Posts Tagged ‘Houston Toad’

Jun
07

Fun at the Texas Amphibian Watch Workshop at the Houston Zoo

Posted by in amphibians,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research,Texas

Texas Toad

 Amphibians are small but mighty.  They have been called the birds of night, which anyone that has been outside by a pond at night can understand.  Their vocalizations often fill the night air.  Frogs and toads work diligantly to keep insects in check and are vital to the survival of many other species. But besides that these little creatures are full of character, they come in many shapes, colors and sizes.  Their distinct calls allow us to connect with them without even seeing them.

Coastal Plains Toad

Last Friday,  the Houston zoo hosted a Texas Amphibian Watch family workshop.  It was designed to help familiarize  participants with local amphibians.   Fun was had by all!  During a lesson on frog calls the Zoo’s auditorium was filled with beautiful froggy singing voices as all of the participants mimiced frog vocalizations in an effort to thouroughly learn them. Everyone got to hike through the wilds of Herman park to listen and watch for our slippery little friends.

Woodhouse Toad

 

This program offered everyone the opportunity to help conserve amphibians in Texas by learning how to collect information about local frogs and toads for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.   Participants were very excited to become scientists in their own back yard!

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May
16

The new Conservation Annual Report is here!

Posted by in community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research,Texas

Houston Toad release

So, what has the conservation department been up to over the past year?  I am sure you hear snippets here and there about the work we do, but we wanted to make sure we had a way for people to get a full scope of what the Houston Zoo is doing around the world to ensure that the endangered species we house here at the zoo will continue to thrive in the wild.  With the help of our partners we are endeavoring to ensure the security of the planet’s biodiversity.  

 

Attwater's prairie chicken chick

Our report tells of a lot of great progress in wildlife conservation this year.  You can read about the observation of female captive bred Attwater’s prairie chickens raising their chicks in the wild.  The goal in wildlife conservation is not just to save species, we also seek to improve the lives of the local communities.   You will enjoy the story of how children in Rwanda love to dress up and learn about wildlife through plays and dance.   This report will inspire you and bring you up to speed on the depth of our efforts.   

“This report is full of human partnerships and friendships that give us hope for the future, as science alone cannot save a species“  a quote from the Houston Zoo Director, Rick Barongi.

Click here to read the Conservation Annual Report.

 

 

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Apr
01

Houston Toad surveys have begun

Posted by in amphibians,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research,Texas

Houston Toads

Conservation staff spring surveys have begun for the detection of calling Houston toads (endangered endemic) in Austin and Colorado county.  We currently have 3,000 Houston toads in the quarantine facility at the Zoo. That is more than the entire known population in the wild. We have released close to 30,000 toads, toadlets and late stage tadpoles in the last 3 years of head starting.  To learn more about Houston toads go here .

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Feb
17

Houston Zoo Wildlife Conservation is on Facebook!

Posted by in Africa,amphibians,Attwater's Prairie Chicken,Black bears,Borneo,Carnivores,Chimpanzee,community-based conservation,Conservation,Elephant,Endangered Species,Field Research,Galapagos,Going Green,Gorilla,orangutan,Painted Dog,Panama,Rhino,Travel

 

Booming chickens on prairies and adventures to find bear hair in the Big Thicket. Leech infested forests? Monsoons? Leg swallowing mud and Sea Gull poo? Wild Orangutans that use bridges and toads with implants.  Confused? Don’t be. Join us and interact with local and global conservation on our new Houston Zoo Conservation Facebook page. Keep up with the conservation department and our partners in the field, and don’t forget to comment along the way!

Link here and follow along: http://www.facebook.com/#!/houstonzooconservation

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Jan
22

Houston Toads on KPRC

Posted by in amphibians,Animal Origins & Fun Facts,What You Can Do

Saturday morning, KPRC’s Courtney Zavala invited us to come say a few words about the Houston Toad. The short piece aired at 7:22am, which is a bit early for toads and staff alike on a cold Saturday morning. The clip can be viewed here:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/26581095/index.html

We brought to the station a representative Houston Toad from our head-starting and recovery program we hope to release in the summer. We also brought a local Gulf Coast Toad (named William) so people can see the difference.

