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.
