Several years ago, the El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens answered a global call for volunteers to help rescue more than 10,000 critically endangered Radiated Tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) that were discovered by local police in a non-descript private residence in Toliara, Madagascar. The floors of virtually every room in the house were covered with tortoises…
Month: December 2021
Meet Salvador, our first virtual volunteer
The Zoo is recruiting volunteers to help connect more people to many of the Zoo’s conservation efforts underway to help save endangered species like Asian elephants, Amur leopards, Sumatran orangutans and Mexican wolves. One of our newest volunteers is also the Education Department’s first virtual volunteer. Salvador Gonzalez-Barney, P.E., is currently helping to review nearly…
Wildlife of our Big Backyard – Sky Islands
by Betty Alex The Sky Island concept originated in an Arizona Highways article in the early 1940s when the writer referred to the Chiricahua Mountains in far Southeastern Arizona as mountain islands in a desert sea. Over the next 20 years the term morphed into “Sky Islands,” because the concept of mountains as “island habitat”…
Zoo Spotlight: yellow anaconda
Yellow Anaconda Eunectes nota Status: Least Concern Size: 7-10 feet Habitat: Tropical Rainforest At the Zoo: South American Pavilion What species of snake grows to be the biggest snake in the world? Answer: The anaconda. Anacondas may not hold the world’s record for length (reticulated pythons can reach 33 feet), but they do hold the…
Critically endangered cotton top tamarins born at the Zoo
This past June 30 two baby cotton-top tamarins, a male named Denim and a female named Linen, were born to Darren and Mariquita. At the time they were living behind the scenes in our Wildlife Amphitheater while the South American Pavilion was closed during a construction project to install a new air conditioning and heating…
How do you go carbon neutral?
Like so many I often go on Google when searching the Internet. Goggle includes a link below the search box at the bottom of the page stating that they have been carbon neutral since 2007. Carbon neutral is defined as making no net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, especially through offsetting emissions by…
Over 100 years of Zoo history
The El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens has a very fascinating history. Much of our story has never been told and there is a great opportunity for someone to head up a history project to get more of the Zoo’s history documented in written form. For example, the Zoo has an extensive news clipping file…
Group advocates for Big Bend Wilderness designation
Over the past year a group of people calling themselves Keep Big Bend Wild with members and supporters from the Big Bend region and across the country has been working on gaining public support to designate Big Bend National Park as part of the national wilderness system. Keep Big Bend Wild seeks to ensure that…
Zoo career day program on YouTube
For the past several decades the number one education program request at the El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens has been for a zoo staff member to attend a Career Day event at a local school. Because of the high demand and ongoing pandemic concerns, today this program is offered only at the Zoo or…
Conservation Education 