat against a black background, photo credit to © Hendrickson lab / Ichthyology Collection at The University of Texas at Austin/University of Texas at Austin (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED) in the bottom left.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 10d

Hey Curtis Cownose! It’s me, Fuzzy Frogface!

What’s your freshwater mussel name?

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 11d

Bee 🐝 careful with your decorations!

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 11d

In this country, we care about our wild lands and the animals that live on them.

Any effort to undo protections and sell out public lands in the Arctic and beyond are wildly unpopular with the American people.

Tell elected officials to #StopTheArcticSellOff before it’s too late: dfnd.us/48eKxWD

TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT THE ARCTIC

Oil and gas development in America's Arctic promises devastating impacts on our global climate, on the human rights of the Indigenous Peoples who live and depend on the lands they consider sacred, and on the millions of birds, fish, and wildlife who rely on this one-of-a-kind ecosystem. We can't let that happen.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 12d

Split image with "Expectation" and a bear roaring ferociously and below "Reality" with a bear laying on the ground waving.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 12d

Split image with "Expectation" and a scary bat sculpture with dramatic lighting, below with "Reality" shows a bat hanging next to a flower.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 12d

Split image with "Expectation" and a scene from the movie Jaws, and "Reality" with an image of a shark swimming underwater.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 12d

Split image with "Expectation" and a drawing of an alligator attacking and "Reality" below showing an alligator on a log.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 12d

Split image with "Expectation" on top showing a wolf and Little Red Riding Hood and "Reality" with a Red Wolf mom and pup.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 12d

A lot of animals get a bad rap for being “scary” either in myths, fables, or movies but the frightening expectation is usually a lot different than the reality we know.

Bears are nurturing, alligators sunbathe, bats eat fruit nectar. That’s what these animals are really like. Not so scary huh?

Red text: "Animals Culture Deemed "Evil"" with white text against a black box "Expectations vs Reality" in background in a darkened woodprint of a wolf.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 13d

Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Jane Goodall.

From Texas to Tanzania, everyone knew who she was and what she stood for. In the decades she worked, she inspired new generations by spreading the message of conservation and the urgent need to protect our planet.

dfnd.us/3KtEu6M

Defenders of Wildlife Honors Dame Jane Goodall DBE

Jane Goodall’s life and work were a testament to her deep love of wildlife and passion for science. As a young woman, she defied expectations by travelling to Tanzania

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 13d

Did you know that Gila monster venom helped develop medications like Ozempic? Their saliva contains a useful hormone for treating diabetes! 💊

Nothing monstrous about these lizards, if anything, they’re valuable members of the medical community, but I wouldn’t ask them to take your temperature.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 17d

We’re not actually THAT obsessed with public lands. Unless “obsessed” means that we think about public lands all the time, love them with our whole hearts and slide public lands into every conversation, then yeah, we are a bit obsessed.

But aren’t all of you too?

Happy Public Lands Day!

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 18d

These little ferrets are facing extinction, but with emerging technologies, the tools to fight against their extinction are expanding.

Read more on our blog to see the state-of-the-art world of wildlife protection.

Happy Black-Footed Ferret Day!

#[dfnd.us/4nKpaRs

The Buzz Around New Technology Saving Prairie Dogs and Endangered Black-footed Ferrets

There was a quiet buzzing, almost like a swarm of bees making their way across the grasslands.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 18d

Despite the constant attacks, the time we have with sea otters, humpback whales, manatees, dolphins and countless other marine animals is a luxury.

So many of these species should be extinct, but thanks to the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act we still have them today.

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 19d

Just below the surface in Monterey Bay is a vast forest – of kelp!

You can find sea otters resting in these coastal kelp forests, draping the kelp over their bodies to keep them from drifting away. If we were otters, we’d certainly lounge in kelp forests too!

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 20d

I’m so hungry I could eat like a sea otter. If you weigh 160 pounds, that’d be 40 pounds of food!

That’s right, a sea otter eats approximately 25% of their weight in food each day. With male southern sea otters weighing up to 65 pounds, that’s a lot of seafood!

Learn more: dfnd.us/3Ip5cNb

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 21d

It begins…

Let the fattest bear win – Fat Bear Week STARTS TODAY!

Defenders of Wildlife @defenders.org · 21d

Cuddling while drifting on their backs, paws folded across their chests, a raft of sea otters bobs in the cold Alaskan water. Whether seen from a research plane or tracked by satellite, sea otters are telling us important stories about Alaska’s coasts.

Now it’s up to us to listen. dfnd.us/46k5le6

Unlocking the Mystery of Alaska’s Sea Otters

Cuddled together while drifting on their backs, paws folded across their chests, a large raft of sea otters bobbed effortlessly in the cold Alaskan water. The moment I first saw these otters has staye...