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Pancake tortoise bred at Gladys Porter Zoo :
April 15, 2013
Tiny Pancake Tortoises Hatch at Gladys Porter Zoo

Tortoise 1

Three Pancake Tortoises have hatched at Gladys Porter Zoo in Texas. The first tortoise began to pip on March 31st, followed by two more hatchlings on April 1st and 10th.

Found on rocky hills and savannas of east Africa, Pancake Tortoises have unusually flat and thin shells. These flexible and agile tortoises are excellent climbers, and escape from predation by fleeing or squeezing into tight crevices instead of hiding in their shells. Due to habitat loss and poaching, they are listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN.

Tortoise 2

Tortoise 3

Tortoise 4
Photo credits: Gladys Porter Zoo

In the wild, Pancake Tortoises live in isolated groups, and many individuals may be found sharing the same rocky crevice. Males compete for females during the breeding seaon in January and February, and nesting occurs in July and August. Females generally lay one egg at a time, but may lay several eggs over the course of a few months. In captivity, females will breed year-round, with an incubation period of four to six months. The tiny young are independant as soon as they hatch.
Source : Zooborns
 
The zoo just announced via their Facebook page that Taz, the last Jentink's Duiker, has passed away. The end of an era.
 
Statement from the zoo's website:
"The Gladys Porter Zoo staff mourns the loss of one of its most unique and endangered creatures. Taz, a male Jentink’s duiker, passed away in his behind-the-scenes quarters during the night of Thursday, December 19. The duiker had reached an advanced age of over 17 years, and had been monitored for the past year by Zoo veterinary staff for chronic kidney disease. The necropsy, conducted earlier today, revealed that the cause of death was pneumonia brought on by failing kidneys.He was the last known living specimen held in a Zoo anywhere in the world.
Taz was born at the Zoo on June 19, 1996 to the last wild-caught female from Africa and was sired by a Zoo-born male. After the demise of his sire in March of 2007, he became the sole animal on exhibit, and was visited by researchers and animal enthusiasts from near and far.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the Jentink’s duiker, Cephalophus jentinki, as one of the world’s rarest mammals. This little-known species of antelope is native to the African forests of southern Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire. Secretive in nature, the Jentink’s duiker was first discovered in the late 1800s. After that time, it was hardly seen until around 1950, when a single skull reaffirmed its existence.
Then, in September 1968, a male and two females of this species arrived in the U.S., landing at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. In November of 1970, the duikers reached their final destination – the soon-to-open Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, dedicated to preserving endangered species.
“While the entire Zoo staff is saddened over the end of an era for Jentink’s duikers here, we have great hope for this species" said Dr. Pat Burchfield, Director of the Gladys Porter Zoo. "As recently as last year, camera trap surveys have confirmed the presence of a small population of Jentink’s Duiker living within Sierra Leone’s Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve. Hopefully, there is enough African tropical forest and individual animals remaining that this species will be able to persevere.”
Taz will be greatly missed. Visitors who would like to pay their respects may leave cards or flowers in the Zoo office for display in the breezeway."
 
Gorilla bachelors Nzinga and Bangori will be heading to Santa Barbara shortly.
 
Just saw via Facebook that they've successfully hatched their first Orinoco Crocodile. If I'm correct, then it's only the second facility to do so outside of their home range.

The Herpetarium staff at the Gladys Porter Zoo is extremely pleased to announce that the pair of rare crocodiles who made a 2,000 mile road trip from Canada to Brownsville, Texas in October 2011 have produced their first offspring.

Weighing in at 63 grams and just over 10 inches in length, “Karel”, as he has been affectionately named, has a great deal of growing to do. His wild counterparts have historically attained lengths of 22 feet, although average length for large males is closer to 15 or 16 feet.

The little crocodile’s namesake is Karel Fortyn, an avid reptile enthusiast who built the Seaway Serpentarium in Welland, Canada. Fortyn passed away unexpectedly in 2011, leaving behind hundreds of reptiles, including a beautiful pair of Orinoco crocodiles, named Blade and Suede. Fortyn had raised the crocodiles from hatchlings, and they were his pride and joy. But at the time of his death, they measured 13 and 11 feet, weighed 900 and 600 pounds, respectively, and had outgrown their indoor quarters. Thanks to the teamwork and tenacity of crocodile enthusiasts on both sides of the U.S./Canada border, the adults were transported to their new home at Gladys Porter Zoo in Texas in hopes that they would settle in and reproduce.

On Sunday, March 13, 2016, during a sunny Spring Break afternoon, Suede began to lay eggs at the rear of her exhibit. After depositing them, but before covering them with soil as she would normally do, she began charging at visitors who were looking on from a distance. Guests were cleared from the area and Suede settled down, burying her eggs later that night. When they were excavated the next morning, only a handful of the 25 eggs laid were intact. Several looked fertile, but only one little crocodile emerged after a long, 96-day wait.

“Since crocodiles typically lay their eggs at night, a time when no zoo visitors would have been present, it is not surprising that Suede got nervous and broke most of her eggs during her first nesting attempt”, said Pat Burchfield, the zoo’s Executive Director. “This single hatchling is, nonetheless, a valuable shot-in-the-arm for the genetic diversity of Orinoco crocodiles in captivity. We are excited about little Karel’s hatching, and very proud of our Herpetarium staff.”

Orinoco crocodiles are native to Venezuela and Colombia, South America. Due to extensive exploitation for their hides, they are the most endangered New World crocodilian, suffering a population decline of over 80 percent within the last three generations. The species is listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered, and is in serious peril throughout its range. In the early 1990s, fewer than 1,500 non-hatchlings survived in the wild. Some estimate that the wild population may have been as low as 250 adults. Despite proactive conservation measures, declines and fragmentation of the population continues.

As with all new babies, Karel will need to be closely monitored behind the scenes. Once he is past the vulnerable stage, he will be put on exhibit in the Herpetarium.
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