Pearland center gets back to old habit(ats)
Texas horned lizards are a threatened species in Lone Star State; program seeks to bring them back to old stomping grounds
One look at a Texas horned lizard — 12 of whom are now acclimating to their new surroundings at the city of Pearland’s Delores Fenwick Nature Center — makes it clear why this reptile captures attention.
“Once you get an up-close look at one, it’s really amazing to see all of their spikes and spines,” said Cullen Ondracek, natural resource manager for the city’s parks and recreation department.
The Pearland dozen arrived in July through a partnership between the nature center, 5750 Magnolia Parkway, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as part of a captive breeding initiative to re-establish the reptile in places where it once thrived.
“They are such an iconic species of the state of Texas,” said Ondracek, whose role at the center focuses on wildlife conservation in the local community. “Most adult residents have fond memories of the spiny lizards growing up, and I think it’s a combination of reasons why most people have an appreciation for horned lizards.”
The Phrynosoma cornutum, or Texas horned lizard, still populates other parts of the nation, but TPWD considers it a threatened species in the Lone Star State, where it was so prevalent and beloved that the Legislature christened it the official state reptile in 1993. The population of the lizard, also known as the horny toad, in areas such as Pearland has dwindled or vanished for various reasons, including urbanization, use of pesticides and scarcity of the lizard’s primary food source, the harvester ant.
This lizard’s distinctive features capture imaginations, particularly of young ones, said Andy Gluesenkamp, director of the San Antonio Zoo, which is leading a similar captive breeding program.
With scales along each side of a flat body, short legs, a visible spine that goes down the back and four predator-like horns on its head, the Texas horned lizard seems prehistoric, like a miniature dinosaur, or more specifically, the armored ankylosaurus.
“Back in the day, (the lizards) were abundant in areas where a lot of Texans were growing up, and they were in the universe of kids, especially kids that spent a lot of time playing in the dirt,” Gluesenkamp said.
Their approachability, he added, made them a natural magnet to kids.
The reptiles also have unusual traits that fascinate naturalists like Ondracek, such as the way the animals shoot a blood mixture from their eyes to deter potential enemies, or how they draw in water in dry climates.
Throughout the breeding process at the nature center, staff members will place eggs produced in captivity in incubators and then move the hatched lizards to aquarium tanks to wait approximately three months before being released into the wild at various TPWD sites.
The 12 will be rotated in pairings each year for better genetic diversity and remain at the center throughout their lives to assist the conservation effort with each new group of eggs.
The biggest challenge in the captive-breeding process is creating a perfect habitat for the lizards to thrive, said Ondrecek.
The harvester ant they like to eat has disappeared from most of the region due to insecticides and fire ants.
The enclosures also must duplicate a range of conditions, such as providing enough sunlight for the lizards to bask but also enough places for them to cool down. During the winter months in the wild, the Texas horned lizard will instinctively bury itself down in the soil.
“To mimic this,” Ondracek said, “each lizard (at the center) will go into a small animal tote with about a foot of substrate for them to bury into and then (be) placed in a specialized refrigerator.”
It’s a detailed process that requires an all-hands-on-deck approach from staff members, said Katie Boughal, the park naturalist for the Pearland Parks and Recreation Department.
Throughout each interaction with the lizards, she said, the staff monitors their overall health by keeping records and noting any changes in behavior or weight and making sure the simulated habitat is clean and accurately mimics what they would find in the wild.
“All of the care provided to the lizards occurs on the daily basis, meaning someone is at the nature center on weekends and holidays and in all types of weather conditions to feed and provide care for the lizards,” Boughal said.
According to Ondracek, research is showing success at these reintroduction sites, and the Delores Fenwick center is part of a larger movement, like the larger-scale restorative efforts at the Fort Worth Zoo and San Antonio Zoo.
Gluesenkamp hopes programs like the one in Pearland will help restore the Texas horned lizard to once-thriving habitats and reconnect it to communities.
“When was the last time you saw an empty dirt lot? Look at Pearland now versus 50 years ago,” Gluesenkamp said. “(The nature center program) is reaching out to a community full of people who loved horned lizards and remember when they were all around in the dirt lots next to churches and back alleys of grocery stores in the neighborhood.”
While the lizards are not ready for their public close-up yet, the center plans to arrange an exhibit for the public later in the process, according to Ondracek.
“We want people to be able to see and connect with such an amazing creature,” he said. “I believe these types of experiences help foster and promote wildlife conservation to a larger audience.”
Gluesenkamp summed up the lizard’s odd appeal this way: “What makes it charismatic? I am talking about a small, spiky, bug-eating lizard that has dead eyes and a multipurpose hole at the back end.”