Grand Opening Invitation

We celebrated the grand opening of the Captive Breeding and Research Facility at Reserva Heloderma on 24 March. The FCA had set the date and we had a few super busy weeks getting everything ready. The facility building was completed and looked great; the enclosures were finished and we had even managed to collect some ctenosaurs to release in the enclosures on the opening day. Although it required some extra effort, especially from Gilberto, I think the event was a great success.

The proceedings started with Luis Alvarado talking about the history of the reserve. It’s impressive that it has been less than nine years since a newspaper article featuring Gilberto Salazar and a heloderm first directed Zootropic’s attention to El Arenal. Now the same place has a natural reserve with a scientific station, and moreover, the local people have changed their thinking about heloderms and nature completely. Locals where well represented among the attendees, as the project has accumulated many collaborators. There were about 40 attendees in total, which was way more than we had initially expected given how difficult it is to get there.

Next, Tono talked about the basic natural history and biology of heloderms and ctenosaurs. We brought El Mojado, Zootropic’s teaching lizard to be shown during the talk. People’s reaction when first seeing him was incredible, immediately grabbing their cameras and moving closer. People from the press were equally impressed, and El Mojado had to pose for more pictures than ever. All guests had the opportunity to see him up close and many of them even touched him. We explained that El Mojado is not an endangered Heloderma horridum charlesbogerti to avoid confusion.

After the talks, we all walked from the reserve’s entrance to the facility for the ribbon cutting ceremony. After a brief speech, the ribbon was cut by Carlos Baldetti from the FCA, Luis Castillo from Defensores de la Naturaleza, and me, representing Zootropic. Following the ceremony, we showed the research facility. Gilberto had found two snakes during the week and we were keeping them in the laboratory as examples of the reserve’s biodiversity. The huge Oxybelis fulgidus (Green Vine Snake) drew a lot of interest; the other was a Leptodrymus pulcherrimus. Both animals were due for release within a few days, after being exhibited to the next visiting student group.

Then, to make the opening something more than symbolic, we invited everyone to see the first animals released in the enclosures. We’d been quite busy the last few weeks trying to catch ctenosaurs and to have the enclosures ready for them, but we weren’t hoping for a heloderm to appear until the rainy season. Luckily, just a couple of days before the opening, CONAP (government’s wildlife administrator) donated a heloderm that had just been confiscated. So we had four ctenosaurs and one heloderm for the inauguration. Volunteers were asked to release the ctenosaurs, and Tono had the honor of putting the first heloderm in the enclosure. After leaving the animals, a snack was served at the facility and we spent a lot of time chatting with the press.

The new heloderm is supposedly a female. She was part of a registered collection but then was given illegally to a new owner. CONAP thought that the new owner could not take adequate care of her, so they decided to give her to Zootropic. Her total length is 720 mm; she looks very obese but otherwise seems to be in good health. I was in the reserve yesterday to see how she is doing. She excavated a huge burrow and is hiding there.

The ctenosaurs are hard to see in the big enclosure, but at least two were active when I went to see them, running from the ground to the top of a tree when I approached. In the end we opted for a couple of very large enclosures, taking advantage of the vegetation that is part of their natural diet and the soil in which they would normally lay their eggs. Rather than being completely enclosed, these habitats are more like fenced-off areas, which allow for a complex arrangement of vegetation, including the cacti that are their preferred retreats in the wild and would take years to grow in a new location.

In other news, we keep hearing coyotes at night and finding scat as close as 10 m from the facility. I spotted a Grey Fox the last week (first Grey Fox sighting ever for me), and they are also leaving scat close to the house. Despite the focus on getting the facilities finished, we have continued to keep a record of tree species and other data. We also equipped the house with worktables and a kitchen sink with a cabinet, and some other minor things. We have now entered a new phase, in which we’ll be able to make the best use of the new facilities and make them worth all the money and effort that’s been expended. We have student groups booked to visit in the coming weeks, and we’ll start the management plant for the reserve. In addition, I’m working on a proposal for ecological restoration of the dry forest, and some students have shown interest in doing their thesis work in the reserve. We’ve also had some undergraduate biology students express interest in volunteering in the reserve this summer.

All in all, this is proving to be a solid and fruitful beginning for our new Captive Breeding and Research Facility. Thank you to all our donors and loyal supporters.