Education – A Houston Zoo Blog

The Houston Zoo is home to a lot of animals, and some of them are often overlooked.  This is the final entry in a series of blog entries focused on the animals that you may have missed on your last visit.

On September 27, in the entry about our ground hornbills, I mentioned that the okapi at our zoo live in multi-species exhibits.  This final entry in the series is also about some of the okapis’ roommates: the Blue Cranes and the Sulcata Tortoises.

Blue Crane at the Houston Zoo

Like all cranes, Blue Cranes put on quite a show during their annual courtship.  They sing duets (although their grating calls are pushing the definition of “singing”) and they perform elaborate dances that involve leaps, twirls, and sometimes even props of sticks and leaves.  They are omnivores, eating grains, seeds, insects and other invertebrates.  As one of only two cranes in the world that do not have a bare, red patch of skin somewhere on their face, the Blue Cranes have a softer look than their relatives.  They have long, dangling feathers that nearly touch the ground; these feathers are not part of the tail, as it appears when they are standing, but are actually wing feathers. 

Blue Cranes are the national bird of South Africa; as a species endemic to the southern portion of the continent, nearly all of the population is found in South Africa.  This is not a recent opinion, either.  These cranes were revered by the Zulu; only their royalty were allowed to wear the feathers of the Blue Crane.  We have two, a male and a female, that are currently on exhibit in the first okapi yard.

Sulcata tortoises are not from South Africa; instead, they are native to the arid habitats of northern Africa.  They are herbivores, like most tortoises, and like all turtles they have a hard beak instead of teeth.  You may notice that our three tortoises tend to look dirty, often covered with mud or dirt.  This species likes to make burrows, even shallow ones, in order to bury themselves underground and stay cool in the desert heat.

Sulcata Tortoise at the Houston Zoo

Sulcatas are the largest tortoise species found on the African mainland.  Large tortoises like this do not make good pets, due to their size and their habitat needs.  Houston is not a desert, and these tortoises can get quite ill if they get too wet or too cold.  Unfortunately, some people do breed them and sell them for pets.  Remember that we have the resources at the zoo to care for an animal like this, but most pet owners do not.  If you are considering a large tortoise species for a pet, please read this article first – the author does an excellent job of outlining all the ways that large tortoises are challenging, if not impossible, to keep as pets.  If you need to see for yourself how big these tortoises can get, simply find them in our okapi exhibit!

Of course, no animal is guaranteed to be visible on every visit.  Even if you know where to look, you might still miss the animal if it is off exhibit or hiding especially well when you visit.    Hopefully you have enjoyed this chance to get to know a few of the animals you may have missed, and maybe you will see some of them on your next visit to the Houston Zoo!