They almost look like moving dirt clods or mossy rocks, and that’s on purpose. It’s a nature thing.
But the tiny, spiky critters are sparking outsized excitement at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler. We’re talking about a big hatch of the state reptile of Texas, the Texas horned lizard.
Despite that celebrated status, the horned lizard was once considered threatened to the point of extinction. That’s why the Caldwell Zoo is working to hatch them – and why these lizard babies are such a big deal.
Dallas Goodwin, the reptile keeper at the Caldwell Zoo, spoke with the Standard about what the zoo is doing to help rebuild the wild population. Listen to the interview in the audio player above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity.
Texas Standard: The Caldwell Zoo is one of a couple of zoos working with Texas Parks & Wildlife to breed and release horned lizards. You’re certainly not the biggest zoo in the state. Why was this program a good fit?
Dallas Goodwin: Well, everybody loves horned lizards. You hear stories all the time, walking out of the building, guests will be like, “Oh, I used to see them all the time growing up.” They just inspire so many people. And so many people love them.
So being able to have an opportunity to help bring them back to the areas that they used to be, and figure out what works to help them best in the wild, is always really exciting.
So you start by mating two adults and then carefully collecting the eggs. What happens after that?
We’ll go out and we collect those eggs. And we bring them inside into the incubator. That way we can exactly monitor the temperature and humidity, just to make sure that everybody has the best chance of hatching.
And then after about 60 days in that incubator, they will begin to hatch. We monitor that really closely, and then we’ll pull them out of that incubator. I put them into these special setups to make sure that everybody thrives. And then we’ll feed them up for a few weeks and then off into the wild they go.
So how many lizards did you hatch in this latest batch?
We have over 70 lizards this year.
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Wow. So you said they’ll stay at the zoo for a little while, get a little stronger, get a little bigger. And then where are they released, and what’s that process like?
So they’ll stay with us for a few weeks, a little over a month usually. And then, once they’re big enough, they will go out to the release site. We’ll meet up with some of the other zoos that also breed them and also Texas Parks & Wildlife.
We weigh them first, and then if they’re big enough, they’ll get hooked up with a little harmonic tag. So that way the researchers can go out and they’ll actually find them after the release.
And then we package them all up into little cups, and then we all go out to the release site and we’ll just kind of place them out there and cross our fingers.
Cross your fingers – why? I mean, what are the risks, and why were they so endangered in the first place?
I feel like everybody knows about the fire ant problem we have here. The fire ants are just so much more prolific – and they breed so much faster – than any of the native ants.
And adult horned lizards’ main portion of its diet is going to be harvester ants. They can make big colonies, but they’re usually really slow to set up those colonies. And the fire ants just come in and they’ll push them out super fast. And horned lizards can’t eat fire ants.
Oh, so they just don’t have enough to eat?
Yeah. They just don’t have enough to eat. And also, urbanization. Fifty years ago, there weren’t as many urban areas; a lot of major roads and things have been built since then.
So, that’s separating a lot of those habitats and making it harder for them to get around. Obviously, they’re not very big.
So horned lizards are cute in their own way, and they’re, of course, the state reptile of Texas. But why do you think the average Texan should care about the comeback of the horned lizard?
The ecosystem is a really fragile thing. Taking any animal out of that ecosystem kind of disturbs that balance. No one really likes ants. And the Texas horned lizards help keep those native ants in check.
And by getting rid of the invasive ants, you’re actually helping the horned lizards. So getting rid of fire ants is a big plus. And controlling native ant populations is also a big plus.
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