Fort Worth Zoo Celebrates Another Conservation Landmark

The Fort Worth Zoo is celebrating a groundbreaking moment in conservation with the first-ever repeated breeding of gharial crocodiles.

With two new hatchlings of gharial crocodiles this summer, the Fort Worth Zoo remains the only institution in North America to have produced multiple offspring of this species and is now the only North American institution to have repeated the process, the zoo said in a news release.

Gharials are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which adds to the significance of this conservation success, the release said. The offspring were hatched from eggs laid by two different females within the zoo’s gharial group, an accomplishment that advances efforts to diversify the gene pool of gharials in managed care.

Gharial hatchling
Photo courtesy of the Fort Worth Zoo

“Everyone here at the Fort Worth Zoo is ecstatic to have repeated success with our gharial hatchings for the second year in a row,” said Vicky Poole, associate curator of ectotherms. “Having two additional hatchlings is a big win for growing the gharial population in zoos and expanding knowledge to help this critically endangered species survive.”

The gharials hatched on June 16 and on June 22, the zoo said, the same day that Poole accepted the 2024 Joseph Laszlo Memorial Award from the International Herpetological Symposium recognizing the zoo’s outstanding work in gharial husbandry and breeding leading to last year’s hatchlings. Poole and the Fort Worth Zoo ectotherm staff were lauded for their diligent and innovative work that led to this conservation success. The back-to-back sets of gharial hatchlings are the product of more than a decade of dedicated effort to successfully reproduce this species, grow the population and diversify the gene pool.

Adult male gharial
Photo courtesy of the Fort Worth Zoo

The zoo’s gharial habitat, located in the Museum of Living Art, was specifically designed in 2010 to promote conservation and breeding success with breeding-focused features that include regulation of water temperature, angled waterfront to provide easy access to both wet and dry areas and heat coils in the sand to ensure the sand stays hot enough for the females to lay eggs.

For now, the zoo said, the 2024 hatchlings will remain behind the scenes for close monitoring of their growth and development, but the 2023 hatchlings will be on view at the Discovery Hub inside the Museum of Living Art from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (July 27-28).

About the gharial alligator
The gharial is one of the largest crocodilian species, known for its long and thin snout which makes it particularly skilled at hunting and eating fish. The gharial is a great swimmer and spends most of its life in a cool underwater environment. While the hatchlings are just over 12 inches now, they will quickly grow, and their snouts will continue to elongate. Male gharials can grow to 16 feet and weigh nearly 1,500 pounds, while female gharials stay slightly smaller. The gharial crocodile is critically endangered for a variety of reasons that make it challenging for them to survive in their native habitats, including habitat destruction, pollution, and river fragmentation.