Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Witness efforts to understand and protect the endangered Houston Toad this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series. Producer, Abe Moore.

They used to be all the way from Houston to Bastrop, but now they’re just in little pockets. So, we went out with some biologists to try and find some Houston toads in some ponds.

[Frog calls] So, it’s the unicorn in the woods. I mean, this is the thing that no one can find, and yet, at the same time, this is an animal that makes three thousand eggs at a time.

What we found while we were doing the story was that the Houston Zoo is working with biologists by raising baby toads—little Houston toadlets.

Our role in the Houston Toad recovery plan is one of kind of last resort. We’re starting to form a captive assurance colony, basically, and that is a, uh, like a failsafe against the extinction of the Houston Toad in the wild.

While we were out there, I was amazed at how big these toads were. They were fat and happy.

Some are kind of larger than what you’d expect.[shakes container of crickets] We’ve probably got about three or four thousand crickets in this container right here. We go through in the moment about six thousand a week.

So that’s on Texas Parks and Wildlife television the first or second week of December.

Thanks, Abe. Better check your local listings.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TPW TV: Endangered Houston Toad Play Now | Play in Popup | Download