San Antonio Zoo Celebrate Successful Horned Lizard Breeding

Center for Conservation & Research at San Antonio Zoo (CCR) are celebrating another successful breeding season for the Texas horned lizard with twenty seven hatchlings already this season and more expected. Each of the hatched lizards are destined for a life in the wild where they will be released in the fall.

"We are thrilled about the progress we've made with the Texas Horned Lizard Reintroduction Project," says Tim Morrow, President & CEO of San Antonio Zoo. "The hatching of 27 baby lizards this season is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our team. The addition of the new lizard labs, made possible by our generous donors, has quadrupled our capacity for breeding and caring for these iconic creatures. This expansion sets the stage for us to have an even greater impact on the survival of the Texas horned lizard species." 

Since 2017 the team at CCR have been working on a project to save the Texas horned lizard, the state lizard of Texas. Across three releases 157 Texas horned lizards have been released. Using a range of research they are working to find suitable habitats in to which the lizards can be released.

As part of the program San Antonio Zoo partner with  Chiron K9, for a partnership known as the Texas Horned Lizard Detection Canine Network. These dogs can detect live horned lizards, scat, eggs, and shed skin allowing them to monitor releases and whether the lizards are present or absent from an area.

Texas horned lizards were once common through the state but habitat loss, fragmentation and invasive species have all impacted on their survival.