Archive for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Category

Jun
18

Houston, We Have Legs!

Posted by in Amphibians,Behind the Scenes,Conservation

In the last blog post, we discussed how egg and tadpole development can be broken down into various stages, called Gosner stages. The stages start with the fertilization of the egg (Gosner stage 1) and extend to Gosner stage 46, which is when the baby toad (also called an emergent) absorbs all of its tadpole tail.

emergent-with-tailLate last week, one of our tadpole tanks reached the developmental stage that we have been carefully monitoring for – Gosner 42! Gosner 42 is a really important time point in metamorphosis in which the tadpole starts to develop lungs. This means that the tadpole will soon give up its aquatic lifestyle for a new life on land.

We know that tadpoles are reaching this critical time point because they start to grow their front limbs. Did you know that both limbs don’t “sprout” at the same time? While we are monitoring for Gosner 42 stage tadpoles, it is not uncommon for us to see tadpoles swimming around with three legs!

Once one front leg is observable on a tadpole, we carefully collect it from the tank with a net and transfer it to a tank with shallow water and moss. This setup allows the tadpole access to both water and land as it finishes transitioning from gills to lungs.

As of today, we have 19 emergents from our first round of breeding several weeks ago. Several of these little guys still have some of their tail remaining, while others look just like tiny toads! Each emergent weighs less than a gram. It is hard to imagine that in a year they will weigh from 20 to 50 grams!

emergents

We are currently also caring for 47 tiny little toads that were head-started by our collaborators at Texas State University. These little toads are from egg strands collected around the Bastrop area and are the first wild toads to be brought into the facility since 2010. These toads will hopefully add “new genetics” to our captive colony, which is important so that we can maintain high genetic diversity in the eggs, larva, and toads that we release back into the wild in the coming years.

Stay tuned as we post more updates our newest additions!

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Jun
13

Turtle Tales: Behind the Scenes with Keeper Chris

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Reptiles

There are some pretty amazing turtles at the Zoo, but what you see is only half the story! Come with us behind the scenes as we take a peek into the turtle building and meet Chris B., one of the Zoo’s Reptile Keepers and a passionate advocate for turtle conservation.

With 5 ½ years of experience at the Houston Zoo alone, Chris loves turtles. He’s seen them in the wild all over the world, but the one place he appreciates most for turtle observation is…wait for it…Texas!

“People should realize that they are very lucky living in Texas,” Chris said, while cleaning exhibits and filling up pools for the turtles. “Around here, I’ve seen 6 unique species of turtles in a single day in the same ditch. It took 2 ½ weeks of hard work, trekking through jungles in Sumatra, to see just 3 species!”

With such knowledge about turtles, you’d have to guess that his favorite turtle species would be pretty special. It’s called a Black-breasted leaf turtle. This turtle is about the size of your hand as an adult, brown in color, and doesn’t really look all that special upon first glance. But we’ve all learned not to judge a book by its cover, right?

Black-breasted leaf turtle

Black-breasted leaf turtle

The Black-breasted leaf turtle is from Southeast Asia and is considered endangered by IUCN, as many turtles are. And according to Chris, this turtle is seriously something special. The female lays huge eggs – the one we saw was almost 1/5 the size of the entire turtle who laid it. Can you imagine having a baby that big??

“These guys have long necks, big bug eyes, and they live in a pretty amazing habitat – the mountains of Vietnam and southern China. And they are crazy! You put a bunch of earthworms in their tank, and once one of them grabs one, the other turtles just go nuts trying to grab the rest of the worms.”

Despite the perks of working with adorable turtles all day, Chris doesn’t take his job lightly. Every opportunity to talk to a guest is a chance to educate them about what’s happening in the world with turtles and how they can help.

Madagascar Big Headed Turtles

Madagascar big-headed turtle babies! These guys are seriously endangered.

So, what is happening with turtles? All over the world, their numbers are declining at an alarming rate because they are sold as pets, eaten as food, and used as medicine, and also because their habitat is decreasing.

An organization that has stepped up to help out is called the Turtle Survival Alliance. Their job is to prevent extinction and promote recovery of turtle species around the world. The Zoo also works with them to help care for and house animals that have been confiscated by the government when people try to bring them in the country illegally.

To learn more about the problems facing turtles in the wild (they’re a lot more complex than you might think!), stay tuned for another blog very soon!

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Jun
05

Critically Endangered Turtles hatched AGAIN!

