OTHER CONSERVATION PROJECTS

The rough-footed mud turtle (Kinosternon hirtipes murrayi) is the rarest turtle in Texas. It is known from a handful of sites in southern Presidio County and is state-listed as threatened. Threats to this species include habitat loss and low genetic diversity among relatively small populations. San Antonio Zoo received seven adult turtles that were recovered from a pond where most individual suffered from external protozoan infections brought on by poor water quality. We are currently treating these animals. They may be returned to the wild (pending habitat restoration efforts) or may form the basis of a captive breeding population including individuals from other, genetically-diverse wild populations. This project received a small grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to cover equipment and care costs for one year. This project began in 2017.

Project Partners: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and New Mexico State University Alamogordo

This project seeks to confirm historic localities, formulate conservation strategies, and clarify systematics of critically endangered species and species new to science. We survey known as well as unsurveyed cave systems and conduct bioinventories on behalf of state and federal wildlife agencies. This project also performs annual surveys of several federally endangered cave species. This project was started in 2001.

Project Partners: San Antonio Zoo, Roger’s State University, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Illinois Natural History Survey, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy.

A comprehensive examination of cave fauna biodiversity in North America is underway with partners at San Antonio Zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research, Illinois Natural History Museum, The Nature Conservancy, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rogers State University, United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Several weeks were spent monitoring federally listed Endangered species and state listed species in three cave systems where no previous inventories had been completed.

San Antonio Zoo assisted with the construction of a conservation lab in Chile to maintain critically endangered populations of Chilean amphibians, including Darwin’s frogs (Rhinoderma darwinii). These populations are part of a long term captive reproduction study, with one of our focal species listed among the top five most critically endangered frogs in the world. These efforts also include an important field component; testing for emerging wildlife pathogens, including amphibian chytrid fungus, throughout southern Chile. The program was started in 2007.

Project Partners: San Antonio Zoo, Metropolitan Zoo of Santiago, Austral University of Chile, University of Texas at Tyler

The goals of this effort are to survey historic and new localities, formulate conservation strategies, and clarify the systematics and taxonomy of critically endangered Chinese cavefish and cave species new to science. One reason for the decline of Chinese cave fauna overuse and abuse of aquifers throughout southern China, a problem we can relate to here in San Antonio. This project was started in 2011.

Project Partners: San Antonio Zoo, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Alabama – Huntsville, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Louisiana State University

A colony of the Georgia Blind Salamander (Eurycea walleci) and the Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish (Cambarus cryptodytes) is now in place within the Center for Conservation and Research collection at San Antonio Zoo.  Goals of this project include development of captive husbandry and breeding protocols before they are critically necessary.  The quality of the groundwter where these species exist is declining and wildlife authorities anticipate the decline of the salamander owing to anthropogenic influences.  Our collaborators are Illinois Natural History Museum and United States Geological Survey (USGS)

San Antonio Zoo currently holds a population of critically endangered reticulated flatwoods salamanders (Ambystoma bishopi), endemic to the southeastern United States in a mere handful of isolated localities. Husbandry protocols are being developed to share with resource agencies and project partners. Efforts are in place to establish captive breeding strategies and to potentially supplement declining wild populations. This program was started in 2004.

Project Partners: San Antonio Zoo, Virginia Tech, US Fish and Wildlife Service Eglin Air Force Base

In response to the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill (DWHOS) and the highlighted absence of baseline data for the deep Gulf of Mexico (200-1500m) water column, the DEEPEND consortium is conducting a three year sampling, sensing, modeling, and laboratory analysis program to assess ecosystem dynamics, identify drivers of variability, and investigate possible consequences of the spill on ecosystem attributes. Data obtained during the 2010-2011 and 2015-2017 periods will establish a time-series with which ecosystem shifts or responses can be detected. San Antonio Zoo has created and maintained several education and outreach web-based platforms to convey the science of DEEPEND, as well as the mystique and mystery, of the Gulf of Mexico to the general public. These platforms include a Facebook page, an Instagram account, a Twitter account, a YouTube channel and the Kid’s blog.

The zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research has made the commitment to the DEEPEND project and will continue to support it for the project’s duration. This project began in 2014.

Project Partners: Nova Southeastern University, University of South Florida, Florida International University, Texas A&M Galveston, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida Atlantic University, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the National Systematics Laboratory, San Antonio Zoo, and Whale Times Inc.

San Antonio Zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research is developing husbandry guidelines and captive reproduction protocols for endangered species that inhabit the Edwards Aquifer. Labs have been built on grounds of the zoo from repurposed shipping containers. These are used to keep and breed federally-listed species including the Texas blind salamander (Eurycea rathbuni), Salado salamander (E. chisholmensis), groundwater amphipods, and spring-inhabiting riffle beetles. This project was initiated in 2014 under contract with the Edwards Aquifer Authority. Pending efforts include eDNA surveys for listed groundwater salamanders and catfish and a population genetic study of the Texas blind salamander.

San Antonio Zoo is conducting long-term population ecology studies of the grotto salamander (Eurycea spelaea) in the Ozarks of Oklahoma. We mark individuals with acrylic elastomer and conduct stable isotope analysis to decipher the food webs in the cave streams where larval salamanders live. Populations are being monitored for change in abundance relative to the decrease in bat numbers as a result of infection with White Nose Syndrome. The species is listed as a species concern in all states where it occurs. The project was initiated in 2001.

Project Partners: San Antonio Zoo, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Illinois Natural History Survey, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, The Nature Conservancy

The Japanese Giant Salamander (Andrias japonicas) is one of the two largest salamanders on Earth. The species can exceed 5 feet in length. Habitat loss, dams, and introduced species threaten these amphibians. San Antonio Zoo is working with Japanese biologists to support conservation of wild populations. For example, dams prevent salamanders from passing the structures. Dams restrict movement and gene flow, isolating populations above and below them. Small, genetically-isolated populations have a low likelihood of survival. We are supporting efforts that will implement “salamander ladders”, similar to fish ladders, that allow salamanders to bypass dams, reconnecting populations isolated by dam construction. San Antonio Zoo is committed to the conservation of this ancient and giant species. This project began in 2003.

Project Partners: San Antonio Zoo and Asa Zoo in Japan