Passport to Texas

TPW TV: Endangered Prairie Chickens Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One of the most endangered birds in North America is the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken. Learn about efforts to help protect this species this month on the Texas parks and Wildlife TV series. Producer, Abe Moore.

57—There used to be close to a million of them in Texas and Louisiana; now they’re teetering around a hundred or so. I went down to the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge by Eagle Lake. It’s kind of their last stronghold right now.

So, the team goes through some serious struggles this breeding season, and one of the things that happens is they have an ace up their sleeve to kind of help the Attwater Prairie Chicken from going extinct.

Abe says he won’t provide any clues to that ace. We’ll just have to tune in to find out. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series; it’s funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Wildlife: Year of the Lizard Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The non-profit Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, or PARC, designated 2012 as the Year of the Lizard.

06—Lizards are a group of organisms that scientists have said: you know, we really haven’t paid much attention to what’s going on with them.

Biologist, Leeann Linam, oversees the Texas Nature Tracker program for Parks and Wildlife. When lizard populations are thriving—or not—chances are they are mirroring the environmental conditions in which they live. Because of this, they deserve our attention.

Leeann says putting the spotlight on these cold-blooded creatures may help us warm to them.

14—if you stop and watch a lizard, they’re really an interesting creature. And I think that’s what the challenge is for us—to spend enough time outside to really observe them. If you zoom in on them, and take a closer look, they’re just really fascinating—like mini dinosaurs.

So how does one best observe the year of the lizard?

14—At Parks and Wildlife we we’ve got some ways for people to participate. For example, our Texas Horned Lizard Watch asks people to become partners with us in monitoring what’s going on with our state reptile—the Texas Horned Lizard—and the other two horned lizard species that are found in the state.

Find links to information about the Year of the Lizard, and the Texas Horned Lizard Watch at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Wildlife: Herpetology Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Herpetology is a branch of zoology concerned with amphibians and reptiles. Although scientists classify both as herps, Leeann Linam says differences exist.

16—Amphibians are the species that are associated with water in their life-cycle. [They’re] smooth skinned, and usually lay their eggs in water and often have a larval stage such as a tadpole for a frog. So frogs, salamanders, and an interesting creature called the caecilian are amphibians.

Leeann is a biologist with Parks and Wildlife. Reptiles are those species that have scales and tend to lay their eggs on land in dry nests, and have hard-shelled eggs.

13—And so we have several divisions of reptiles as well. We have the turtles, we have the lizards, and we have the snakes… And then there are a few other groups. The crocodilians and some others that are kind of unique.

Of the reptiles, says Leeann, scientists agree they need to give them more consideration.

14—Lizards are a group of organisms that scientists have said: you know, we really haven’t paid much attention to what’s going on with them. They are mostly eating insects in the environment, and so one can perhaps think of them as being sensitive to things like pesticides and habitat loss, as well as direct persecution, or killing, as areas are changed in terms of their use.

Tomorrow: The Year of the Lizard.

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

TPW TV: Big Horn Sheep Restoration Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By the early 1960s native Texas bighorn sheep, which once populated 16 mountain ranges in the Trans Pecos, were gone. Unregulated hunting and disease from domestic sheep brought in by landowners did them in. But Texas Parks and Wildlife TV producer Bruce Biermann says a segment [on the TV show this month] spotlights a successful restoration project.

64—This story is called Home Again, because the bighorn sheep are finally being brought home again. For the very first time they are being released on a state park.

Forty six sheep were captured at Elephant Mountain and released. And, of those forty-six that I know of, they’ve had three die to mountain lions. But, that’s part of the normal cycle. They’ve had many babies already born. So, the birth rate is far outgrowing the death rate. And the population is surviving and thriving.

Thanks Bruce.

The show airs this week.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Wildlife: Mussels, Look but Don't Touch Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas is home to nearly fifty species of freshwater mussels.

07—They have just really fun names—like the Texas Pig Toe, and there’s the Louisiana Fat Mucket…

Texas Mussel Watch coordinator, Marsha May, says wherever there’s freshwater, you’re likely to find mussels.

08—The live in freshwater streams, lakes, ponds and even tanks. So you can find them pretty much anywhere in freshwater in Texas.

The only place you’ll have a hard time finding mussels is in deep east Texas where the water is too acidic for the mollusk to survive.

06—They prefer more alkaline water. They need to have that calcium in the water to help them build their shells.

Speaking of those shells…if come upon one with or without its occupant…Marsha May says leave it where you find it.

20—Freshwater mussels are protected. In order to handle the shells or live animals, you have to have some sort of license or permit. Either a fishing license, which you can handle any mussel greater than two and a half inches long for most species, and then, my Mussel Watch volunteers have a scientific permit so they can handle all species.

Learn about Mussel Watch tomorrow.

That’s our show with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m
Cecilia Nasti.