Baby boom at Fort Worth's Museum of Living Art has biologists thrilled
FORT WORTH -- The Fort Worth Zoo's Museum of Living Art has been adding rare works of creativity to its collection virtually every month since it opened a year ago.
But the acquisitions of the slimy, slow and slithery in the zoo's $19 million exhibit are coming via the old-fashioned way.
A baby boom of sorts has been occurring for months among unusual and endangered cold-blooded creatures, many of them breeding for the first time ever at the zoo, and in some cases, the nation. Tiny turtles, lizards, frogs and snakes native to habitats in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean have made the back shop of the exhibit a bustling incubator and nursery.
"We planned for enhanced habitats that would allow for more breeding, but what has surprised me is how quickly the animals acclimated to the habitats, which I think accelerated the breeding," said zoo Director Michael Fouraker. "I'm just amazed at some of the species that have bred in this first year."
In many cases, zoos breed animals just to maintain the captive population for future generations of zoogoers, a necessary coupling but often absent any implication outside zoos themselves.
But breeding endangered reptiles and amphibians brings a different kind of thrill to zoo professionals because many of the world's turtles, frogs and snakes are threatened with extinction, and captive populations can play a role as species-savers.
Rick Hudson, a conservation biologist with the zoo and president of the Turtle Survival Alliance, is working in China with other conservationists to save dozens of species of turtles and tortoises from an enormous illegal trade throughout Southeast Asia.
Captive breeding done close to the species' native habitat is usually best because "they can link back to the wild population easier," he said. Nevertheless, there are numerous examples of animals at the Fort Worth Zoo that may play a role in the coming years to solidify populations in the wild.
"The Vietnamese pond turtle is a species that is functionally extinct in nature but fortunately is a prolific breeder in captivity," Hudson said in a conversation from Asia. "We are working with our colleagues in Vietnam to launch a reintroduction program. ... I believe we will see a reintroduction program by 2012, and this will likely involve stock from the U.S."
'Something special'
The Museum of Living Art, nicknamed the MOLA, opened last spring after two years of construction on the site of the old zoo aquarium. A 17,000-square-foot building with additional space outside, the exhibit marked a radical departure for North American zoos -- a major capital investment to showcase the ecological beauty and importance of lizards, turtles, snakes and frogs.
Since then, the zoo has hosted a gathering of curious reptile curators from other North American zoos, as well as the annual national gathering of zoo directors. Reptile curators from international zoos are now planning a meeting in Fort Worth to visit the exhibit, and more calls from architects and exhibit designers are rolling in as other zoos consider the possibilities of what a first-class "snake house" can do for a park.
"We knew we were building something special, but this building has exceeded all my expectations," Fouraker said. "It's clearly made a difference with the animals. We have raised the bar internationally for herpetariums. It's created a buzz in the zoo community."
It's also created a buzz among the keepers and curators within the Museum of Living Art, who have been able to make the animals' natural urges more productive.
"Most animals want to breed," said Diane Barber, the zoo's curator of cold-blooded animals. "That's instinct. If we were not successful, it may have been from us not getting the environment correct in the old building."
Keepers can finely adjust temperature and humidity in the new exhibits, and the enclosures have more natural light and misting systems. Many exhibits also have water where the levels can be manipulated.
For those reptiles who prefer cooler temperatures, the zoo can mimic seasons in their specific enclosures.
The new building also has significantly more room in the off-exhibit area for breeding attempts, which gets animals away from children tapping on the glass.
"I think we'll have even more success in two to three years," Barber said, as the animals adjust to their environment and keepers learn how to make the conditions right.
Timely opening
The zoo's timing for a significant investment in reptiles and amphibians coincided with a collapse in the wild populations of many animals.
Amphibians worldwide, particularly in the frog-rich areas of Central and South America, are dying in unprecedented numbers from habitat loss, climate fluctuations and a fungal disease.
In Asia, the number of turtles and tortoises ranked "critically endangered" is up 90 percent from a decade ago. More than a third of the Asian species fall into that desperate category, Hudson said. He said the mood at a recent workshop of conservationists in China was "somber at best," although they vowed to press on to shut down the illegal trade where most of the turtles and tortoises end up as food.
A number of breeding programs in Fort Worth, involving the Asian giant tortoise and Chinese three-striped box turtle, for instance, can play an important role in restarting the wild population, he said.
"Chelonians are ancient survivors that have withstood the challenges throughout countless millennia, models of perseverance in the face of change," Hudson said. "But today, that slow-maturing, low-reproductive-output lifestyle is working against them. They simply can't adapt to the massive loss of breeding adults."
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