Trans-Pecos Copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix Status: Least Concern. Size: 7-10″ in length. Habitat: West Texas desert canyons. At the Zoo: Reptile House. All copperhead snakes in the United States are of the same species. Rarely seen in the Trans Pecos of Texas they are found in rocky, lightly vegetated, canyon areas in much drier habitats than…
Month: November 2021
New winter hours and blog schedule
The Zoo will be on a winter hours schedule starting December 1 through February 28 – 10 AM to 4:00 PM – Wednesday through Sunday. We will remain closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Our blog schedule is also changing with new stories and information posted on Fridays and Tuesdays.
Penguins are coming!
Over the past 10 years the El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens has been focused on completing a wide array of projects approved by El Paso voters when they approved the 2012 Quality of Life Bond. Thanks to community wide support early next year we will be breaking ground for a new Penguin exhibit! Construction…
Field Conservation Update: Indonesia
The El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens Conservation Committee recently approved continued funding for the Indonesia Species Conservation Program in Sumatra. Under the leadership of Rudianto Sembiring with the support of zoos and other conservation groups around the world, efforts to rescue animals like the slow loris from the illegal pet trade have been very…
Zoo Spotlight: Annulated tree boa
Annulated Tree Boa Corallus annulatus Status: Least Concern. Size: Between 1.2 and 1.5 meters in length. Habitat: Lowland tropical forests. At the Zoo: Reptile House This non-venomous tree snake is found in Central and South America. Field researchers report that their numbers in the wild are decreasing largely because of habitat loss. They are rarely…
Zoo honors all who served
This past Veteran’s Day weekend the Zoo honored all veterans including LB, our male California Sea Lion who came to the Zoo on March 5, 2013. Prior to moving to El Paso LB was a part of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific at the US Navy’s research, development test and evaluation, engineering…
Keep you cat indoors!
Please HELP native wildlife and extend the life of your cat by remembering to keep your cat indoors! You might have heard the news… Animal Services, El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens and the Petco Foundation have teamed up to bring a first-of-its-kind cat exhibit/adoption center to the El Paso Zoo. To help the Zoo…
Unwinding with a little bird
Not long ago I drove out to Tom May’s Park in the Franklin Mountains and took some pictures of a common little bird living here in the Chihuahuan Desert called the House Finch. I have always loved watching little birds because of how they seem to live peacefully in a world so different from ours…
An amazing wildlife story from our border with Mexico
By Rick LoBello, Education Curator On a typical mid-June afternoon, with rain clouds hanging high over the north end of the Chisos Mountains, an almost deafening chorus of cicadas permeated the air. A light rain fell in the lower foothills as clouds provided cool relief, and a gentle breeze swayed branches of pinyon pine, oak,…
At the Zoo on November 21: Close Encounters of the Prickly Kind
Dr. Gertrud Konings is one of El Paso’s most passionate cactus ambassadors helping to educate people about all the amazing cactus species living in the Chihuahuan Desert. As part of the Zoo Talks series Dr. Konings will present a 20-minute program at the Wildlife Amphitheater on Sunday, November 21 at 2:30 pm. Cacti have fascinated…
Hidden Treasures in our Big Backyard – Sky Islands
By Betty Alex Have you ever wanted to go searching for hidden treasure? When I was nine, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Gold Bug” sent me on a multi-year odyssey of reading treasure and related mystery stories of lost and buried treasures, Atlantis, and other lost cities. Through my reading, I discovered that there were REAL…
A beautiful day
Last week right before Boo at the Zoo weekend, I spent the morning walking around the Zoo taking pictures. The sun was shining like is so often our wonderful situation here in El Paso and many flowers were in bloom. We definitely qualify as a botanical garden and are now officially called the El Paso…
Leaders ask President Biden to #RelistWolvesNow
Click here to Take Action Directors of modern aquariums and zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, including the El Paso Zoo, have joined conservation organizations across the country in asking President Biden to act on his own words and reinstitute federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies (RelistWolvesNow.Org). Wolves are once…
COP26 could be the most important meeting ever…
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. It is scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, between 31 October and 12 November 2021, under the co-presidency of the United Kingdom and Italy. As more people around the globe come to the…
Conservation Education 