"The Senate rejected an amendment Thursday that sought to block a key panel from raising revenue through drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a move that could make it easier for future oil and gas drilling to take place there."

"It may be one of the stranger signs of climate change: the nine-banded armadillo, which is native to Latin America and more recently Texas. Scientists say warmer winters have lured the mammals northwards, bringing with them parasites and diseases."

"FARMINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA—In a chamber a few hundred feet underground known as the Stomach, long-time cave guide Lisa Hall is talking about bats. Less than a decade ago, this cave system was home to thousands of them—little brown bats, northern long-eared bats, Indiana bats, and big brown bats. Today, she says, when the staff spot a single individual (almost always a big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus), they get excited."

"The cactus ferruginous pygmy-owls that inhabit Arizona are sticking the Fish and Wildlife Service with a pretty big problem."

"On Oct. 4, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that 25 animals were not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Nineteen of those species — ranging from a sooty-colored woodpecker that hunts beetles in burned forests, to tiny snails found only in a few isolated springs in the Great Basin desert — live in the West."

"It took extreme measures to save the zoo’s last survivors from one of the world’s most dangerous war zones."

"A federal agency faces a deadline this week to decide whether the iconic Pacific walrus will join the polar bear on the threatened species list."

"The Interior Department said Thursday it is withdrawing protections for 10 million acres of federal lands used by the threatened sage grouse to open it up for energy development."

"The plan — tied into the Republican tax overhaul — assumes $1 billion in revenue, likely to come from oil leases in the pristine Alaska wilderness area."

"The Trump administration will seek to reconsider an Obama-era blueprint for protecting the greater sage grouse, a move that could lead to new mineral leasing, grazing and other commercial activities across the quirky bird’s Western habitat."