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Births and Arrivals - New Animals!,Conservation,Zoo News

Picture taken by Beth Moorehead

You may remember that on March 5th, we discovered during a physical examination on our Madagascar big-headed turtles that 2 of our females had eggs!  Since the ground was still too cold for the eggs to be able to develop, we induced the females to lay their eggs in the safety of our clinic.  The two females laid a total of 33 eggs!  We have taken those eggs and put them in incubators behind the scenes of our Reptile house.

We are proud to announce that on May 18th and 19th, three Madagascar big-headed turtles have hatched!  Unfortunately, the rest of the eggs proved to be infertile which is common in young female turtles that have just reached maturity.  The hatchlings will be kept behind the scenes until they are big enough to be on exhibit.  Meanwhile, you can see their older siblings that hatched last September 15th, on exhibit inside the reptile house.

Remember to keep a lookout in our lemur exhibit for any nesting activity by our adult big-headed turtles.  When you are looking at the left bank of the lemur island, look for the special area keepers have made with a mixture of sand and dirt to make it easier for the turtles to dig in.  This is where last year’s hatchlings emerged – and we are very eager to have a repeat clutch of eggs laid in the very same spot!

To learn about conservation efforts in the wild, visit the Turtle Survival Alliance webpage.

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Jun
03

Raising a Houston Toad

Posted by in Amphibians,Behind the Scenes,Conservation

So what does it take to raise a Houston toad from an egg? A lot of water quality testing, algae paste, and some good ol’ fashioned TLC.

The Houston toad facility at the Houston Zoo has four sets of tadpole racks that are designed to raise eggs to tadpoles. The racks themselves are made up of four aquariums with a circulating water system that runs through a set of filters. Water quality is of upmost importance, and the water is tested for the presence of nitrogen waste products every day.  Additionally, old food and debris are removed on a regular basis. The water in each rack is replaced as needed to keep it as clean as possible.

Unlike the carnivorous adults, Houston toad tadpoles are primarily vegetarians. In the wild they eat a variety of aquatic plant matter, as well as pine pollen that falls on the pond’s surface.  Here at the zoo the tadpoles are fed algae wafers and an algae paste that is smeared on pieces of PVC (which sinks to the bottom where the tadpoles like to feed). Older tadpoles are fed pieces of sweet potato and bok choy for additional vitamins and minerals.

As the tadpoles grow, they start to show distinct physical characteristics that can be used to determine what stage of metamorphosis they are in. The characteristics have been broken down into specific developmental time points called Gosner stages.  For example, when tadpoles start to develop a mouth they are in Gosner stage 23, Gosner stage 26 is when the hind limbs start to form, and Gosner 42 when the front limbs start to form.

We carefully monitor the tadpoles when they get close to Gosner 42. It is at this point that we collect the tadpoles from the tadpole tanks and transfer them into a separate tank with shallow water and moss. Not only are the tadpoles forming their forelimbs at this point, but they are also changing from using gills to lungs; therefore, it is very important that they have a surface that they can use to crawl up and out of the water!

We monitor the little toadlets until they completely absorb their tadpole tail. Did you know that the tail is the little toad’s first meal? Yummy! Once they absorb their tail they are carefully moved to another tank designed with shallow water and lots of moss that they can hop around on. In these tanks the toadlets are fed tiny insects called springtails.  As they grow they are offered larger food items, such as baby crickets (called pinheads), fruit flies, bean beetles, and eventually crickets.

Currently, we have 6 tanks of tadpoles that we are caring for that will eventually make toads that will become members of our captive assurance colony (which means they will be parents in the future!) Our oldest tadpoles are just now growing out their back legs (Gossner 28). We’ll keep you posted on their progress!

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Apr
26

How Do You Convince a Pygmy Marmoset to Have Babies?

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Mammals: Our Furry (and Hairy!) Friends,Primates

Pygmy marmosets. Those cute little monkeys found in South American rainforests. The tiniest on the planet. Wouldn’t it be just adorable if they had babies? Why yes, it would…but it’s a tricky business.

Pygmy marmosets: yep, they’re adorable.

As you may have read in recent blogs, pygmy marmosets have some unique characteristics, including what they eat and the way they parent. You may have also learned that pygmy marmosets, as well as 300 other species of animals, have a special plan for breeding in zoos to make sure they don’t breed with others in their family tree and that there is enough space for them.

Now let’s take that a step further: what is the Houston Zoo doing to breed them responsibly so we make sure that we’ve got enough marmosets in zoos, especially if the wild population takes a turn for the worse? Our pygmy marmosets happen to be some of the most successful at having babies of any zoo, so let’s take a look at what we think we’re doing right.

