I love stories like this.
Houston Toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis)
More than 1 million Houston toad eggs have been released at Bastrop State Park this spring as part of efforts to reintroduce the endangered species after it disappeared from the park more than a decade ago.
Several organizations, including the Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Houston Zoo, have made efforts to reintroduce the Houston toad to the park outside Austin since 2015, four years after the Bastrop County Complex Wildfire, according to a TPWD news release. Attempts in 2015 and 2019 were deemed unsuccessful.
“We got close in 2019,” said Paul Crump, TPWD herpetologist, in a written statement. “But this is the most eggs released in a single year to date in the state park.”
Conservation partners got together last fall, pairing toads up strategically for 11 weeks, waiting till the eggs were ready, and then collecting and sorting them into bags to be transported to the release sites. Over several weeks, the eggs were taken to release sites, where they were released into a shallow pond to hatch and turn into toadlets.
“It was really remarkable to see how quickly the toadlets (from earlier releases) developed and moved into the surrounding habitat,” said Zach Truelock, a biologist with the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, in a written statement. “During a light rain, we saw them dispersing away from the pond into the savannah.”
“Pairing toads up strategically for 11 weeks”. I hope someone took very good notes in the planning meetings, because I would love to know more about the general toad-pairing strategy. I’m sure it has to do with genetic traits, but I think we’re all allowed to speculate a bit. The press release in question is here, and it notes that these toads have been listed as endangered since 1970, the year after the Endangered Species Conservation Act was passed, and that in addition to the usual suspects of over-development and climate change, feral hogs and red ants have played a role in the toads’ decline. There’s often a link between invasive species and endangered species. There are to be three toad egg drops, two in Bastrop County and one in Milam County. I’m rooting for them.