Fossil Rim and the Great Comeback - Fort Worth Magazine

A persistent ostrich forces his head through our passenger window, curious about the human looking back at him. After quickly rolling up our window, he, too, quickens his pace, trotting along the side of our car until something catches his eye, and he returns to his friends.

Brake lights shine from the car ahead as it slows to a complete halt: A herd of zebras is eager to meet each human passing through. They appear familiar with the high-pitch shrieks of toddlers and the sound of our tires rustling over asphalt as we slowly drive forward. Soon, the eyes of hundreds of animals follow our movement as we roll down the narrow and winding road. 

Each year, hundreds of thousands of visitors drive through the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, a conservation park in Glen Rose, about 60 miles southwest of Fort Worth. For many, it will be the closest opportunity to a real-life safari.

The preserve, founded as a private exotic game ranch in the early 1970s, opened to the public in the mid-1980s when Fort Worth businessman and property owner Tom Mantzel's hobby of collecting exotic hoofstock herds quickly transformed into a passion, says former executive director Kelley Snodgrass, who recently retired from his longtime position in December.

Nearly 40 years later, Fossil Rim cares for more than 1,100 animals — over half of which are threatened, endangered, or extinct in the wild — on its 1,800-acre conservation park site. In total, animals from nearly 50 different species consider Fossil Rim their home.

"The animals are why we exist," Snodgrass says. "It doesn't matter who you are at Fossil Rim; you're working for that mission and focusing on recovering those threatened and endangered species." 

Conservation efforts Although many tourists view Fossil Rim's self-guided experiences as an alternative to the traditional zoo, it is unique in its commitment to wildlife conservation and natural habitat preservation. 

Less than a decade after Mantzel purchased the property, he attempted to recover a species from the brink of extinction — the Grevy's zebra — for the first time. From there, Fossil Rim signaled to the world its premier leadership in wildlife conservation and species recovery. 

Park staff attempt, in many ways, to save the species they care for, including captive breeding programs, which complement their meticulous species recovery plans. 

"It also involves a lot of research, conservation education, and professional training," Snodgrass adds.

Because of the park's size, staff can care for intact social groups — a method statistically proving a higher chance of survival — and when the animals produce offspring, they are reintroduced through recovery programs around the globe. While in their care, Fossil Rim carefully prepares for the best conditions to maintain their natural behaviors.

Among the endangered species currently under Fossil Rim's care are the scimitar-horned oryx, the dama gazelle — almost entirely extinct in the wild — and the reticulated giraffe, which the park staff is incredibly proud to breed, Snodgrass says.

The conservation center is also making strides in saving the Attwater's prairie-chicken, possibly the most endangered bird in North America.

"Fossil Rim is one of four captive breeding facilities for the Attwater's prairie-chicken," says prairie manager John Magera of the Attwater's Prairie-Chicken National Wildlife Refuge. "But it's certainly the most robust of the four and, over the last 25 years, has produced the most [prairie-chicks]."

Habitat degradation and natural disasters — such as Hurricane Harvey and recent tropical storms near their primary habitat on the Louisiana-Texas coast — are the biggest contributors to the loss of the species. 

Magera says the entire species' existence currently depends on about 90 pairs in the wild, adding that this is only an estimate because they only count the males and double that estimate under the assumption that prairie-chickens exist in a 1:1 male-to-female ratio. 

"You think that number is pretty low, but two years prior, it was 26," he says. "The reason we were able to go from 26 after Hurricane Harvey to 178 three years later is because of facilities like Fossil Rim. Without them, we could have never done that."

According to Fossil Rim's website, the center has hatched more than 6,000 prairie-chickens since it joined as the refuge's first partner in the mid-1990s, accounting for more than half of the species population.

It is also one of North America's most impressive cheetah breeders, tallying more than 223 cubs since 1986 when its first litter of babies was born. Snodgrass, who has worked numerous roles at Fossil Rim, says the cheetah is his favorite animal on the preserve.

With about 9,000 cheetahs total in the wild and captive, the cats are at-risk because their low levels of genetic variation make them more susceptible to disease. Snodgrass says that breeding is historically tricky in the global captive cheetah population.

"Fossil Rim's founder wanted to have meaningful populations of the wildlife that he chose to work with, to support a greater metapopulation," Snodgrass says. "We hold to that today. We don't have a lot of different species. Still, we're working diligently to create significant populations to support the survival of the species we have well into the future and hedge against extinction."

Ecotourism Tucked away in the Texas Hill Country, Fossil Rim is a not-so-typical getaway and offers a range of experiences — from the standard road tour to a weeks-long stay in a quaint cabin. 

The Lodge, originally the home of Mantzel, is a bed-and-breakfast-style resort that offers individual animal-themed rooms and shared common spaces, including a newly renovated lounge, balcony, and kitchen. The Foothills Safari Camp cabin is located down a gravel road and overlooks the center's most popular watering holes. It is a perfect spot for guests to view wildlife, both exotic and native, from their front patio.

Located halfway down Gosdin Scenic Drive, guests can meet Nause — a Nigerian dwarf goat — and Einstein — a 100-pound African spurred tortoise at the Children's Animal Center. They may even hear a warm hello from Pearl the cockatoo and scratch the underbelly of Hamlet, their beloved pot-bellied pig.

The self-guided tour is a one-of-a-kind experience down the 9.5-mile Scenic Drive. Giraffes are the only animals that guests can feed by hand, though all the animals understand that each car means a fresh snack (really, it's just pellets tossed to the ground).

"Fossil Rim is on this very broad continuum of efforts," Snodgrass says. "I'm not going to say we're more impactful than our nearby zoos. We're just different."