Fort Worth Zoo celebrates hatching of rare ‘amazing animal’ third year in a row
The Fort Worth Zoo is celebrating another conservation success with the hatching of critically endangered gharial crocodiles for the third year in a row.
Zac Foster, supervisor of ectotherms, stands in front of the gharial exhibit Wednesday morning. The two tiny crocodiles he’s holding came from eggs laid by the same mother. They are about a month old and just over a foot long, their pointed snouts filled with dozens of small, interlocking teeth.
The pair are the seventh and eighth gharials to be hatched at the Fort Worth Zoo — to date the only institution in North America to have successfully bred this critically endangered reptile for multiple consecutive years.
“It’s a pretty significant deal for diversifying the gene pool and creating a nice, sustainable population under human care,” Foster said.
According to Foster, there are fewer than 1,000 adult gharials left in the wild in northern India and Nepal. Those that remain face significant challenges from habitat alteration, pollution and fishing practices.
Gharials arrived at the Fort Worth Zoo in 1995. When the zoo’s herpetarium, known as the Museum of Living Art, opened in 2010, the gharial exhibit was built for the specific purpose of reproducing the species. Since then, the zoo staff have constantly manipulated conditions to facilitate successful breeding.
Heat coils were added to the sand to keep it the right temperature for nesting. Then the staff realized the eggs weren’t being properly fertilized, so they started modifying water temperature to help with that.
Once the eggs are laid, keepers collect them and put them in the artificial reproduction technology lab to incubate, Foster said. That helps protect the eggs from dangers they could face outside, including unpredictable weather. It takes about 90 days for them to incubate.
“We’ve kind of been fine-tuning our breeding process over the years,” Foster said. “As we’ve started seeing smaller successes, we take those and make small changes year to year until we start seeing more success.”
Gharials are a unique type of crocodile
Gharial keeper Marcos Avalos said the reptiles “have a lot of personality,” and possess characteristics that make them unique from other crocodiles. Their diet consists primarily of fish, and their legs are too weak to support them on land. Unlike crocodiles which hunt prey on land, gharials find all their food in the water.
“It’s fun to learn ... about them,” Avalos said. “It’s not an animal that many people in the country get to work with, so I feel pretty fortunate.”
The Fort Worth Zoo is currently home to three adult female gharials and one male. The two new hatchlings came from eggs laid by Snaggletooth. Their father is Big Boy. Raani has produced offspring in previous years. The third female, Wally, has laid a handful of eggs, but none of them have hatched yet. Foster said he’s hopeful that will change as she gets more integrated with the rest of the gharials.
So far only adult gharials are on display at the zoo. Keepers are continuing to monitor the growth and development of the hatchlings, including those from 2023 and 2024, behind the scenes. A hatchling habitat where visitors can see the young gharials is in the works, but won’t be completed for a while yet, according to zoo staff.
Foster said he hopes the gharials that have hatched at the zoo will eventually be sent to other institutions to help with their breeding programs. He’d also like to see a reintroduction program for gharials in the wild.
“They are an amazing animal, and they’re really cool,” Foster said. “And I think more people should have the opportunity to be able to see them.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2025 at 5:38 PM.