Houston Toad (Currently, there are no Houston Toads in Houston, except at the zoo)

Houston Toads have not been seen in Harris County since the late 1960′s or early 1970′s and are now  found only in small numbers in counties such as Bastrop, Austin, Colorado, Leon and a few others.

Gulf Coast Toads are found all over the Greater Houston region in large numbers. We will post a photo soon so you can compare the differences. If you are walking one night between March and October/November, and there is a toad in the road, you can be fairly confident it is one our friend ”William’s” Gulf Coast Toads relatives.

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Oct
27

Houston Toad Cover Feature

Posted by in amphibians,community-based conservation,Endangered Species,Featured,Field Research

The Houston Toad has made the cover and feature article in the November issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. The Houston Zoo and partners are involved in a “head starting” project which could save the endangered Houston Toad.

Texas Parks and Wildlife has a short video up on their website highlighting the work to protect this species which can be found at http://www.tpwmagazine.com/

The Houston toad (Bufo houstonensis) was the first amphibian granted protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Critical habitat was designated in Bastrop and Burleson counties in 1978, in areas supporting the largest populations known at that time. Historically, the Houston toad ranged across the state’s central coastal region, but disappeared from Harris and Fort Bend counties in the 1960s following an extended drought and Houston’s urban expansion. Although this species has been found in nine additional counties (Austin, Bastrop, Burleson, Colorado, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Milam, and Robertson) as recently as the 1990s, several of these populations have not been detected since their discovery.

Headstarting consists of collecting eggstrands from native ponds and rearing them at the zoo to assure the highest number of individuals survive. They are then released back into the same ponds they were collected from throughout the year. For more on the Houston Zoo’s efforts with the Houston Toad – link here

The Houston Zoo recieved financial support in 2010 from US Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation to assist the zoo and our partners in helping to recover the wild Houston Toad population.

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Aug
23

What Really Matters

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Endangered Species,Going Green,What You Can Do

It can be overwhelming. Every media outlet you turn to – all the messages are negative. Crime, economy, natural disasters…so we shut down mentally.

At the zoo we talk about the struggle to preserve wildlife and wildlife habitat. People need to see what is going on in the world, but you need to see the positives as well.

In Rwanda, a team of field veterinarians are tending to the health of Mountain Gorillas. In Zimbabwe, education bush camps are teaching children to protect Painted Dogs.  In Texas, the Houston Zoo and partners are reintroducing Attwater’s Prairie Chickens and Houston Toad back into native habitat. In Botswana, our partners at Cheetah Conservation Botswana are helping to protect the health of the communities’ domestic animals and working side-by-side to ensure the safety of their livestock. At the zoo, we recycle and reduce our landfill waste stream. 

A colleague once said to me Human nature does not program us to be proactive until it is almost too late. Well that is dissapointing. What really matters is for everyone to do something positive, just one thing. What really matters is that one thing can ultimately lead to a larger chain of events.

Find one minute a day to step back and look around – have you ever just stopped to watch the birds or butterflies in your neighborhood?  A recent poll found Houston #3 on the list of most stressful cities. We work too much, do not get outside enough (it’s hot, it’s humid, it’s buggy – I get it). But if you take a moment and find one minute a day to do that one simple positive thing – that is what really matters.

…and now for your viewing pleasure, a random photo of a mountain gorilla and his very engaging feet…

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Aug
16

Texas

Posted by in amphibians,Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Endangered Species,Field Research,Sea Turtles,Texas,What You Can Do

Everything is bigger in Texas, and the biodiversity is no exception. Ten recognized eco-regions are home to an amazing abundance of wildlife and plants in the Lone Star State. Over 80 species of mammals, 600 plus species of birds, more than 250 species of reptiles and amphibians and countless thousands of species of invertebrates can be found in Texas. Of the nearly 6,000 species of plants found here, at least 325 are endemic and found nowhere else in the world.

