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 .
Last Friday, Houston Zoo Conservation Staff accompanied an enthusiastic HZI volunteer and Rice graduate student, Cassidy Johnson, and her father, J. Johnson, to their families amazing 2,500 acre property to set up recording devices to capture the calls of amphibians, and hopefully, the elusive and rare Houston toad!
The Johnsons and Amphibian Conservation Manager, Paul Crump, look over maps of the property to decide the best ponds to install the frog recording devices
Cassidy’s father came up with this impressive contraption himself. When an animal makes a noise (in this case, hopefully a frog) the recording device turns on and records the sound.
Cassidy and her father hike a “froglogger” up into a tree near a pond.
He can later download the files and hear what is hopping around his ponds! Bravo to the Johnsons for caring about amphibians on their property!
With a 2,500 acre property ATV’s are a must to get around from site to site. Did I mention it was 40 something degrees? It was freezing!
Big Thicket
The fun has begun! We recently started our Rodent & Insectivore Survey in the Turkey Creek Unit at BTNP. After picking out our first survey site in the Piney Woods Bottomland, we loaded our gear into backpacks and hiked into the woods. As soon as we lost sight of the dirt road, we felt like we had stepped back in time, exploring an area without any sign of civilization. A compass or GPS is a must in order not to get lost.
We began our survey by placing our Sherman traps (a type of humane, live trap) out in a grid – 3 lines of 10 traps each, 30 feet apart. Each trap was baited with mealworms, peanut butter or seed. We pushed our way through the brush, watching out for spiders, burrow holes and snakes. Data was recorded on each trap, such as the size of the trap, what bait was used, the GPS coordinates, etc. After about 2-1/2 hours, we were finished and left the traps to see what we would catch overnight when the rodents were more active.
Eastern Mole, Scalopus aquaticus
After spending the night at the BTNP Field Research Station, we rose before daylight to go out and check the traps. Using our GPS, we located the traps and approached each one with anticipation to see if the trap had an occupant. Unfortunately, we found 30 empty traps. But this is just the beginning of a year-long project, and we will also be sampling other areas, so next time we might be more successful in our trapping efforts!
Written by, Charlona Ingram, Houston Zoo Naturalist
Many American households own an aquarium. They are beautiful, fun to watch and exotic in that most aquarium fish are originally from other countries. Unfortunately, sometimes a person’s circumstances change and he or she can no longer keep an aquarium. Sometimes a particular fish, that has grown too large or becomes too aggressive, must be given up. These can be difficult decisions and people want the best for their pets. How they define what is best varies. For some people, it means giving the fish to friends. For other people, it means releasing it to the wild. Researchers are interested in understanding how people make this difficult decision and what impact it might have on fish conservation in Texas and elsewhere. You can help by taking this survey and giving us your views about fish and aquarium keeping. Check back in a couple of months to find out the results of the study.
http://survey.harconline.net/dynamicsurvey/1/start.php?survey=fish2&dgfb=1
Attwater's Prairie Chicken Chick
The final stage in the captive rearing of the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken is the release. These endangered and endearing birds are released at one of three release sites: the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken Wildlife Refuge (APCNWR), The Nature Conservancy’s Texas Prairie Preserve, and private land near Goliad, Texas. After the birds are transferred from the zoo to the release site, they are fitted with bands and radio collars in order to identify each individual once they are on the prairie. This allows the biologists to more easily find and identify each individual bird and to keep an accurate count of the population. Each release site is equipped with release pens in which the birds are placed prior to release in order to ensure that all of the birds are well transitioned from the zoo to the release site. Food, consisting of vegetables, bugs and grain, is provided for the birds for several weeks until they are fully grown and ready for release onto the coastal prairie, their native habitat. As an Attwater’s Prairie Chicken intern, this is the most satisfying and awesome experience. Seeing the chicks grow from the time they hatch until they are ready for release is amazing, with each successful release, the wild population of these lovely birds grows, and the release process is complete.
By: Kirsten Thoede, Attwater’s Prairie Chicken Intern
Attwater's Prairie Chicken Chick
When I was a kid I always knew that I wanted to work with animals. I used to tell everyone I’d be a marine biologist. I didn’t really know what that meant at the time, but I knew they got to work closely with whales and dolphins. I had every pet my parents would allow and asked to go to every aquarium and zoo that I could find, just to get close to animals. As I got older I started to question what I could realistically do with this desire. Anyone that got to work with them in the field or in captivity were like celebrities. I don’t think I ever thought of it as a job — it was more like a dream. The only animal related career that I was really exposed to was a veterinarian. And when I decided against that, it was difficult to visualize what I could do. I was very fortunate to meet the curator of a small zoo that took me under his wing and brought me into the wonderful world of zoo keeping. But I have been very aware that not everyone gets this type of opportunity.
I am so excited for this generation of animal lovers in Houston. The Houston Zoo offers so much to get kids involved and connected to the animal world. It would have been a dream come true to be a part of the zoo camps and internships they offer here!
Recently, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege to assist with a new, unique, interactive conservation education program called Toad Trackers. It was developed by my very talented coworker, Rachel Rommel, and allows kids to connect with the world of research and animal science.
Rachel with students
The Toad Tracker students are introduced to the same equipment field biologists use in their research and are exposed to some of the methods used in the scientific study of animal populations. I got to assist with the evening class where the students get to actively search for a common toad species on Zoo grounds: the Gulf Coast Toad. When it came to listening for the toads, the kids were very serious and quiet. I was so impressed with their level of concentration, and how well they were able to control their excitement and really focus on the task at hand. When a toad was found, they remembered exactly what they were taught in the classroom about approaching and handling it. The students were then carefully guided through weighing and measuring each individual, determining its’ gender, and recording its’ GPS coordinates, citing exactly where it was found. The kids then got to observe as Paul Crump (the Houston Zoo’s Amphibian Conservation Programs Manager) pit tag each toad, which is similar to the microchip in your cat or dog. They were very intrigued by this process.
Students measuring toad
Over time, the locating and tagging of these toads will provide valuable information on their growth rates, reproductive events, and movement patterns on zoo grounds. As important as this data is, more importantly, this program is inspiring local kids and leaving them hungry for more. I really felt the gratitude of the kids involved in this program; their intrigue was tangible! Rachel is creating a whole army of amphibian advocates and future biologists through Toad Trackers.
To learn more about this program check out the Houston zoo Toad Tracker website and join the Toad Trackers group on Facebook.
Many of us drive. At least while the human carrying flying dragons are on strike, we need to drive. So here is something which takes little effort and will help Keep Texas Wild.
State of Texas Conservation License Plates!
Show your support for wildlife! Put a Horned Lizard plate on your vehicle, trailer or motorcycle and help conserve wildlife diversity by funding a vast array of projects that help protect native species such as the state’s official reptile, the Horned Lizard. All projects funded by this plate are used to implement the Texas Wildlife Action Plan. That and you have always wanted that state’s official reptile on your license plate anyway so what is keeping you from doing this?
Go to http://www.conservation-plate.org/index.phtml and apply now for one of the state’s specialty plates to protect wildlife.
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.
