Images: Fort Worth Zoo
This spring, thousands of teeny-tiny Texans hopped into the wild, thanks to an amazing conservation project right here in our backyard.
To celebrate Endangered Species Day, the Fort Worth Zoo released nearly 700,000 Houston toad eggs, tadpoles, and adult toads into their native home in Bastrop County. If that sounds like a lot — it is! In fact, they counted 682,216 eggs, 8,677 tadpoles, and 64 grown-up toads, all gently placed into protected ponds.
And here’s the coolest part: the zoo staff worked hard every week during breeding season to match up adult toads, track their progress, and safely transport each squiggly egg strand to the wild. This isn’t just science — it’s serious dedication.
🐸 The Houston toad is a special kind of amphibian that only lives in certain parts of Texas. It’s been endangered since 1970, and fewer than 400 are believed to be left in the wild. These little guys are very picky — they need deep sandy soil, shady trees, water, and native grass to survive. That kind of habitat is getting harder to find, which is why helping them matters so much.
The Fort Worth Zoo, along with partners like Texas State University and the Houston Zoo, has been working on saving this species for more than a decade. Since opening the Texas Native Amphibian Center in 2016, they’ve been able to care for breeding toads year-round — and they’ve now released more than 2 million toads and eggs back into the Texas wild.
Whether you’re a kid who loves animals, a science teacher, or just a proud Texan — this is a story worth celebrating. These tiny toads are helping us understand how to take care of our land, our wildlife, and our future.
