Inside a greenhouse-like structure at the edge of the Fort Worth Zoo is a nursery for hundreds of horned lizards.
“They’re very charismatic,” Fort Worth Zoo Assistant Director of Ectotherms Robyn Doege said. “I mean, they have that cute face… for a reptile.”
For two decades, the Fort Worth Zoo, along with other zoo partners, TCU, and Texas Parks and Wildlife, has been working on a conservation program to bring back the threatened population of horned lizards.
“This used to be something so plentiful that even people here in downtown Fort Worth used to be able to see, but can’t see anymore,” Doege said.
In the last 20 years, the conservation project has released nearly 1,300 horned lizards into the wild. On Sept. 18, they’ll have their biggest release to date.
“We’ll have between 700 to 800 total getting released this year,” Doege said. “And from our releases that have been going on, we’re noticing our offspring are reproducing, and we’re finding new offspring at the site, so we know we’re heading in the right direction.”
Doege said the team knows that because they keep a DNA database of each horned lizard. They are also identifiable by the unique spots on their bellies.
“It’s like your fingerprints,” Doege said. “So we can look at the markings and match to who it is.”
The release will take place in the Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area in North Central Texas.