OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — 3 News Now Anchor Zach Williamson begins his weekly series 'Zach at the Zoo' where he visits Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium and introduces us to our animal neighbors who also call Omaha home.
- We focus on the Puerto Rican Crested Toad and the Wyoming Toad — both of which are very endangered and reside in the zoo's Amphibian Conservation Area.
- The Amphibian Conservation Area houses nine different endangered, amphibian species where they breed the animals and set them up for success once released to their native habitats.
- “Breeding animals in a zoo environment for wild release — I don’t know if it gets any better than that.”
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It’s a spot at the zoo you surely have never visited.
“For the first few years I was here this was like a secret. You know, even employees at the zoo were like, ‘have you been down there and seen what’s going on?’”
What’s going on down here is the conservation efforts in saving nine different amphibian species
Everything is controlled to breed these animals – and help set them up for success once released.
“Very few facilities have this type of infrastructure and compare it with success.”
Derek Benson is a supervisor here in the amphibian conservation area – where he has helped look over thousands of animals in the last eight years.
He got us get geared up and introduced us to the Puerto Rican Crested Toad.
“We’ve got about 450 of every different life stage,” Benson said. “Essentially this is a genetic library for us to breed these animals and then provide the wild population with all the genetics we have available.”
At times – the population here is larger than the population of the species in the wild.
“It’s the only toad native to Puerto Rico right now and they’re going extinct from another toad species, a marine toad, they get much larger and eat these guys, so we’re battling an invasive species.”
They weren’t too excited to see me, but for good reason.
“They are nocturnal. So, it’s super sleepy, I just woke him up, but you know, for the showcasing,” Benson said.
What else makes these toads unique?
“They’ve got beautiful eyes, and this up turned snout is so that they can hide in little crevices in a rock wall, and they kind of use their snout to close off that door,” Benson told us.
“For being as pudgy as they are they do like to climb. So they got some intense finger strength, and they can scale these walls and still carry a lot of eggs too. Really incredible toads.”
We were lucky enough to get a two-fer – as Benson introduced us to another toad.
“So, these are Wyoming Toads. This is North America's most endangered amphibian.”
These toads are not nocturnal – and were thrilled to see us.
“These guys are like, ‘I know you got some food why don’t you just put that food here we’re ready for it.”
They are always ready for it.
“In the Laramie basin area, we will find them around ant hills. They really just sit right next to an ant hill and just kind of have an endless buffet.”
“We call them the meatballs in here because they’re definitely as wide as they are long.”
These meatballs' biggest challenge has been fighting chytrid fungus – an infectious disease many amphibians have fallen victim too.
The work being done here, though, is making a difference.
“We’re seeing these animals kind of have a natural resistance to chytrid fungus. So, it’s building but we’ve also been building on this program since the mid-90s, so it has not happened overnight.”
Just remember – although you don’t see these toads when you visit the zoo – your admission is literally saving several species.
“Breeding animals in a zoo environment for wild release — I don’t know if it gets any better than that.”
Next week I'll introduce you to an eight-legged neighbor whom many of you will be relieved to know calls the zoo home – rather than your home, home.
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