A labor of love: Fort Worth Zoo staff and human medical specialists rally to save lives of female gorilla and premature baby

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – The Fort Worth Zoo is proud to announce the birth of a female gorilla successfully delivered via emergency cesarean at the Zoo on Jan. 5, 2024, after life-threatening complications impacted the health of the mother. This is the third gorilla birth in the Zoo’s 115-year history but the first gorilla to be born via cesarean section, requiring life-saving care for the mother and premature infant gorilla, involving medical experts from the human world.

The first lion cub born at the Fort Worth Zoo since 2015

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Fort Worth Zoo is proud to announce the birth of a male lion cub; the first since 2015. The cub was born on Oct. 20, 2023 at 5:37 p.m. to mother Saba and father Jabulani. This is Saba’s first cub, so the name Moja (mow-jah), Swahili for the number “one,” seemed fitting. For the last few months, Moja has been behind the scenes growing and bonding with Mom, while keepers have kept a close eye on his development and wellbeing.

Fort Worth Zoo celebrates another male Asian elephant birth

FORT WORTH, Texas – Fort Worth Zoo officials are thrilled to share the news of the birth of a healthy, 37-inch-tall, 270-pound male Asian elephant calf. The newest bundle of joy was born at 2 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2023. This is the fifth calf born at the Fort Worth Zoo, following the arrival of half-brother Brazos born in 2021, Belle, his mother, in 2013, Bowie in 2013 (Bowie now resides at the Oklahoma City Zoo), and aunt, Bluebonnet, in 1998. This newest calf adds to the three generations of elephants that call the Zoo home, which mimics how herds are established in the wild.

We’re catching up with Bruno, the now just over 2.5-month-old Gorilla Infant born at Fort Worth Zoo in November.

Baby Bruno is standing (with help from Mom)! Infant gorillas grow and develop much faster than human babies do, so although Bruno is only about 2.5 months old, he’s right on time! You’ll notice him squirming around a lot more these days, reaching out or crawling on his mom when she’s trying to nap.

A gorilla infant can control its head and neck movements shortly after birth and will be able to crawl at about 3 months old. 

The newest primate’s arrival is only the second gorilla born in Zoo history 

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Fort Worth Zoo proudly announces the Zoo’s second-ever birth of a western lowland gorilla. The male primate was born early Sunday morning, Nov. 6, to parents Gracie and Elmo.  

Two coatis came to the Fort Worth Zoo (TX) at the beginning of July named Ringo and Camilo (born in May). They are not brothers but have been together for almost their entire lives. 

They are part of the outreach program/ambassador animals which means they interact with guests in different parts of the Zoo. Because of this, they are trained to present certain behaviors to ease their daily care and transportation throughout the Zoo. They are trained to voluntarily get in their crates and walk on a leash with a harness. They are also trained to “come” and to follow a target.

Fort Worth Zoo Asian elephant calf predicts Super Bowl LVI winner

 FORT WORTH, Texas – An ele-fan favorite Fort Worth Zoo resident, baby Asian elephant Brazos, made quite the play Thursday, Feb. 10 by predicting that the Los Angeles Rams will win Super Bowl LVI this Sunday. The field was set with two boomer balls (elephant-sized footballs), each painted with the respective teams’ logos – Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. With his No. 1 cheerleader, mom Bluebonnet, on the sidelines, Brazos took the field and never looked back. Without hesitation, the 600-pound, 5-star recruit tackled the Rams boomer ball for the official pick!

Weighing in at a whopping 540 lbs, Brazos turned months old Friday! These days are all about his toys and his trunk. He’s often kicking his ball around or picking up small tires and running with them around his trunk. He’s practicing throwing dirt and sand onto his back (the dirt acts as a natural sunscreen and insect repellent!), but for now he only takes small amounts that barely reach past his head. He’s testing out more and more foods while his teeth grow bigger, and he regularly reaches for lettuce over other options. You might catch him in the main habitat participating in short target training sessions with his keepers.

Don’t forget to utilize Fort Worth Zoo's Brazos forecast when planning your trip to the Zoo. When days are warm enough, he’ll be in the main yard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with his mom, Bluebonnet.

Fort Worth Zoo staff welcomed a 37-inch-tall, 255 pound male Asian elephant calf on Oct. 21, 2021. Brazos (BRA-zus) is the fourth calf born at the Zoo following his mother Bluebonnet in 1998 and his aunt Belle and half-brother Bowie, both born in 2013. As you can see, mother and calf are doing well, spending time bonding in the backyards of the Zoo.

Since establishing its elephant breeding program in 1986, the Fort Worth Zoo has become an international leader in elephant conservation. In 1998,the Zoo spearheaded the development of the International Elephant Foundation (IEF), a conservation organization dedicated to saving elephant species worldwide. Listed as endangered since 1976, Asian elephant populations continue to decline and if the trend continues, zoos are going to be the only place left for these animals. The birth of Brazos is another BIG conservation success.

FORT WORTH - Once common, the Texas horned lizard is now one of more than 1,300 species of concern across the state. But there is good news for the little “horned toad.” Today, a coalition of zoos and wildlife scientists released 204 captive-raised hatchlings into the wild (100 of them hatched at the Fort Worth Zoo), and this follows new evidence this year that previously released lizards are now reproducing. Meanwhile, a landmark bipartisan proposal now moving through Congress, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, would bring the resources needed to save this species and hundreds like it.

For more than 10 years, the Texas Horned Lizard Coalition, including Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Christian University and zoos in Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio and elsewhere, has been studying how to restore Texas horned lizards to formerly occupied habitats. Reintroduction efforts have happened at TPWD’s Mason Mountain and Muse Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) where extensive habitat management and restoration have provided vital “new homes” for the lizard.

Researchers tried translocating adult lizards, capturing them in the wild and then releasing them on the WMAs. This provided a wealth of valuable data, but it also highlighted challenges. Many relocated lizards died, killed by predators. Normal wild mortality ranges from 70-90% and scientists have seen this with translocated adults. Also, capturing and translocating sufficient adults in the wild to establish self-sustaining populations may prove unsustainable long-term.   

For these reasons, in recent years the focus has shifted to captive breeding Texas horned lizards at partner zoos, which makes it possible to breed and release hundreds of lizards at once. Texas horned lizards have large clutch sizes with many eggs, often with multiple clutches each year.

The Fort Worth Zoo developed the breeding and husbandry protocols required to successfully breed and care for these animals in managed collections. These practices have since been implemented and modeled at several zoos around the state. The Fort Worth Zoo has the longest-running captive breeding effort in Texas and, in fact, the zoo hatched its 1,000th Texas horned lizard last week.

This August at Mason Mountain WMA, after years of captive-raised hatchling releases, TPWD biologists and graduate students discovered a breakthrough milestone. They found 18 hatchlings believed to be offspring of zoo-raised hatchlings released in 2019. To their knowledge, this marks the first time that captive-reared horned lizards have survived long enough to successfully reproduce in the wild.

Biologists remain optimistic that continued research and restoration work will ultimately lead to self-sustaining wild populations of Texas horned lizards. But they say the Recovering America's Wildlife Act would provide the funding needed to make this dream a reality. People can learn how to help in the online toolkit of the Texas Wildlife Alliance, a grass roots coalition formed to support RAWA.