North American River Otter

Our Houston toad head-start program has seen over 30,000 tadpoles and toads released to their natal ponds this year alone. One of the most critically endangered birds in the United States, the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, is hatched and reared for release to augment their ever dwindling wild population. Our Education staff conducts field and science based programs for local school children to foster appreciation for this endemic grouse. Outreach programs also focus on the restoration of the black bear to the dense Pineywoods of East Texas, our vanishing coastal prairies, endangered sea turtles and local amphibian declines. In a state that is 97 percent private, we continue to expand collaboration with landowners – both working with them directly and assisting with workshops to teach them to manage their property for endangered wildlife. Other local research and field activities include turtle road mortality and mitigation, sea turtle nest patrols, and assistance with ongoing graduate projects with local universities.

Attwater's Prairie Chicken chickThe Houston Zoo’s conservation mission is to make the Houston Zoo a leader in conservation as it relates to the survival of threatened wildlife, the wise use of natural resources, and the appreciation of our natural world by our zoo visitors. We take wildlife conservation in Texas seriously and we would like for all Texans to appreciate the State’s unique habitats and heritage.

Want to hear more about what makes Texas so special? Then join us on November 17th for a very special speaker event featuring Carter Smith, Executive Director, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 6:30pm-8:00pm in our Brown Education Center. Link here for tickets.

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Jun
04

The Last One

Posted by in Endangered Species,Featured,Texas

 

Malayan Tiger: There may be less than 600 individuals remaining in the wild

Malayan Tiger: There may be less than 600 individuals remaining in the wild

The Houston Zoo’s Conservation Department is involved in a number of efforts internationally as well as here in Texas. It had dawned on me that some of the species we focus on in the wild, may disappear completely in my lifetime and how disappointing a thought that may be. A shame really given the number of species in trouble so few people have ever heard of here at home that are declining faster than we can get a handle on. Houston Toad, Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, the Ocelot subspecies in Texas, Elliot’s Shrew, Black Lace Cactus, Texas Blind Cave Salamander;  these names mean little to most people but we may just lose them, one species at a time.

The January 2009 National Geographic Magazine had an article called Last One. A piece about species whose numbers are so low, someday very soon, an individual will be the Last One and the first photo in the spread is an Ocelot of which less than 100 individuals of the Texas subspecies are left. There are no other Ocelots in North America; the Texas population is the Last One.

Wildlife and plants in Texas are not the only ones in trouble. Across North America, small relatively innocuous species of animals and plants are slipping away. Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit – went extinct in the wild in October 2008; Vancouver Island Marmot is Canada’s most endangered mammal – less than 100 individuals; Peninsular Pronghorn, Baja, Mexico – less than 250 individuals; Whooping Cranes, California Condors, Louisiana Pine Snakes – all at critically low numbers

Internationally, the numbers are staggering, even considering how familiar we may be with certain species. The common domestic pet chinchilla can be found in people’s homes across the world; in their native Chile and Argentina – less than 3,000 survive. The Bactrian Camel you may see on a TV wildlife special; less than 800 survive in China and Mongolia; Tigers, Rhinos, Asian Elephants – losing ground fast. Leopards are an animal we have all heard of – the Amur Leopard of Russia’s Far East – 30 individuals left in the wild. Just 30!

Does it really matter if a species goes extinct? Every piece lost somehow affects their habitat and ecosystem, so, yes; it does, even for the animals we have never even heard of. Losing species simply means a breakdown in that ecosystem – a breakdown in the food chain. Thomas Jefferson once wrote “for if one link in nature’s chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish by piecemeal”. That quote is over 200 years old and today plants and animals are beginning to vanish in unprecedented numbers.

 

So what do we do? It is time to put the effort into keeping the common species common and developing programs to keep those species in decline, from becoming the Last One.

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