A wild display of ‘Texas pride’
Houston Zoo’s new wetlands exhibit showcases state’s conservation success
Heiden stretched his long, white neck toward the sky, letting out a shrill trumpet as he ruffled his feathers and extended his wings wide in the middle of a cypress grove at the Houston Zoo.
It’s early morning and a soft breeze rustles the tree leaves. Excited visitors have not yet arrived — not yet pierced the serene quiet with their whoops and hollers and requests for ice cream.
So the male whooping crane stands tall on his long, skinny legs — his bonded partner, Angel, by his side — tilting his red and black head first to the left, then to the right, as he surveys the scene.
One word immediately comes to mind: majestic.
Though whooping cranes are native to Texas, this pair was brought to the Bayou City after their federally funded habitat in Maryland was shuttered last year.
They’re now one of three animal species showcased at the zoo’s new Texas Wetlands Exhibit, which opens to the public Friday. All three are native to Texas and, at one time, were close to extinction.
Heiden and Angel are joined in the exhibit by Snap, Crackle and Pop, the zoo’s three American alligators; and Sally Ride, one of the zoo’s two bald eagles named in honor of the first woman in space.
The Texas Wetlands cost zoo donors about $20 million — in
cluding the new bear enclosure that opened last year — and is the first of four new exhibits being built before the zoo’s 100th anniversary year in 2022.
The goal is to make the new exhibit as immersive and realistic as possible, for both visitors and animals.
“We wanted to build on Texas pride — that these are animals right here in Texas because Texans cared enough about it to do something,” said Lee Ehmke, the zoo’s CEO. “We want people to understand that the zoo is a conservation organization.”
Breeding program ends
Whooping cranes have been on the endangered species list since 1967, but the population began dwindling decades earlier because of illegal hunting and conversion of the Great Plains to agriculture.
So in 1966, scientists at the Maryland-based Patuxent Wildlife Research Center began a captive breeding program to increase the numbers — the same habitat where Heiden and Angel previously lived.
But that center was closed last year after the Trump administration eliminated the $1.5 million-ayear breeding program run by the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Whooping cranes are still endangered, but the overall population has grown more than tenfold in the last 50 years since Patuxent’s program began,” said John French, a director of the Patuxent center, in March. “The end of the USGS program is an indication of just how far we’ve come in our research and recovery efforts.”
The Houston Zoo was one of many zoos and wildlife centers who stepped up to take the 75 birds in Patuxent’s care — and, in some cases, continue the breeding initiative that has raised enough cranes to maintain close to 800 birds dispersed across four North American flocks, including the one that travels to Texas each winter.
Texas’ flock is migratory and the only self-sustaining one in North America. Every year, the whooping cranes travel 2,600 miles from Canada to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
It’s also the largest flock of the four. Hatching 30 to 40 chicks each year, the Texas flock did not depend on the Patuxent captive-bred cranes to continue to exist.
And the Texas population continues to grow: During the 2017-2018 winter, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated there were 505 birds in the refuge, up from 254 during the 20112012 winter. Nationwide, 156 whooping cranes — 81 males and 75 females — live at 12 zoo facilities and two other partners, according to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
In Houston, the zoo is doing conservation work in the area, spending more than $100,000 each year on education and outreach efforts in Port Aransas. They have a full-time employee based there, “building awareness for the cranes and their importance to tourism,” Ehmke said.
“Outreach and education is a critical piece, as is having cranes here for people to see,” he said. “People might not be aware that they can see these amazing, beautiful species in their own backyard.”
Heiden and Angel are too old to reproduce, but Ehmke said he hopes to one day have a breeding program in Houston.
“These breeding programs have led to reintroduction efforts and a growing wild population,” said Rob Vernon of the zoo association. “So when people visit the Houston Zoo, they can learn about these beautiful, endangered birds, and what they can do to help make sure they don’t go extinct.”
Success stories
Sally Ride and her alligator neighbors, Snap, Crackle and Pop, represent true success stories — for Texas and the country as a whole.
While whooping cranes are still on the endangered list, both bald eagles and alligators have been removed from the perilous list thanks to protective laws.
Forty years ago, bald eagles were nearly extinct because of illegal shooting, habitat destruction and the presence of the pesticide DDT in their food. DDT was used after World War II and caused birds to lay thin-shelled eggs that would break and kill the embryos, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
Fewer than 500 pairs of bald eagles were alive in the U.S. in 1963, the fund stated. But then the federal government banned DDT in 1972. The ban, along with habitat protection under the Endangered Species Act and other conservation efforts, has caused the bald eagle population to skyrocket, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stated.
The bald eagle was removed from the federal threatened and endangered species list in 2007.
The zoo rescues those that have been wounded in the wild. For example, Sally Ride was found in Sallisaw, Okla. with a necrotic wing bone. After numerous surgeries at the Tulsa Zoo, she was brought to Houston to live. Sally can no longer fly, but the zoo has built a habitat to accommodate her disability. They hope to pair her with another bald eagle someday, said Jackie Wallace, zoo spokeswoman.
American alligators almost went extinct in the 1950s, after being hunted to excess for their hides.
Alligators were listed as endangered in 1967 under a law that predated the 1973 Endangered Species Act, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The law prohibited alligator hunting and by 1987, the service declared the American alligator fully recovered. It was removed from the endangered species list.
It was “one of the first endangered species success stories,” according to the service.
And that’s the point of the whole exhibit, Ehmke said.
“If people put their minds to it, they can actually save animals,” he said. “We wanted to highlight three species’ success stories and we want people to get excited about the opportunity to save wildlife.”
Next up: Brazil
The Texas Wetland exhibit is the first of four, multispecies habitats that will be installed at the zoo over the next three years as part of a $150 million campaign.
Next, zoo officials will turn their attention to the Pantanal exhibit, which will explore the tropical wetlands of Brazil. It is set to open in 2020.
The Brazilian exhibit will be home to jaguars, monkeys, giant river otters, tapirs and capybaras. Ehmke sees the Brazil exhibit as a way to showcase the zoo’s conservation efforts in South and Central America that have been going on for more than 15 years.
“We’ll be featuring a piece of South America that people aren’t familiar with at all,” he said. “It’s probably … second only to the Serengeti in terms of density of wildlife.”
In 2021, the zoo will redesign many of the bird habitats, with new aviaries, bird feeding opportunities and a new incubation room viewable by guests.
And then in 2022, the zoo’s 100th anniversary year, Houston zoo officials will open the Galapagos Island exhibit, which will be home to sea lions, sharks and giant tortoises.
“We aim to redefine what a zoo can be with beautiful and immersive habitats, compelling guest experiences, and an unyielding commitment to saving wildlife,” Ehmke said. “Together, we will keep our world wild.”