Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
A blackbuck at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
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| Date opened | 1984 |
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| Location | Glen Rose, Texas |
| Coordinates | 32°10′50″N 97°47′47″W / 32.180556°N 97.796389°WCoordinates: 32°10′50″N 97°47′47″W / 32.180556°N 97.796389°W |
| Land area | 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) |
| No. of animals | 1000+ |
| No. of species | 50 |
| Memberships | AZA,WAZAIRFC2S2ZAAEWA |
| Website | www |
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center is an endangered species research and conservation center near Glen Rose, Texas. The facility has over 1,000 animals from 50 species. Guided and self-guided tours of the center are the main attractions.
One of the main attractions at Fossil Rim is a 9.5 mi (15.3 km) driving tour.
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center houses approximately 1100 animals in 50 species, of which 16 are endangered
The first mission of the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center is the conservation of species through scientific research, responsible management of natural resources, professional training and public education.
The Fossil Rim Wildlife Center is one of the five founding organisation of the Conservation Centers for Species Survival (C2S2), a consortium created to develop programs for the sustanability of endangered species. The center brings the expertise of many large-scale zoological and environnemental institutions to adress issues related to the conservation of endangered species througt study, management and recovery plans. The central office of the consortium is in the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center participated in the reproduction and rehabilitation program of the Scimitar-horned Oryx in Chad and the rest of sub-saharan Africa. The species is extinct in the wild since the 80's (poaching, loss of habitat and political strife are some of the causes of its decline), but a worldwide breeding program helped the restoration of the species. A first herd of 25 beasts was released in Chad in April 2016 with collars giving their position via satellite to follow them in their habitat. The Fossil Rim helped in the evaluation of the collar on their own herd inside the park to make sure the animals would not be incapacitated by them.
The center participates in a program to rehabilitate the Attwater’s prairie-chicken, a small groose native of the coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas, now one of the most endangered bird specie in America. Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and five other zoo initiated a breeding program for the specie in 1992. Between 170 and 175 birds are released in the wild every year, from which half of it were breed in the center. Even if the species has not grown in the wild, the project prevented complete extinction.
The center has one of the most successful cheetah breeding program in the world, with more than 135 feline bread and raise there.
The center was first an exotic herding ranch acquired by a Texan businessman from the oil industry named Tom Mantzel. He bought the ranch in 1973 and renamed it Fossil Rim Wildlife Ranch. The project was at first a weekend retreat for Mantzel, but it soon became a full-time occupation. Concerned by the extinction of species, Mantzel started experiment with breeding of endangered species in 1982 with Grevy's zebras. Fossil Rim was the first ranch to participate in the Species Survival Plan, an initiative partenered with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and the succès with the zebras prompt the association to continue its work with Fossil Rim.
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