It all goes back to April 2006. Pygmy marmoset pair Per and Mia were both 4 years old and new to the Zoo, so before putting them out to roam with other animals in our Natural Encounters rainforest exhibit, we figured they needed some quiet time to get to know each other. And get to know each other they did…in a few short months, sure enough, twins arrived. We suspected that it was because they were kept in a quiet, smaller area, but at this point we weren’t quite sure.

Then came Bobby and Tilly. This pair was introduced when they were both 4 years old, which seems to be prime time for marmosets to get a mate. They turned out to be the most successful family the Zoo has ever had! They had a total of 8 offspring that made it to maturity.

Bobby, Tilly, and one of their offspring

The secret? We think it’s the same thing, which we called the “closet method” – let them get to know each other in a small, quiet space with no interruptions, and then they have babies. Once they have a couple births, we can introduce them to other animals and let them all frolic together in our rainforest exhibit.  This makes sense, because pygmy marmoset families don’t move around much in the wild – they have a small range where they live and they don’t venture out much beyond it.

To test the “closet method” theory, we’re working with the SSP coordinator to reach out to other accredited zoos and seeing how successful they have been in breeding marmosets, and also finding out basic information about how their marmosets live, what they do for enrichment and training, and even what they eat. If we understand how people are housing and managing them, and also what success in breeding they’ve had, we hope to establish a pattern and then help zoos around the country become successful with their marmosets.

So where are our marmosets? Right now, they’re all behind the scenes so they can relax and get to know each other. You never know when they’ll be ready to be in the rainforest, though, so keep an eye out when you visit.

Thanks to Abby Varela, Senior Keeper at the Houston Zoo, for the fantastic information and photos!

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Apr
25

Species Survival Plans: Helping Protect Animals in Zoos and in the Wild

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Conservation,Primates

In zoos, we have many animals that are endangered or threatened in the wild, and part of our job is to make sure we help protect them. One way we do this is through Species Survival Plans (SSPs). These plans are specially created for over 300 species of animals to make sure we take care of the population we have in zoos responsibly and work to protect their counterparts in the wild.

These plans are managed by an organization called the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In order to be a member of this organization, a zoo or aquarium has to go through a rigorous accreditation process to be sure they are providing a safe, healthy environment for animals, as well as caring for them properly, among many other standards. The Houston Zoo is proudly accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

One way we do this is to be sure we have a large enough number of animals in zoos that are as genetically diverse as possible (for example, making sure animals that breed are not related). This is especially important, because if an animal is on the brink of extinction in the wild, zoos will have animals with diverse enough genes to breed with the wild animals and help bring the wild population back. An example of a success story was the reintroduction of the Arabian Oryx, which was declared as extinct in the wild in 1972. Because of the Species Survival Plan, there are now more than 1,450 Arabian Oryx worldwide.

Arabian Oryx

Let’s take the adorable pygmy marmoset, which we learned about in a recent blog, as an example of what an SSP does. First, experts from the zoo world figure out how many marmosets are living in zoos that can be a part of the Species Survival Plan. Then, they figure out if they want that population size to stay steady or to grow. In the case of pygmy marmosets, we want their population to grow. Then, we figure out the marmoset family tree…who’s related to who, and how. Then, we make a plan to keep introducing animals with different sets of genes so they will not breed with marmosets in their same family.

So how do we do all this, especially if many of the pygmy marmosets at the Houston Zoo are related (mom, dad, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles)? We move animals from one zoo to another. So if a male marmoset at another zoo isn’t related to our female, and the SSP thinks they would be a good breeding pair, we move one or the other so they can be together, breed, and (hopefully) have adorable, tiny, pygmy marmoset babies.

Pygmy Marmoset

But while we’re learning more about breeding, it’s not always an exact science…especially with animals like pygmy marmosets. Stay tuned for another blog about them, where you’ll learn why we’re one of the most successful zoos at breeding these animals, and what we think helps them have success.

Thanks to Abby Varela, Senior Keeper at the Houston Zoo, for the great information and photos!

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Apr
24

So You Want to Work at a Zoo…..

Posted by in Behind the Scenes

We are often asked (very often) how to get a job as an animal keeper working at the Houston Zoo. Questions come in ranging from “How do I start working with animals?” to “Can I come pet the monkeys?”  The reality about working at a zoo is that it requires a mindset not found in other careers. We’ve assembled a few pointers for those looking, but not sure how to break into this amazing and rewarding field.

