{"id":432247,"date":"2026-09-10T23:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T23:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/432247\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T23:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T23:41:15","slug":"fort-worth-zoo-celebrates-record-hatch-of-eight-critically-endangered-gharials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/432247\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth Zoo celebrates record hatch of eight critically endangered gharials"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you wander into the MOLA reptile and amphibian exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo<\/a>, you never know what you might find.<\/p>\n

There are snakes and frogs, turtles and fish, even a chameleon.<\/p>\n

But the newest additions are lurking about, waiting to make their big debut.<\/p>\n

“This is an Indian gharial, which is a type of crocodillian. This one is a little sassy today. This is one of hatchlings from 2026,” said Vicky Poole, the associate curator of ectotherms at the Fort Worth Zoo.<\/p>\n

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CBS News Texas<\/p>\n

It is one of eight new baby gharials born and bred right in Cowtown<\/a>, and it is kind of a big deal.<\/p>\n

“This is a critically endangered species; there’s actually less than 1,000 adults in the wild,” said Poole. “It’s record-breaking because this is the fourth year in a row for us; it’s record-breaking because it’s eight surviving hatchlings\u00a0 this year, which is our largest yet.”<\/p>\n

The eight hatchlings more than double the zoo’s group of baby gharials, each with its own signature snout.<\/p>\n

“Their snout will grow out faster than what looks like the rest of their body, and I call that their awkward teenage years, and then they kind of grow into that snout, where their body starts catching up,” said Poole.<\/p>\n

Trust me, they grow into their snouts.<\/p>\n

“They will grow up to 15, 16 feet as an adult male. As they get bigger we stay away from their faces,” said Poole.<\/p>\n

Good advice for any aspiring naturalists out there.<\/p>\n

The hatchlings are being kept out of public view as they continue to grow, but visitors can now see full-grown and juvenile gharials on display at the Fort Worth Zoo.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you wander into the MOLA reptile and amphibian exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo, you never know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117,7227,430,122,27],"class_list":["post-432247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-fort-worth-zoo","tag-north-texas","tag-tarrant-county","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}