Oklahoma City Zoo announces births of 2 threatened reptile species Share Updated: 5:40 PM CDT Jun 22, 2021 KOCO Staff Share Updated: 5:40 PM CDT Jun 22, 2021
Hide Transcript
Show Transcript ABIGAIL: THE OKLAHOMA CITY ZOO CELEBRATING THE BIRTHF O THREATENED SPECIES. THERE ARE THREE RATTLESKENA BABIES. THEY ARE TYPICALLY FOUND AROUND THE GREAT LAKES. THERE EAR ALSO
GET LOCAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS
The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Share Updated: 5:40 PM CDT Jun 22, 2021 KOCO Staff The Oklahoma City Zoo on Tuesday announced the births of three eastern massasauga rattlesnake snakelets and four threatened black tree monitor hatchlings.A news release says this is the Oklahoma City Zoo s first-ever successful breeding of eastern massasauga rattlesnakes and birth of black tree monitors in several years. The zoo participates in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival
OKLAHOMA CITY ZOO ANIMALS: Oklahoma City Zoo welcomes critically endangered Chinese alligator hatchlings koco.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from koco.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
1:01
The OKC Zoo received 11 young alligator snapping turtles through a partnership with the Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery, which has a program to raise, rear and reintroduce the vulnerable species into their native habitat.
Before being released back into the wild, Seamus Ehrhard, the OKC Zoo’s assistant curator of herpetology, says the turtles will stay at the zoo until they are about four-years-old.
“Alligator snapping turtles really have no natural predators as an adult, but when they re younger and they’re smaller, they have predators such as mammals, birds and other turtles,” he said. “So during the very sensitive time when they’re very young, if you take the time to grow them up and feed them and make sure they re very healthy before we release them, the odds are they have a higher chance of having a better lifespan and surviving in the wild.”
OKC Zoo partners with alligator snapping turtle head start program to help vulnerable species
The Shawnee News-Star
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden recently welcomed 11 young alligator snapping turtles to their temporary home in the Zoo’s Underground habitat, located inside the Children’s Zoo.
Hatched at the Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery (TNFH), Tishomingo, Oklahoma, the turtles are a part of their head start program to raise, rear and introduce alligator snapping turtles back into their native habitat.
The Zoo just received the first group of young alligator snapping turtles in partnership with TNFH and will continue to receive additional turtles as they continue to age out of the head start program. The turtles will live at the Zoo’s Underground habitat until they have reached four years of age. At that time, they will be returned to TNFH, and then the turtles will be released into the wild.
The Oklahoma City Zoo recently welcomed 11 young alligator snapping turtles to the Children’s Zoo to help the vulnerable species survive in the Sooner State.