The employees of our Zoo are devoted professionals, regularly spending more time with the animals than their own families.

Let’s do some math here: We’ll posit that a “normal” business can expect their operating hours to be Monday through Friday, 9am – 5pm, requiring approximately 40 hours/week (don’t forget the 1hr lunch break).  The Houston Zoo is open 7 days a week, 9am – 7pm, 364 days a year. Oh yeah, be sure to factor in our night events, special parties, and occasional offsite visits.  So we open at 9am. Not too shabby right? Think our keepers get here the same time as our guests? Ha! Depending on the animal section, our keepers arrive anywhere from 5:00am – 7:00am to begin their day.

Ok, even though we haven’t directly said it, tip #1 for working at a zoo is to be prepared to work long hours. We pride ourselves on outstanding animal care, and that takes time…… a lot of time.

Tip #2 for landing a job as an animal keeper may be obvious: Get an education. Beth Schaefer, Curator of Primates and Carnivores at the Houston Zoo notes , “A college degree is becoming more and more important in the zoo field.  Our primate staff has lots of different degrees such as  biology, zoology, conservation biology, wildlife management, anthropology, and even psychology .” If you don’t have a dedicated animal degree, that’s ok. Beth also recommends volunteering to supplement your education. “Start volunteering at a local zoo as soon as you are able and look for internship opportunities. This way, you can prove that you show up when you are scheduled and willing to take on any task, regardless of how physically tiring it may be or what the weather is.”

Tip #3 is crappy: Embrace the poop. Animals poop, get over it. It’s time to get comfortable shoveling, scooping, grabbing, scrubbing, picking, and washing away poop. This will be part of YOUR job if you work as any animal keeper regardless of your education, experience, or age.

Tip #4 involves being flexible. Just because you’ve wanted to work with primates your entire life, doesn’t make you any more qualified to care for them. Beth offers more wisdom here, “Being willing to move around the country makes you a better candidate. Also, don’t expect to start working with your “dream animal”.  Take whatever job is open, work hard, be open-minded and learn lots.  A good reputation is everything in this small, close-knit field. “

With that said, we whole-heartedly wish you the best of luck in your search!

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Apr
24

Pygmy Marmosets: Small but Mighty Monkeys!

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Mammals: Our Furry (and Hairy!) Friends,Primates

If you’ve never seen a pygmy marmoset, just try to imagine the tiniest, most adorable, most delicate monkey you can think of – and you’re just about there. These tiny animals are literally the smallest monkeys in the world (about as heavy as a small pear), and they live in rainforests in parts of northern South America like Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia, and Peru.

In the wild, pygmy marmosets dwell in trees and scurry up and down tree trunks and across branches and vines. They have nails resembling claws that help them hang onto trees while they use their teeth to munch through branches to access their favorite meal, which is tree sap (they also eat insects). When they have babies, they usually give birth to non-identical twins. They live in groups, usually ranging from 2-9 marmosets each: this includes a monogamous pair with offspring from the last 4 litters.

A unique feature of pygmy marmosets is called “alloparenting.” Alloparenting is when individuals that are not the parent help care for offspring (for example, siblings). Mom typically carries the babies for the first couple of days of their lives, then hands them off to dad most of the time, and often you will see brothers and sisters carrying the little guys around and caring for them. While alloparenting is pretty common among primates, marmosets and tamarins are unusual in that the males are involved in the care of infants – this isn’t the case among other primates. Pygmy marmosets are sometimes compared to gorillas in how they parent, keeping an incredibly watchful eye and letting the family eat before dad gets to eat. Sound familiar?

At the Houston Zoo, you can sometimes find pygmy marmosets in our Natural Encounters building. They live in the rainforest area with a host of other incredible animals, including golden lion tamarins, and even a sloth. Sometimes, though, you can’t see them, and for good reason – they need peace and quiet to breed and have babies, so we have a comfy off-exhibit area for them to stay while that process is happening.

How do we and other accredited zoos decide what animals should breed? It’s a highly calculated choice that is made to ensure both the survival of a species and that there’s enough room in zoos to house pygmy marmosets and many other kinds of animals. It’s called a Species Survival Plan (SSP). More on that coming soon in a future blog! In the past couple of years, the Houston Zoo has been one of the most successful zoo at breeding pygmy marmosets – it’s a tough thing to do. We’ll also tell you what we learned about breeding marmosets at our zoo and what we’re learning as we go.

Thanks to Abby Varela, Senior Keeper at the Houston Zoo, and the National Primate Research Center for the fantastic pygmy marmoset information!

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